Matariki Classic 11 July 2026 – Win for Halo!

Crew: Dean, Murray, Shannon, Eduardo, Jamie, Geoff.

Forecast: PredictWind: Southerly 6-12 kts. Metservice: 15 kts easing to 10 kts.

What is the Matariki Classic?

The EBYMBC Matariki Classic involved 30 boats from all divisions completing as many laps as possible of a circular course with a time limit of 150 minute (2.5 hour). A time correction factor was applied to all vessels to award division winners and overall champion.

We cast off from Chaffers at 0800 hrs to get round to Evans Bay and tie up at the wharf in time for registration and the race briefing at 0915 hrs.

The Waka Ama regatta was already underway.

After the briefing we cast off and hoisted the no. 1 genoa and full main for a few practice approaches to the start line. It was good to have a full crew: Jamie on bow, Eduardo and Dean on sailtrim, Shannon on keys, Murray on mainsheet and me on helm.

We figured that in the SSE breeze we’d need to cross the start on port tack out towards the marina breakwater so we could then get onto starboard tack to lay the first mark.

The Start

We had a good start while being cautious to avoid the melee of yachts including trailer sailors, sports boats, lasers and even an optimist crossing the start line and funelling towards the first mark.

The keelboats Gucci, Usurpa and Grenadier were ahead of us as we rounded mark 1.

Passing mark 2 we were still in front of Ruby and Amnesty but Sliver soon sailed past us.

We had conservatively selected our medium spinnaker for the first run down the bay and we had it flying well but with only 10 kts of wind we would have been better off with our maxi spinnaker.

After dropping the kite and gybing round the top mark the wind increased to 12 kts as we sailed on a beam reach towards mark 4. Amnesty snuck past us as we rounded the mark and we headed back into the wind.

We enjoyed some nice action sailing close-hauled back up the bay with now up to 14 kts.

Our tactic wasn’t too good on the tacks and we had to do two extra tacks avoiding the rocks at Greta Point and enabling Ruby to pass us.

For our second downwind run we swapped to the maxi spinnaker. Much better as we sailed past the trailer sailer Prodigy.

Then another clean drop of the kite at mark 3 and across the top of the bay to mark 4.

As we approached mark 4 Prodigy was beside us but we had to give them buoy room and they snuck inside of us.

For the beat back up the bay our strategy was much better and we completed the leg in 2 tacks rather than the 4 tacks we did the first time.

As we were near to completing our third lap the 2.5 hr signal sounded just before we beat our way across the line.

The faster boats ahead of us had to complete a slow 4th lap in the easing wind while we cruised back to Chaffers.

Przegiving

After packing up the boat we drove tound to the clubhouse for dinner and results. The overall champion was Ryan O’Neal from New Plymouth on an ILCA 6. Halo won the Keelboat Division on handicap and came 3rd on PHRF. Well done Team Halo!