25th Ceramco Mast Party celebrated in fine style

by Sail-World NZL on 21 Sep 2011 The 25th anniversary of the Ceramco Mast party held at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, with a group of around 150 Whitbread and Volvo sailors, friends and supporters.

The dismasting of the Whitbread racer, Ceramco New Zealand, has been celebrated every year by her New Zealand based crew. Right on the dot of 2130hrs on the 21st September, a ceremonial mast is dropped and the occasion appropriately marked.

This year, being the 25th anniversary, the Mast Party was opened to all associated with the Whitbread and Volvo Round the World races, as sailors, supporters, media and sponsors. The Ceramco mast party will also be featured on TV One, on Friday evening in the Close-Up program starting at 7.00pm

The function at Royal Akarana YC saw competitors from the last Volvo Race mingling with those from the Ceramco, Flyer and Outward Bound crews and all shades in between. Around 170 New Zealanders have sailed at least one leg on a Whitbread or Volvo Race.

This occasion was also special as it was the first time that the sailors from the last Volvo had got together again with the America's Cup sailors back from Valencia.

The 25th Anniversary function was opened by Simon Gundry, who didn't take long to stoke up the old Ceramco vs Flyer rivalry which was feature of the 1981-82 Whitbread Round the World Race.

That theme was continued by the Ceramco crew, who held the microphone and centre stage all evening against a constant barracking from the members of the Flyer crew, chiefly Grant Dalton and watch captain Erle Williams who did their best to keep a smidgeon of truth running through the proceedings. As the night wore on the claims and stories of what really happened grew like Pinocchio’s nose.

A special DVD had been produced for the occasion, featuring a lot of footage from the 1981-82 Whitbread and played on the big screen all night. The scenes from Ceramco, Flyer and Outward Bound – provided a ready supply of incidents which were the subject of varying interpretations, depending on whether you were on Flyer or Ceramco.

The first event of the evening was a telephone hook-up with Pippa Blake, who spoke with each crewmember in turn as the microphone was passed along the seven surviving crew members present, and the conversation played out over the PA system.

John Newton was at his outrageous best, asking Pippa, a highly respected painter, if she was interested in doing a nude painting of him, for the occasion, in All Black's Anton Oliver style (back view). He assured the good Lady that his body was still at its outstanding best, and would be an excellent subject. But even so, the offer was politely declined, for the time being anyway.

As the dismasting hour approached, the party moved outside where a very impressive spar had been erected along with a steering wheel and pedestal.

The seven crew gathered around, and once again the tale of the dismasting was retold for the umpteenth time, with the margin between Flyer and Ceramco growing with every recital.

OC Rutter took up his place at the helm, and the banter and critique of his helming style reached a crescendo.

On the dot of 9.30pm the line was cut as the crew looked aloft and the mast crashed to the ground. OC was still looking a little dry to the Flyer's crew's liking. However a firehose was quickly produced and saturated the crew while they were still in fast rewind mode for the events of 25 years previous.

Then it was over for another year.

A great happy occasion, which will hopefully continue for many years to come.

The 25th Ceramco Mast Party in pictures