A QUARTET OF QUICK
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron commodore Aaron Young wasn’t the only one. His mate and former commodore Steve Mair did the same thing, and now two other Kiwi owners have got in on the act. Four near-new Melges 40 one-design race boats have found their way downunder and are forming the basis of a new 12-metre division on Auckland Harbour.
The Melges 40 was designed by Spaniard Marcelino Botin and Botin Partners Naval Architects. Five boats were built by Premier Composite Technologies in Dubai, and the new class was supposed to ‘revolutionise’ one-design racing, with a circuit of windward-leeward, owner-driver regattas around Europe set up to alternate with the TP52 circuit. But after the first boats were launched in 2017 the circuit never really got off the ground, and the project fizzled out.
Still, for
