The Burnsco Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series headed north for its second round of the season, with 11 boats gathering at Marsden Cove Marina to contest a weekend of racing across the open expanse of Bream Bay. The venue offered wide tactical possibilities, and the competition made full use of them, producing a regatta in which steady consistency counted for far more than occasional brilliance.
Conditions on Saturday were light and demanding, the breeze tracking persistently to the left as the day progressed. Despite the shifting puzzle it presented, the race committee handled it well, completing five races by day's end. Sunday told a different story entirely. The wind failed to show and, with no prospect of a start, the regatta was abandoned that morning. Those five Saturday races constituted the entire scorecard, and because no discard applied with only five races sailed, every result stood in full.
Shapeshifter took the regatta win, a result built not on a single dominant performance but on a refusal to have a truly bad race. Four different boats won races across the five starts, yet Shapeshifter was the only crew to keep every result inside the top four, posting 3-1-2-3-4 across the day. That scorecard reflected the kind of tenacious, come-from-behind sailing that had already earned them the National Championship earlier in the year, and it proved to be exactly the right approach for a fleet this competitive.
Revelry rounded out the podium in second place overall. Their three runner-up finishes showed they had genuine pace to match almost anyone, but a 5th and a 6th left them unable to overhaul Shapeshifter at the top. Coming off a first-event victory at Lake Rotoiti, a podium here was a solid return, and it was enough to put Revelry at the head of the overall Traveller Series standings with the remaining rounds still to come.
The sharpest drama of the weekend centred on the local campaign aboard Zoot Allures. Through the first four races they looked like the likely regatta winners, having taken back-to-back victories in Races 3 and 4 and added a second place to their tally. That left them in a commanding position with one race remaining. Then Bream Bay's fickle nature intervened. A 10th-place finish in Race 5 was catastrophic, dropping Zoot Allures to third overall on 20 points, three behind Revelry and seven adrift of Shapeshifter. For a crew who had sailed so well for most of the day, it was a painful way for the weekend to end.
The standings beneath the podium reflected just how fiercely contested the Elliott 5.9 fleet runs from top to bottom:
- Reggae Shark brought strong Rotoiti form north, winning Race 1 and finishing 4th overall on 21 points. - Dirty Circus put together one of the most consistent days in the fleet, their 4-4-5-5-6 scorecard earning them 5th place on 24 points. - Bloodline crossed the line first in the final race and used that result to climb to 6th overall on 25 points. - Slam Dunk finished just one place back in 7th on 28 points, with a 3rd in Race 5 among the highlights of their day. - NYX maintained steady mid-fleet form throughout to take 8th place on 34 points.
The closest battle of the regatta played out at the tail of the fleet, where 9th, 10th, and 11th were separated by a single point. Razorback and the Class Act youth development boat finished the day locked together on 49 points each, with Razorback claiming 9th on countback thanks to an 8th-place finish in Race 5. Local boat Frivolous Fish ended up just one agonising point further back on 50, rounding out a very tight 11-boat field.
Away from the racing, the weekend lived up to the class's well-earned reputation for a lively social scene. The fleet came together at the Marsden Cove Fishing Club on Friday evening before reconvening at the Porthouse Bar & Eatery on Saturday night. The atmosphere turned electric as crews packed in to watch the Super Rugby semifinals, and with both the Chiefs and the Hurricanes securing their spots in the grand final, a fresh wave of inter-regional rivalry has taken hold within the fleet. Pointed banter on the dock and on the water seems certain to follow as the series rolls on.
The Burnsco Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series continues at Whitianga on 1st and 2nd August.
The Elliott 5.9 traces its origins to the early 1980s, when it arrived as a high-performing trailer yacht capable of delivering genuine one-design competition. That combination of performance and accessibility has kept it relevant ever since, drawing world-class sailors and newcomers into the same fleet and making it a cornerstone of leading club training programmes. The design has also proven to be a notable breeding ground for New Zealand talent, with alumni going on to compete at the America's Cup, the Ocean Race, and the Olympics. Crewed by three, the 5.9 carries a single spreader fractional rig alongside a practical deck layout and a sail plan engineered to reward both responsiveness and efficiency. Whether lining up in a mixed trailer yacht fleet, a sport boat division, or a pure one-design environment, the class continues to be valued for its performance and outstanding value.
