Early in 2021, on Friday the 19th February, a small team of sailors from HBHS met on a calm morning at the edge of Lake Rotoroa, commonly known as Hamilton Lake, for the annual WSS Burgess Trophy Dinghy Sailing Regatta. HBHS were the current holders of the trophy so the air was tense.

The day started off slowly, but before long, a large fleet of boats in all shapes and sizes were preparing at the start line. After some tense sailing in light winds, the experienced members of our team were proving themselves competitive, and the points began to accumulate. A total of 3 races were completed during the course of the day.

Opting to use team tactics, HBHS had 5 competitive sailors, across 4 dinghy classes. Going unbeaten in the Optimist fleet, Harry McMullen finished the day on 30 points. In the Open fleet, Hugo McMullen sailed a P Class on handicap against larger two-person boats on handicap, finishing first with 29 points. Ruaridh Martynoga finished second in the Starling with 26 points. HBHS had 2 sailors in the Laser Radial, Max Wimmer and Campbell Rae. Max finished second and Campbell fourth with 24 and 18 points, respectively. Overall, HBHS finished the regatta with a whopping 127 points, winning the Burgess Trophy again for another year.

This result was 38 points ahead of the 2nd place school, Cambridge High School, on 89 points. Mercury Bay Area School finished in 3rd place, with 78 points. HBHS won the trophy for the third consecutive year and we hope to repeat this next year.