Paradise run
Southport Yacht Club member David Hows has entered Silver Fern into the 2021 Bartercard Sail Paradise Regatta.
20 August 2020
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The fleet for Sail Paradise 2021 has taken a step up with the recent entry of the 72-foot New Zealand flagged entry Silver Fern.
David Hows purchased the 72-foot steel yacht Silver Fern in August 2020 after successfully campaigning his Beneteau 445 yacht Ocean Gem out of the Southport Yacht Cub since 2014.
David’s past successes have included Sail Paradise Overall Champion in 2016 and 2019; back-to-back SYC Keelboat Club Championships in 2016 and 2017; PHS and IRC wins in the inaugural 2019 Brisbane to Hamilton Island Race; success in the 2018 Solo Tasman Yacht Race; and Queensland Beneteau Cup trophies in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
David’s growing passion for Category 1 offshore racing and sailing expeditions has led to the sale of Ocean Gem after nine years and the purchase of his new yacht Silver Fern.
Sail Paradise in 2021 will be his first major regatta, following a planned three-month refit and sail wardrobe upgrade.
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With the yacht currently based at Marsden Cove, 90 minutes north of Auckland in New Zealand, David also has to navigate COVID-19 quarantine challenges to sail Silver Fern to Southport in November this year in preparation for Sail Paradise, before heading south for the Sydney to Auckland Yacht race in February 2021.
Silver Fern is a robust steel 30-tonne yacht, originally purpose-built as a Birdsall 60 in 1983. It was redesigned by renowned race yacht designer Brett Bakewell-White, who extended the yacht’s length to 72 feet. She was relaunched in 2004 to go anywhere in the world, spending 2005–2016 circumnavigating the globe and visiting more than seventy countries.
David’s planned upgrades for Silver Fern include an expanded racing sail wardrobe, new rigging and electronics, to prepare Silver Fern for her next chapter.
When asked why Sail Paradise was the first regatta on David’s list for Silver Fern, he replied: “Sail Paradise is one of my favourite regattas, and this will be my sixth edition.
“The regatta is first class, our club members are fierce competitors and great friends at the same time, and the welcome we turn on for visiting yachts and crews is second to none.”
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