Day 3

Wellington, 23rd March 2008
Today, the Heretaunga Boating Club turned the weather on for us!
Light Southerlies in the morning, a little bit more in the afternoon – just the right thing after a hard day.

This morning's first race saw the whole fleet on the water – fifteen Javelins! For the support crews, the yacht Sarrie came out on the water for some close-up watching of the races. Andy looked after them with drinks and a gorgeous impromptu lunch.

On the Committee Boat, Tony had help from Ross Shanks and Holly. In spite of Colin's remarks about Ross's starting deficiencies, everything went very smoothly. In my opinion, that must have been the femal influence then!

It started off very light. All the fleet stayed really close together with boat speeds reasonable comparable. Bungholio lead at the top mark showing exceptional upwind speed. Craig admits that they did not know to do next so Absolute Marine scored their first win of the series, their light weight crew finally coming into their own. Flying Circus was cheering hard for everyone - except The Unknown. They took second place in front of Bungholio.

Winds shifted further West for the next race and still remained very light. Very very light. Rob and Craig went for a pin end start and made it to the top mark first again, and this time could hold on to their lead, winning the race in front of Absolute Marine. When the two skippers congratulated each other, they actually both thought the other one had one - so much for close racing! The Unknown had a rather sad race but could still hold on to their overall lead in the series. I had a great close finish with Ricahrd Bell and Todd Gilbert on Blossom, who could not come into the finish when we both approached the pin on starboard. That made us seventh, but messed up the fleet behind us so badly that Race Officer Tony Brown awarded us the MFU Trophy. A great applause here to my forward hand Catherine who filled in for
Hilary and did a great job up front.

For lunch the fleet came back to shore, apart from Hot Gossip who came alongside Sarrie for a special lunch treat. At the Club, Karen and Peter created a great feed with pizza, spaghetti on rolls, lemon tart and free apples (refer to Craig for more details). The sunshine made it a pleasant time on the beach.

For the last race today the wind shifted to the South again and freshened up just enough for (most of) us to get on the wire. Flying Circus pulled their sail on and won the race. Absolute Marine came second and Create Havoc made third. Ben hit the top mark, did his penalty turn and thereafter went his own way and passed five boats to get back into the race. Bryn and Damien on Thirty Something showed us all how fast the McNeill hulls are and kept well in touch with the top five boats despite their old sails.

The after-effects included Nice One and Wildfire going for a victory blat around Wellington harbour. They must have been celebrating their first proper racing since coming all the way from Northland!

Graham was disappointed that the dead cat out the front was not put on the barbecue tonight. Everyone else much enjoyed the great Thai food that the Club put on for us: A yummy buffet with ample food and desert! It was great to see so many sailors and supporters show up for our big evening!

Shansky and Graham awarded fines tonight again. Special mention goes to Craig Gilberd for crossing the line to the 'dark side'. Serious reprimands (and fines) went to Callum and me for hurting their crews. My sad record is breaking Jocelyn's finger at Labour Weekend, and putting out Hilary's back yesterday, with a near miss today when Catherine wrapped her earring around the sidestay. Oh, and Bundy was fined for being a Jafa...

Craig's summary on the standing (he would like to state that he has been known to be wrong before) is that there are five boats who can still win the series!
There are two races to go, plus the crews’ race, which means I better go to bed now and get some rest!

Antje.