Newsletter as PDF File

Hi all Young 88 Sailors

Just a quick update on what has been happening over the last two months and to remind members of the dates for the major Young 88 events. A couple of events have changed dates to avoid clashes with events run by other clubs or associations.

Auckland Sailing Calendar

• There is one more race in the Lewmar Triple SSANZ Series on the 7 September. The first two races have been great with a record number of Y88s sailing. If you want to race in the last race, then you can enter for that race only.
• PIC Coastal Classic on Labour Weekend – 25 October 24
• North Sails Northern Owners Champs: Sunday 10 November at BBYC. This was originally the reserve day but as the RNZYS is having the Round Rangitoto Race on the Saturday we’ve moved the Owners’ Champs to the Sunday.
• Bay of Islands Sailing Week is scheduled for the 20 – 24 January 25
• North Sails South Island Champs – 1-2 March 25
• Auckland Champs:  Sunday 2 March 25 at PCC. This is the Sunday of the PIC Harbour Classic Weekend giving the fleet the opportunity to sail in the PIC Harbour Classic on the Saturday and then the Auckland championships on the Sunday.
• Nationals: on the 21, 22, 23 March 2025 at BBYC. The BBYC are holding a rum race on Friday the 21 March before our pre-race briefing in the evening. We are welcome to enter the rum race if we wish.
• Mt Gay 1-2-3 Series – 13 April 25, 18 May 25, 15 June 25.
• Sprints will again be hosted by the Northcote Birkenhead Yacht Club. Dates will be confirmed shortly.

Number 3 Jib

If you have a #3 jib, (grandfathered or new) which you intend to use in any of the Young 88 events, it will need to be measured. Please purchase a measurement through the shop on the Young 88 website and contact Chris at measurer@young88.org.nz to schedule a measurement if you haven’t already done so. All grandfathered jibs must be measured by the end of September.

Planning Events

I thought that it would be useful to provide some background on how events are planned and prioritized in Auckland for the coming season.

We have the 3 major events that the Owners’ association co-ordinate with the various yacht clubs, being the: Owners Champs, Auckland Champs and Nationals. There is also the 1-2-3 series and the Sprints which are coordinated for the Westhaven fleet with NBYC and then we have the club races that individual yachts enter directly with the clubs.

We then have the SSANZ races which are very popular.

This provides a very full sailing calendar which we try to plan well in advance. The Owners, Auckland and Nationals are pretty much fixed in the calendar already for the coming summer season. These are the primary events that the association co-ordinates and it is these that we promote to get the maximum number of entries. These 3 events are shared between BBYC and PCC. The idea is to spread Y88 events across the various yacht clubs to give each of the clubs an opportunity to earn some revenue from hosting these events and to publicise the class at those clubs.

The Y88 Auckland fleet is split from West Harbour to Pine Harbour so getting everyone together on a regular basis is difficult. The current structure seems to work reasonably well. NBYC are hosting the weekly sprints at Westhaven again this summer and there are also the club races from PCC, RYC and RNZYS for the Westhaven boats. Most clubs have winter series with mixed fleets including 88s.

The issue is getting sufficient entries to make it worthwhile for the hosting clubs and to ensure that the entry fees are reasonable - the more entries we have, the lower the entry fee. There is the risk that where we have more than one event on at the same time, or several events close together that we risk splitting the fleet between those events.

The AYBA co-ordinate the sailing calendars across all clubs so that we can avoid doubling up. This means that we sometimes need to move events to avoid those clashes. We could ask one single club to run all the Y88 events. This would be a significant undertaking for them, and it could potentially compromise their ability to accommodate the other classes they host. The best racing is when we have a good fleet of Y88s, particularly for the major events so we prefer to concentrate on a smaller number of major events while looking at opportunities for other racing should the interest be sufficient.

South Island Events

The South Island Champs are on the first weekend in March 2025 and the South Island Owners Champs are at the end of March 2025.

In addition to the Wednesday racing, Phil is organising sprints for the first Friday evening of October, November and December with four crew and no extras.

Can you help with publicity and social media?

We are looking for a volunteer to help promote all things Young 88 including managing our social media pages, preparing regular newsletters for members and maintaining the website.

Are you or one of your crew keen to help out? Email info@young88.org.nz if you are. 

Projects

The main Y88 projects underway now include:

• Rewriting the constitution to comply with the Incorporated Societies Act
• Rewriting the class rules to comply with the World Yachting templates.
• Finding a new home in Westhaven for the yachts that berth there. It is hoped that the Young 88s can be located together on K pier.
• There is also the day to day stuff such as measuring, paying the bills, invoicing and liaising with the various yachting organisations.
• Mast Project. We’ve found one PR6 mast extrusion in Auckland and will continue to see about having a stock of extrusions so that masts can be replaced with the minimum of delay.

88s for Sale

There are plenty of 88s for sale now. It would be great to keep them in the racing fleets so if you know of anyone interesting in buying a yacht, let them know of the quality 88s for sale. Any person interested in buying is welcome to contact the committee to get any background information on the class. Refer to TradeMe for listings

Membership

We’re always keen to expand the membership and the associate membership is a minor fee for crew or for non-racing 88 owners. Please feel free to promote the association.

Committee

The committee for the 24-25 season includes:

Gary Fowler                  - President

Wendy Muir                  - Secretary

Christel Townley            - Treasurer

Mike Leyland                 - Past President

Grant Crawford             - Past President

Chris Macindoe             - Chief Measurer

Philip Folter                   - South Island Representative

Joe Hargraves              - Committee Member

Lucy Jezard                  - Committee Member