The first ever Windsurfer LT regatta in NZ was held on the 12th & 13th of October based at Big Bucklands Beach.
It had two separate events. The Tāmaki Estuary Cascade and The Motu Challenge.
Both event formats have never been used before and were designed to offer high quality racing and general enjoyment of windsurfing and the stunning place we live in.
The Tāmaki Estuary Cascade is the first ever sailing race from Big Bucklands Beach to State Highway 1 at Ōtāhuhu and back with a handicap restart “Cascade” element. (See the event announcement here)
The course is about 30 kilometres in a straight line following the channel and during the race the Southwest wind over the course was from 0 to over 60 kilometres an hour with a vigorous incoming tide.
Four experienced sailors representing all 4 weight divisions entered the event.
Pictured: Lloyd, Doug, Bruce, Claudio (Photo: Steph Kendall)
Claudio Barbuzza, 65 years old, at around 85 kilos and recently back from the Windsurfer LT World Championships in Spain was unfortunate not long after the start, to fall and go through his sail. He certainly was not aching as much as the other sailors the next day. (Claudio’s Facebook page is here)
Local sailor Bruce Kendall, 60 years old, New Zealand’s first double Olympic sailing medallist with Bronze and Gold medals and New Zealand’s first Olympic Class World Windsurfing Champion has recently taken up sailing the Windsurfer LT and is 70 kilos. (Bruce’s Facebook page is here)
Local Sailor and builder Doug Ferguson has represented New Zealand twice at Olympic Class World Windsurfing Championships, campaigned Paper Tigers for many years, and an experienced wingfoiler, is a fit 63 kilos. Doug has been training on weekends and mid-week, sometimes with Bruce and has been steadily getting faster. (Doug’s Facebook page is here)
Lloyd Perratt has represented New Zealand at the Youth Windsurfing World Championships in France where he was coached by Bruce. Lloyd has been a regular windsurfing, windfoil and wingfoiling instructor with the Mad Loop Windsurfing school at Lake Pupuke and one of New Zealand’s top windfoil and wingfoil champions and recently won the Australian Wing Foil Championships. Lloyd at 90 kilos, impressively took on this race in these conditions having never sailed a Windsurfer LT before. (Lloyd’s Facebook page is here)
The race started with a beach start at 1:30 pm and raced to the rounding marks near State Highway 1. The 60 kilometre an hour wind against the strong incoming tide created challenging conditions south of the sand spit from Little Bucklands Beach up to the moored boats near the Ferry Terminal.
The Waiheke Ferry, leaving port the same time the sailors were negotiating with the conditions and equipment through that section, added extra considerations!
Bruce took an early lead and by the time he got to Panmure Sailing Club, was out of sight of the next Sailor.
Doug was within a few meters of Bruce from the start until he fell just near Halfmoon Bay Marina and was passed by Lloyd Perratt.
The Cascade handicap race start system has never been done in the world before and the Tāmaki Estuary is ideal for this system. Once the first sailor rounds the top mark and is sailing down wind, those that can see this sailor or other sailors sailing down wind, they are allowed to sail downwind as well. Effectively, only one sailor needs to round the top mark and becomes the trigger for a second handicap start for the rest of the fleet.
From about 2 kilometres downwind away, Lloyd was the only sailor to be able to see Bruce round the up wind turning point near State Highway 1 in Ōtāhuhu and was the first sailor ever to action a Cascade handicap race transition from sailing up wind to downwind without rounding a mark.
While there was a good chance Bruce would be first to the rounding point having sailed there from Bucklands Beach numerous times before, the question was, would Bruce be able to be first back to Bucklands Beach as well?
Doug Fergusson saw Lloyd turn and start sailing downwind from about 1 kilometre away, giving him about a 3-kilometre head start on Bruce for the return race back to Big Bucklands Beach, about 10 kilometres away.
Bruce managed to pass Lloyd between the Waipuna and Panmure Bridges, and then Pass Doug near the Pakuranga Sailing Club.
Bruce finished at 3:30, about 1 kilometre in front of Doug, who finished second with Lloyd not far behind.
Bruce estimated he tacked about 40 times and performed a similar number of gybes. During the downwind near Pakuranga Sailing Club, due to cramps in his calf and the strong winds, Bruce sailed sitting and lying down on the board at high speed and thought how Wally Bird in 1977 won the Australian National Windsurfer Championships in a very strong fleet using this technique. (Page 40 “in the foot straps of Giants” https://brucetrotter.com) It’s interesting to note many of those Australians are now racing Windsurfer LTs on a regular basis.
