SLAM Kiwi Match have been crowned the 2009 New Zealand Match Racing National Champions.

It was a day that really epitomised the conditions that we have experienced all week, a bit of sun, a bit of rain, changing tide and wind shifts. It was always going to be a battle between Rueben and his team and us to adapt to the changing conditions fast to etch out an advantage in this best of 5 final.

The forecast was for a building westerly up to 20 – 25kts but this breeze failed to eventuate. We were sent out on number 2 headsails but by race 3 it was obvious the forecasted breeze wasn’t going to show and the wise decision was made to change to number 1 headsails.

In typical Auckland fashion race 1 began with a fight for the left and a race to the breakwall to get out of the tide. We started in a tight windward position but with good boatspeed and managed to live on Rueben’s hip heading left. Closing in on the breakwall Rueben called for water to tack and tacked onto port in front of us. We protested claiming he wasn’t entitled to room and the umpires agreed penalising Rueben with an immediate red flag penalty. This gave us a comfortable lead which we extended all the way to the finish.

Race 2 was the only race that diverged from the plan when we gained our own port starboard penalty in the pre-start. We still managed to start well and held a small lead up the first beat. A poor hoist at the first top mark didn’t help our cause and allowed Rueben to close up to us. We did defend well though and never relinquished the lead as we continued down the run and into the second beat. As we came down the final run to the finish it became apparent that we weren’t far enough ahead to undertake our turn and still hold the lead so we reverted to plan B, which was to slow down and try and offset our penalty. Our only problem was the outgoing tide which was relentlessly dragging us towards the finishline. This proved our undoing as we were not able to lock out Rueben before we ran out of runway and we eventually crossed the line still holding our penalty effectively handing him the win.

This locked the score up 1 – 1 but was also the shake up we needed to close out the regatta. The next 2 races becoming a one sided affair as we lead around every mark to seal an excellent regatta win and the title of New Zealand Match Racing Champions. In the petite final Chris Dickson bounced back from his loss to us in the semi finals to take 3rd place leaving Graeme Sutherland in 4th position.

We are really happy with how this week has gone, going from strength to strength throughout the regatta. Once again we were starting really well and getting the boat around the course with minimal fuss with good boatspeed and clean manoeuvres. We would like to thank Telecom and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for running a terrific regatta and also Megan Kensington and her team for setting great courses in sometimes challenging conditions. Again a big thank you to SLAM for their continued support and of course all our friends and family for sticking by us.

Another clean score sheet today sees us through to the finals tomorrow in the New Zealand Match Racing Nationals.

We finished off the second round robin quickly winning our final 2 races against William Tiller and Rueben Corbett which had us through to the semi finals qualifying in second place. The other semi finalists were Graeme Sutherland, Rueben Corbett and Chris Dickson; Chris coming back from a disappointing first round to only lose one race in the second round to just scrape through. With Graeme qualifying first he had the choice of opponent for the semi and decided to race Rueben leaving us to square off against an in form Chris Dickson.

Having beaten Chris easily in our 2 round robin matches we weren’t fazed and went into the semis confident. This was a fair assessment as we dispatched Chris and his team 3 nil to take a finals spot. The other semi wasn’t so clear cut needing all 5 races to get a result with Rueben eventually clinching the win coming back from 2 – 1 down.

The forecast is for another strong south westerly tomorrow and we are keen to get out there and finish the job. The finals start at 11:00am with great viewing from the break wall, come down and take a look as the finals and petite finals are sure to be action packed.

It was a short but successful day for us today as we came off the water without losing a race in blustery south westerly conditions. It was nice to turn around a tough day yesterday with a solid performance today to reestablish ourselves comfortably in the top 4 again although the semi final positions are far from decided.

An early decision by the race committee this morning to change down to the number 2 headsails was proven correct as a strong squally south westerly made things exciting for the crews today. Not even we were spared from the excitement as proven in our race against Josh Junior. A small tear in our spinnaker on the first down wind turned into a spectacular site as the spinnaker exploded in a luffing duel with Josh which also resulted in Josh receiving a penalty for failing to keep clear. With our spinnaker out of action for the next run the pressure was on to hold our lead to the finish. We sailed smart and picked some good shifts to hold enough of a lead to stay between Josh and the finish line not giving him a chance to take the lead or undertake his turn before we reached the finish.

With 2 races left in the round robin tomorrow we still require 1 more win to confirm a semi final position. Currently the only team with a semi final spot booked is Graeme Sutherland and his crew otherwise its all to play for between Rueben Corbett, Chris Dickson, William Tiller and ourselves. With both our last 2 round robin matches against Rueben and William the pressure is on to keep our momentum from today and seal our ticket into the next round.

Don’t forget that racing starts at 10:00am tomorrow with great viewing from the break wall, come down and take a look as we get into the business end of the regatta.

Beautiful but challenging weather faced us today and although the sun was shining the breeze was shifty and kept all the teams on their toes throughout the day.

A light easterly in the morning struggled to take hold and the first few flights were a bit of a minefield with 60 degree wind shifts and massive holes all over the course. We came out on the wrong side of some close races as we had a hard time picking our way through a difficult race track.

As the day rolled on the breeze swung round to the north and eventually stabilised into a 10 – 12kt northerly. This forced the race committee to reposition the race track with the startline right down off the break wall which made for great viewing but also a very tight start box.

We came out in the afternoon keen to turn these earlier results around and managed a good win over Chris Dickson in our next race.  This was short lived however as we were rolled by a fired up Jessica Smyth who sailed a flawless race to take a 3 second win in an extremely tight final run.  We did finish the day on a positive note taking a tight win over Mark Kroening in a race that had a bit of everything; from luffing duels, penalties, mark traps and port starboards.  It was a race that went down to the wire but we were happy to come out on the right side.

We will need to ensure we chalk up a few more wins tomorrow to see us through to the semis and will look to get back to basics tomorrow to clean up some of the small errors.

Racing starts at 10:00am with great viewing from the break wall, come down and take a look at some great sailing.

SLAM Kiwi Match is back in action this week competing in the New Zealand Match Racing Nationals racing against some of New Zealand’s best match racers. With sailing taking place straight off the break wall from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron the action is hot and the viewing is great.

The regatta got underway today on time with a solid 15kt westerly blowing down the harbour. This enabled the race committee to push through nearly 9 full flights to get a good jump on a busy schedule this week.  The breeze built throughout the morning and eventually the race committee called for the change down to the number 2 genoas as rain squalls rolled through Auckland throughout the afternoon.

SLAM Kiwi Match got away to a good start today taking 6 wins and 2 losses to end the day comfortably in the top 4, but with a long week ahead the pressure is on to keep performing.  With a full 2 round robins, semis and finals scheduled it’s going to take consistent sailing to make it through to the next round.

We would like to thank SLAM for their continued support and of course all our friends, family and supporters for your encouragement.