The Yachtsman 2017-2018 RPAYC Yachtsman 2016-2017 | Page 65

Third placed skipper was RPAYC Sarah Parker and
her all female team who were up against the Royal New
Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Matthew Hughes. Racing
went to three flights with a score of 2 to 1 in favour of the
girls. Sarah accredited her team’s ability to work together
as one of the major contributing factors to her success at
this event “Having the racing on our home turf, in our
own boats really played in our favour.”
tragically lost their lives at sea aboard the yacht ‘Rockin’
Robin’ whilst on passage to Fiji in 1990.
Robin, also very generously announced on the
evening that the Wiltshire-Newman, would be forming a
trust to help assist visiting teams participate in the event.
A big thank you to the members and volunteers who
generously donated their time and support to make this
event a great success.
If you would like to billet a team or official at this
event in 2017, or you can provide a boat for a team to
sleep on, please contact the sailing office.
penalty and staying ahead on the next upwind. The final
downwind was a testament to the high level of competition
seen at this year’s Harken, where Boulden managed to
close the gap between the boats and Malcolm was given
a double penalty just metres from the finish line.
Commenting on the Club’s strong performance, a
jubilant Tom Spithill, the RPAYC Coach, had this to
say, “I’m really pleased with how both teams sailed this
week. It says a lot about the depth of the programs we
have here at RPAYC, to be able to get two teams on the
podium at such a high level event. I believe this is the first
time in the regattas 20 plus years that two RPAYC teams
have been on the podium at the same time.”
At the prize giving, Robin Wiltshire praised the
crews and volunteers on another wonderful running of
this event, before awarding the Rockin Robin trophy to
Will Boulden and his team. The Rockin Robin trophy is
in memory of Robin’s husband Grant and son Robert,
Andrew Young and Jeff Smith, all Club members who
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