Young 88s Plan a Safe Return to Sailing

Shorthanded sailing leads the charge, building to fully crewed events and culminating with the postponed Harken Nationals now planned for November.

After six weeks on pause it is time to press play. The Young 88 Association has been working with the organising authorities to make the wide and varied 88 event program fit into the always busy sailing calendar and has come up with a cunning plan.

First up is the Mount Gay Rum 1-2-3 Series which starts conveniently with a socially distanced single-handed regatta on May 24th. The two-handed regatta introduces windward leeward courses on June 7th and builds to the great fun three handed windward leeward regatta with extras on July 19th.

Shorthanded sailing is definitely a thing and with the new Olympic mixed doubles offshore keelboat class coming in 2024 interest is set to build. The Lewmar SSANZ Two Handed Triple Series is always a highlight of winter sailing and the perfect opportunity to launch the “Young 88 Mixed Doubles Trophy” for the first mixed crew online in the series. The Young 88 Class has had solid fleets in this series for a long time and will be looking to build again on the record eleven boats entered last year.

The year ends with the restaged Harken Nationals that were postponed from March combined with the Owners Championships to be staged in November. The “weekend warriors” will be back again to take on the pros and hopefully have a great time “debriefing” after racing each day.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Club Marine Insurance Winter Series is also another event the Young 88’s can get involved in, as well as their Havana Club Rum Races. There is also a new Two-Handed division for both of these series. Contact: raceoffice@rnzys.org.nz for more information on this.

We are all looking forward to getting back on the water and supporting the clubs who need patronage now more than ever.

There is a lot going on in this fleet and you can read more about all things 88 on the web site www.young88.org.nz  and in the latest newsletter linked here.