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Dinghy Classes I grew up in Whitby, Wellington, New Zealand, learning to sail from the age of 6 at Paremata Boating Club in Optimist. I then moved into P-Class, and in my last year (15yo) I represented Wellington in the Tanner Cup, where I placed 7th. After P-Class it was into Starling, then Laser, where I was in the youth sailing elite squad, coached by Russell Coutts. I then moved into Olympic 470, until I grew too much for that class! I placed 2nd in the Sunburst North Islands and 3rd in the Nationals. When I was about 22 I helped restore a Z class yacht, all that was left once we had "restored" it were some frames and the sides, I skippered it to 2nd in the Z Class Nationals.
1989 P Class Nationals (P515) Model Yachts At about 13 I got a very old and heavy Marblehead, it was the oldest design in the Wellington Club, but I lightened it and made improvements over the winter and placed quite well against much better yachts, I had the Model yacht bug, real bad...so I designed a Marblehead, quite narrow, lots of rocker, swing rig etc when I was 17 for a school project, it was built from polystyrene and fiberglass, it sailed well but I had study to get on with and lots of dinghy racing, so I had no time for model yachts until 1992.
"Peaches" NZL 462 I have been sailing in the IOM class since 1992 first with a 1/2 Cut, Modified Jury, 2 Dogs x2, TS-2, V2 and now ISOBAR. I was ranked #1 in NZ in 1998. I also sailed in the 1997 IOM worlds and placed 18th. I used to mold an Ian Vickers design called the "V2", I was doing this part time and found it too hard to keep up, so after building about 15 boats I sold the molds and the boat was re named as "V3".
My Current Fleet
2 x IOM "ISOBAR" USA 381 & USA 445 Keel Boats I left New Zealand for the sunny shores of Bermuda in November 2000. I hooked into the keelboat racing scene the second weekend I was there, crewing a J24. I then got asked to steer one of the top yachts, we had 4 great seasons, winning 2 National titles and 3 club championships. we then moved onto a J105, we placed 2nd in 2005 Nationals and 1st at International race Week 2006.
Bermuda J24 National Champs 2003/04 Work? I am a qualified Yacht Rigger, having done my apprenticeship and 5 years in the trade, I have stepped over 50 masts, some up to 120'. I am also qualified in sail repair, from small tears thru to shredded big boat kites, I've fixed them all.
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