While due to the extreme conditions, all sailors only fell a few times on the up wind, Bruce and Doug lost count of the falls down wind, and put that down to high winds and general fatigue. Doug and Bruce reflected that surprisingly, uphauling the 5.7 One design rig and restarting after a crash was easy. It was the non-stop nature of the race in strong wind that was the tough part.
Bruce took just over 2 hours to complete the course and is sure he could do it in under 2 if the wind was a little more manageable.
David Tangye, support boat driver, was the only other person apart from Bruce to go to the rounding point and back and recorded the event with stills and video.
The Bucklands Beach Yacht Club hosted the “after party” where bowls of chips and beers went down well during the debrief.
The lessons learnt were:
- Next time the channel markers will not be part of the course and sailors will be able to cross the sand bars etc at their own risk.
- The Windsurfer LT was surprisingly seaworthy and efficient in a wide range of conditions. It is unlikely a wind powered foiling board would be able to complete the course or a yacht or paddle craft could beat a windsurfer.
- The race was long enough and conditions extreme enough that stopping to carrying out sail adjustments and have a small rest was an overall gain.
- Although something like a Mistral One Design or Glide with a cambered 6-meter sail would have been faster overall, the Windsurfer LT is much more affordable and taught sailors to “make do with what you have the best way you can”. This is a good teaching for life.
Bruce Kendall said “This was one of the most extreme races I have ever done, and I am suitably extremely tired but very happy. The unique images and sensations from that race will be with me for a long time”
Doug and Lloyd felt the same and all look forward the next Tāmaki Estuary Cascade November 23 & 24. https://windsurferlt-nz.org/events/tamaki-estuary-challenge-2024/
Motu Challenge Report.
The 13th of October was the first Motu Challenge event with 12 to 0 knots of NW wind which clocked to 14 knot NE with a straight-line course of 5 nautical miles.
4 sailors beach start raced from Big Bucklands Beach to Browns Island’s Crater Bay.
Doug at 63 kilos and his greater time on the board, helped him easily win with Lloyd at 90 kilos second.
Lloyd was the only person to use a waist harness, but thinks a seat harness would have been better. Very light winds and chop were a challenge for Lloyd, but he was able to adjust his weight distribution and rig tuning to beat Steve who is 10 kilos lighter. At a Windsurfer LT World Championships, Lloyd could be very competitive in the Heavy weight division.
Steve Macris, at 70 years old and 80 kilos, a New Zealand legendary windsurfer from the 70’s and 80’s and Bruce’s Olympic Coach in 1984, raced for the first time, after only sailing the Windsurfer LT once before to finish 3rd. He recognised, with his sailing style, he will be more comfortable with a sliding harness hook.
Seventeen year old Sofia Currie, at 52 kilos, is an experienced windfoiler and recently represented NZ at the youth IQ foil world championships in Lake Guarda. She raced on a Windsurfer LT for the first time and was a close 4th. There will be learnings for her from sailing and racing the Windsurfer LT that will improve her results in other wind sports. Bruce also gave her a few technique tips from the support boat during the race.
The plan was to walk to the highest point and check out the green bell frogs.
Not long was spent on the beach due to concerns of a quickly building NW wind and approaching rain. The walk was cancelled and a reverse finish order start was initiated.
Positions were close until just past Browns Island where Doug established a healthy lead with Lloyd a solid second, Steve third and Sara respectfully not far behind.
Beer and Chips for the debrief across the road from the beach at Bucks Bistro.
The results from both events show that even though all the sailors used the same equipment, and the sail size is only 5.7 square meters and is not able to be adjusted while sailing. The sailors’ experience and skills at tuning the equipment, body weight position (no foot straps) and dagger board rake adjustments had a massive influence on the results. For a total price of $3600 the Windsurfer LT is good quality and value for money racing.
The Next Tamaki Estuary Challenge is on the 23rd and 24th of November.
We look forward to the new and regular Windsurfer LT owners joining us – hopefully in 10 knots less than before! The fleet is building!
- Charter boards are available if booked one week before. (Order here from the shop)
- We have lots of boards and sail colour options in stock to purchase. (Shop here)
- Registration will be at 10:30am (More details here)
As of mid October 2024, 11 international sailors have entered for the Waiheke Interdominion in March 2025, with more likely to enter soon. Hopefully the NZL fleet will be good enough to beat the Australian fleet. (Regatta details here)
If you would like a test sail on the Windsurfer LT, please contact Mad Loop Windsurfing School at Lake Pupuke 021 958 812, or Bruce Kendall 021 709 739