The Tornado Class is an ex Olympic class designed and refined over 50 years of competition. This class can give modern designs a good close contest and is still
one of the fastest sail boats on the water
Designed in 1967 by Rodney March, the class rule had a major update in 2000 to include a gennaker, self tacking jib system and twin trapeze
LOA. 6.1m Beam 3.08m Weight 155Kgs
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About the Boat
About the NZ Tornado Association
The NZ Class is a YNZ affiliated association that is actively raced. We like to have a mix of windward/leeward, harbour and destination sailing.
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There are 3 established fleets in NZ
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The main fleet is located in Tauranga
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A solid fleet in the Bay of Islands
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A fledgling fleet in Clarks Beach, Sth Auckland
The current NZ Tornado Association president is Winston Ordish-Benner
Some of the
Established Teams
Relentless NZL87
Jason Marra and Brendon Duske are the current national champs and have been sailing together since 2016. NZL87 is always in contention no matter the event.
Quantum Leap NZL94
Tom Wain and Lyndsay Hayward have only had two seasons together but are on a upward performance curve and looking to achieve some good results
Spitfire NZL79
Dennis Webster and his son Adrian have been sailing Spitfire since 2019, and other beach catamarans before then. Dennis is in his mid 70s and still going strong.
Previous National Champions
The Moore Trophy
International B Class Catamarans
New Zealand Championships
1971 – A Geddes – “Bettina”
1972 – A Geddes – “Bettina”
1973 – K Mackinven – “Boadicea”
1974 – L Hope – “The Iron Butterfly”
1975 – S Grain – “Iron Butterfly”
1976 – S Grain – “Bloody Mary”
1977 – M Trotter – “The Teaser”
1978 – B de Their, S Moffatt
1979 – Equal: R Sellers, C Sly and B de Their, S Moffatt
1980 – L Hope, C Timms
1981 – R Sellers, C Sly
1982 – B de Their, R Sly
1983 – R Sellers, R Sly
1984 – Rex Sellers, Rex Sly
1985 – Bret de Their, Jeremy Stephenson
1986 – Bryan Jones, Andy Knowles
1987 – Rex Sellers, Chris Timms
1988 – Brian Jones, Andy Knowles
1989 – Brian Jones, Sean Reeves
1990 – Brian Jones, Sean Reeves
1991 – Rex Sellers, Brian Jones
1992 – Rex Sellers, Brian Jones
1993 – Simon Manning, Andy Robertson “Bank of New Zealand”
1994 – Simon Manning, Andy Robertson “Bank of New Zealand”
1995 – Simon Manning, Andy Robertson
1996 – Andy Knowles, John Clinton
1997 – Simon Manning, Andy Robertson
1998 – Chris Dickson, Jeremy Stephenson
1999 – Chris Dickson, Jeremy Stephenson
2000 – Chris Dickson, Glen Sowry
2001 – Nigel Williams, Jeremy Stephenson
2004 – Thomas Block, Sally Tait
2005 – Dave & Susan Shaw
2013 – Brett Sellers & Rex Sellers
2014 – Brett Sellers & Rex Sellers
2015 – Dave & Susan Shaw
2016 – Bill Caunce & Aaron Duncan "Stoney Broke"
2017 – Bill Caunce & Aaron Duncan "Stoney Broke"
2018 – Dave & Susan Shaw
2019 – Rex Sellers & Brett Sellers
2020 – Dave Lineham & Nathaniel Deverel “C4”
2021 – Bill Caunce & Tom Maidment "Stoney Broke"
2022 – Jason Marra & Brendon Duske "Relentless"
2023 – Jason Marra & Brendon Duske "Relentless"