In response to several enquiries regarding the 2023-24 Gold Cup, the RAYC Sailing Committee makes the following comments.
We acknowledge the unfortunate scheduling conflict with the Balokovic Cup and the RNZYS Kawau Night Race and Kawau Weekend.
The Balokovic Cup has been sailed for 90 years. It was presented as a navigator’s race, governed by a deed of gift which specifies it will be raced for on the “first moonless Friday in February”. In these days of GPS that’s not quite the challenge it was all those years ago but it remains a very sought-after trophy and has an important 90-year tradition that RAYC endeavours to respect.
RAYC is not privy to other clubs scheduling and traditions, for this reason, we consult annually with the other three clubs involved in Gold Cup (BBYC, RNZYS and Richmond YC) to agree the schedule prior to the Notice of Race being published. We also work with the AYBA which each year plays an important part in coordinating the many events in our city of sails. The coming season will be especially challenging because, although we won’t have the America’s Cup, we do have some major events such as Sail GP and fleet stopovers, which are compressing club calendars.
It was not until RNZYS published their 2023/24 season schedule that competitors alerted us to the conflict in dates, which is regretted.
RAYC assures competitors that we will continue, as we have always done, to work with the other participating clubs to avoid these scheduling conflicts in future.
