This year's national championships were also run in conjunction with the A Class nationals.
The event was run over 3 days for the Tornadoes and 4 Days for the A class. Many thanks to the Milford Cruising Club for hosting the dual National Championship event.

Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club retained its place as the home of the Tornado class in NZ, with sailors from the Bay of Plenty taking the two of the top three places.
Winston Ordish-Benner and Shanae Ahern (Tauranga) took out the title, with Wayne Limbrick and Dave Lineham (Bay of Islands) second and Stuart McKinven and James Reynolds (Tauranga) in third.

Some solid wind on Day 1 saw some excellent racing.  Some gear breakages on Relentless NZL87 meant a tough start to the regatta for Jason and Brendan, Also in the wars was Crash Cart, which had been towed over from Waiheke Island by Danny Round, a traveler car gave way which trapezing and the Aluminum mast was bent like a banana.

Day 2, It was forecast to be very windy and it lived up to the forecast, there were a few anxious faces on shore as the boats were rigged up, half of the A class fleet didn't venture out.  The wind being more southerly meant it was directly opposite an incoming tide, made for tricky sailing to get the Tornadoes going and stay going.  Stu and James on Shoot to Thrill did a lovely capsize right on the finish line.

Their rudder gudgeons had come off, so they made their way back to shore and drowned their sorrows, or celebrated, I don't know, those guys just seem to be constantly happy. In the next race Thundercat sank her bows up to the mast base and corkscrewed over.  They were able to recover and finish the race. It was an excellent day for Wayne and Dave on VMG with two wins to put them back in the hunt.

Day 3.  A much lighter day wind wise had the smaller crews on the lookout for some good results.  Jason and Brendon showed their class by picking up two wins.  Thundercat and VMG, the two boats in contention for the title, shared equal points for the day, so it had to go through the dreaded countback system. So by the skin of their teeth Winston and Shanae picked up the title.

​

Final Results:​

1st NZL121 "Thundercat" Ordish-Benner & Ahern

2nd NZL90  "VMG" Limbrick & Lineham

3rd NZL84 "Shoot to Trill"  McKinven & Reynolds

4th NZL87  "Relentless" Marra & Duske

5th NZL79  "Bill" Caunce & Duncan

6th NZL64  "Krash Kart" Danny Round