Day 1

Wellington, 21st March 2008

It looked so promising! Sunshine and reasonable wind all week, and even this morning!

After registration, measurement and the briefing by host Peter Gilbert and Race Officer Tony Brown, everyone got ready for a 2pm start. Boats had been repaired, sanded, polished and washed until the last minute.

So we all got out on the water - 16 Javelins turned up at the Heretaunga Boating Club this year. Thank you all for making the effort to travel to Wellington, and Special Big THANKS to all the last-minute crew that volunteered for a ride on a Javelin within that last few days! You made sure that another 4 Boats could be on the water today!

David Brown on Flying Circus did not make it to the start. The gennaker halyard sheave came off the mast and the halyard cut the front of the mast open about a foot long. David and Graham took the boat back to Palmerston North to fix it. At this time one layer of carbon has already cured...

The first race had moderate winds with some strong gusts and bit (I mean big!) shifts. Roger Barnes on Bad Blood made it to the top mark first! He then tried all kinds of ways to tip a Javelin over, including standing it on its nose. Doug Roberts, who watched the happening from the safe distance of the start boat absolved him for one of the bail-outs at the bottom mark: a gust of 38 knots came through when Roger had to round up...

The first race was won by Ben Bax on The Uknown, followed by Nick Taylor. I have to put in my personal congratulations to Hilary, my crew. It was her first race on a Javelin, after having had her first sail on one yesterday, and she did very well in very taxing conditions: we kept the stick in the air and got in 5th!

Then came the second race and a lot of wind. But not only winds, also big holes to fall into, and huge shifts to biff you around. In Ben's words 'vicious', and the hardest conditions he ever sailed in. The strongest gusts measured 41 knots! Everyone tipped over at some stage (apart from Roger, who had done his share in the first race). Nick took this race home with a huge lead, with Craig on Bungholio following him back to the beach. Eight boats survived this trial, one was prudent enough not to attempt it, and the rest had carnage. One broken masts, another one breaking the sheave and ripping the mast open, Nice One and Blunderbus were sinking and had to be towed in. Matt Michel's Blunderbus sustained structural damage of the mast support and the foredeck so will be out of the series. Kerry Roger on Nice One and his boat technician Rosie reckoned 'that can be ducked', so Kerry and Sean will be back on the water tomorrow.

Lovely dinner was served by Karen Gilbert: Lamb and hash browns with salads. There was plenty there, and all of it got demolished!

The entertainment for the evening was provided Peter Holt playing relaxing tunes and requests on the keyboard. There were lots to talk about, so it was a humming evening.

Special Guest Head Brother Murray Gibbons turned up and lodged an official complaint that He had not been informed by the organisers.

I fully accept the blame for that. Murray had to fine turncoat Ben Bax for turning his back on the Brotherhood and becoming a BEW. In addition, Ben had forgotten his tiller extension and sent Brother Adam back to the beach to fetch it. Bozo was at hand and made a few rounds.

Later the Club house was turned into a workshop with glue, glass and carbon all over the place.

I retired early as I was rather exhausted, so someone else has to report about the remainder of the day...

Looking forward to more 'good Wellington sailing'...!!!

Antje.