N.Z. yachts dominant

Press, 17 December 1985, Page 4

N.Z. yachts dominant

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney New Zealand got off to a storming start in its defence of the Southern Cross Cup yesterday, with its A and B teams filling the first two places in a spectacular opening race. The Kiwis’ domination of the 24-mile Olympic course race was total- they took the first four places on handicap, the first two across the line, and opened a huge margin over their rivals.

Honours were shared evenly by the two New Zealand teams in the 12-team fleet, with the B Team coming out on top in the first round of what could become a private battle to take the Southern Hemisphere’s version of the Admirals Cup home to Auckland. First on handicap was Mad Max, which looked exceptionally fast in conditions that began with 18-knot winds and finished at over 30 knots. First acres the line was Thunderbird sailed by a 71-year-old

veteran, Don St Clair Brown. The first four on handicap were Mad Max, Thunderbird, Switchblade, and Exador, with the other New Zealanders-, Barn Storm and Swuzzlebubble V, thirteenth and seventeenth respectively in the 35-boat fleet. On straight line honours, Thunderbird won a 24-mile duel with her sistership Switchblade, with Mad Max showing her skirts to most of the fleet to cross fourth. Exador was seventh. The New Zealand B team of Mad Max, Thunderbird and Barn Storm racked up 438.1 points while the A team of Switchblade, Exador and Swuzzlebubble V scored 337.88. The scoring is significant because the next team after the first race in the AWAsponsored series is the British with 271.99. Australia has 260 and New South Wales 235.71. All have a lot of leeway to make-up on the New Zealanders jfj the next four races.