11 Dec 2006
Sir Peter Blake Memorial Regatta
The fifth edition of the Sir Peter Blake Memorial Regatta hosted by the Torbay Sailing Club on Auckland’s North Shore was completed Sunday 10 December in beautiful sailing conditions. 420 sailors competed in 17 different classes with a number of families traveling from as far a field as Timaru and even New Caledonia for the regatta.
This year’s Sir Peter Blake Memorial Trophy was awarded to 15 year old Sam Meech from Tauranga. Sam dominated the very competitive Starling Class and was judged by the race officers as being the most outstanding youth sailor at the event.
A notable feature of this year’s regatta was the presence of three previous Sir Peter Blake Memorial Trophy winners in the double-handed 420 class. 2005 winner Peter Burling with crew mate Carl Evans won the class and runner up was 2003 winner Daniel Wilcox with crew mate Matthew Jones. The 2004 winner, Jo Aleh was also to the fore with crew-mate Olivia Powrie.
This year’s Sir Peter Blake Memorial Regatta has been an important build up for the 420 crews who compete in their world championship off Takapuna in three weeks time.
