A record 140 entries faces the organisers of the 2005 Nuplex Starling Nationals at Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat in New Zealand. A huge group of boats is coming up from the South Island – including the P Class Champions from last summer; Thomas Olds (Tanner Cup) and Riley Dean (Tauranga Cup) who won their respective P Class titles last year. Peter Burling from Tauranga was closely placed in P Class last summer and will be sailing in the Starling fleet this year.

The inter Island rivalry will continue when the two South Island Champions come to face the Tauranga team of Burling and his training partner Bruce Kennedy on their home waters.

The Auckland team led by Scott Illingworth (last year’s Starling Nationals winner) will not let the south islanders or locals have everything their own way. The Starling competition will be racing in a split fleet basis for the first two days racing before the fleet is split into Gold and Silver divisions.

The 85-boat P Class fleet is packed with Optimist National champions – all trying to establish themselves in this challenging boat. Paul Snow-Hansen, Daniel Wilcox and Kate Illingworth from Auckland will be coming back to Tauranga to try to keep their performance from the North Islands Championships gong. Thomas Saunders from Tauranga will lead the local Tauranga boats after a fourth place at the North Island Champs. The women’s contest between Kate Illingworth and Jane Monk from Dunedin is expected to keep the boys on their toes!

The Nuplex Interprovincial Tanner Cup contest starts on the 28 December and is followed by the 2005 Nuplex Tauranga Cup P Class Nationals running from 31 December to 3 January.

The 2005 Nuplex Starling Match Racing Champs run from the 1 January. This will be followed by the 2005 Nuplex Starling Open National Champs from the 5-8 January.

All the results will be available on the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat (TYPBC) web page www.yacht.org.nz