Shaw 7 Custard Truck showed what it was made of at the 2007 Bay of Islands Sailing Week – and it’s not custard. The 23 foot, bright-yellow sportsboat took on larger competition in the form of the 25-foot Paul Bieker design Helter Skelter, and last year’s regatta winner, Shaw 750 Animal Biscuits, to win seven of the nine races on line and also take overall handicap honours in the sportsboat division.

The win was a fitting tribute to sponsor Ginger Gibbs, a Kiwi nautical legend who died suddenly the week before the regatta. Custard Truck has been sailed only intermittently since its launch in late 2005, due to owner Richard Kiff’s America’s Cup commitments. This year, with Kiff
hard at work making sails for Emirates Team New Zealand, she was taken out by sailmaker Ben Costello, with designer Rob Shaw on main, Derek Saward trimming and Blair Gerrard on bow.

The Custard Truck crew didn’t have things all their own way, however. Competition was tight at the ‘maxi boat’ end of the sportsboat fleet, with Craig Partridge’s Animal Biscuits (featured on Sailing Anarchy in August 2006) first over the line in two races to take second overall, and the Bieker frequently putting the pressure on. Helter Skelter, which finished third on line, was sailed by a crew of refugees from maxiboat Maximus, the Elliott 100 footer which dismasted in spectacular fashion in the 2006 Sydney-Hobart.

Conditions were ideal for the three-day event, sailed in the scenic Bay of Islands, north of Auckland, New Zealand. While the first and last days were predominantly light, the sea breeze kicked in on the second day of windward-leeward racing to test the crews and produce some fantastic downwind rides. Fourth on line and second on handicap was Snatch, a ‘turbo’ Shaw 650 (with trapezes). Sailed by Whitbread veteran Stu Wilson, the smaller boat kept in the hunt with its larger rivals to take a handful of wins on corrected time, and finish four points behind Custard Truck on handicap.

02/08/07