Canty yachts dominate

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 3

Canty yachts dominate

Canterbury yachts again dominated yesterday’s racing in the Noelex 22 and Zephyr national championships, sailed on the Estuary, and at Lyttelton Harbour.

In the Zephyr championships on the Estuary, with only one race of the series to go, John Morrison and Paul Stemmer (Canterbury) are fighting out a close contest with Stemmer leading by 7.7 points from Morrison with the worst performance still to be dropped from the total scores.'

Morrison needs to win the final race to clinch the series.

At Lyttelton John May (Canterbury) leads the Noelex 22 national championship from Rod McCullough (Gisborne), in Red Pepper, a former national champion.

In a swinging north to east wind of 12 knots, Don Le Page, in Nutcracker, led the fleet from the start, in the fourth race of the Epiglass Zephyr event on the Estuary. Paul Stemmer, the series leader in Gamble, led the fleet round the top mark from John Morrison, sailing Victoria, at 23s down with Graham Hore in Bonnie third.

In the run to the wing mark, Hore moved up to second place, passing Morrison on the windward side, and was second, 7s behind Stemmer.

As the boats approached the bottom mark, Hore passed Stemmer and was first round by Ils with Morrison a further 24s back.

On the beat to the top mark Stemmer passed Hore, and was 4s in front at

the triangle. Morrison lost contact with the leaders, and tussled with Murray Hay, in Muscatel, to hold third place. Hore again regained the lead, and was first round the wing mark for the second time by 27s from Stemmer. On the final beat to the finish Hore opened an unbeatable lead and only had to cover the fleet to win by 56s from Stemmer who was 2s clear of Morrison with Hay fourth. After a delayed start at Lyttelton in the Epiglass Noelex 22 event, Lyric, skippered by Rodger Allen (Canterbury), dominated the fourth race, to win by 26s from fellow Cantabrian, Graham Parratt in Pollystripper. Results.— Zephyr race four (50 boats, all Canterbury): G. Hore (Bonnie) 1; P. Stemmer (Gamble) 2;

J. Morrison (Victoria) 3; M. Hay (Muscatel) 4; D. Le Page (Nutcracker) 5; Runaway (K. Maynard) 6; J. Park (Pooh Stick) 7; Zippy (S. Hines) 8; Harlequin (G. Badger) 9; Spartan (A. Reynolds) 10. Over-all results after race four, one performance still to be dropped are: Stemmer, 9 points 1; Morrison, 16.7 pts, 2; Hore, 33 pts, 3; Hay, 43.1 pts, 4; Reynolds, 46.7 pts, 5; D. Le Page, 54 pts, 6. Noelex race four (29 boats): Lyric (R. Allen, Canterbury) 1; Pollystripper (G. Parratt, Canterbury) 2; Rhumb Raider (B. Thorpe, Gisborne) 3; Double Dark (J. May, Canterbury) 4; Lindisfarne (K. May, Canterbury) 5. Race five: Double Dark 1; Red Pepper (R. McCullough, Gisborne) 2; Lindisfarne, 3; Murihiku (E. Johnstone, Timaru) 4; Knights Pursuit (A. McFarlane, Timaru) 5. Over-all results after five races with one performance dropped: Double Dark 1; Red Pepper 2; Lindisfarne 3; Lyric 4; Murihiku 5; Knights Pursuit 6.