Day 4

24th March 2008

WHAT A DAY!

Today we awoke to another great Wellington morning: sun and light wind from several directions. I have by now well forgiven the conditions of the first two days!

With so many boats still in to win, everyone actually launched rather timely. With a light northerly blowing off the beach it was easy to get going: in the foils and up the kite!

Tony Brown got us out towards Somes Island, and it was still a steady enough breeze when we started. It was rather bunched up at the Committee Boat, where Craig was caught up for some time before getting across the line. The B Division had their own ideas and pretty unanimously started a few minutes after the main fleet. The wind got patchy and shifty, which made for 'exciting' sailing (as per my crew) as places changed quickly to a fro on the way up to the mark. David Brown got his own private breeze, so he took off followed by Nick Taylor. The fleet came around the top mark in some kind of order and dispersed over the course in search of wind. There was a little bit to the East, coming back towards the middle, but the rest was rather becalmed. Everyone got together at the bottom mark and had to wait there for the next light puff to get going again, which seriously jumbled up the order of placing. Martin and Ben decided for the left hand side going back up the track, which proved to be the golden choice. They got some light pressure over there while David and Nick were parked up towards the right and had to watch it happen. The course was shortened at the top mark, to Martin took out his first win of the series! Nick came second, and between the two boats fighting for the overall lead it was so tight that the finishing hooter went beep-beep. David had come third by inches in front of Ben. Fifth was Craig in front of me and Bryn.

With virtually no wind we drifted about, watching the Southerly out in Cook Straight and in just by the beach. Tony decided that the best bet was to have lunch first. By the time we got to the shore, a steady Southerly was setting in. Karen and her helpers provided sausages and last night's curry (which was even better the second time round!) for the hungry bunch. Yes, and there were more free apples! It must be mentioned that not everyone was happy with a lottery like this to be counted as a race, so the more important it was that the Southerly settled in nicely for another start at 2pm. David was in the lead now, but the title could still be taken away by The Uknown, with theoretical chances for Nick and Stuart too.

When we launched once more in the rising Southerly, some skippers forgot their foils again, but the official MFU (which got the reward for the whole regatta) was Riders on the Storm. When they thought they were far enough off the beach to get going, they somehow did not have enough grip in the water to go to windward with Colin hanging in the water off the wire, and nearly drifted into Blossom, managing to avoid her but capsizing, just past that other boat, to windward. It all looked very different from this morning! The wind had increased to a steady 15 knots from the South and rising. With the fleet still that close together it was no surprise that quite a few boats were on the course side at the start. Absolute Marine turned back when the single recall was hoisted. Tony Brown changed his mind and made it a General Recall, but not many boats saw that. Roger certainly did because he lay capsized just below the start line... So the race was abandoned and a chase boat had to be sent up the course to call back the fleet from their excursion to the top mark.

The last start was a clean affair, with David and Ben at the pin, and Wildfire and Nice One scoring a good start at the boat on a very equal line.

Deciding factor was the second downwind, when the breeze came up more and several boats underestimated their gybing angle. Rob (who had decided he needed Craig's weight on Bungholio's wire) was way out front having a great time, with Colin, Ben and David following at a safe distance. Colin had to drop early to make it to the mark, and even Ben was shy of making it, so David could sneak through on the inside. For the last downwind run, Ben tried to gybe early to come to the finish on starboard, but David had slipped through and second place behind Bungholio was enough for the Flying Circus to secure the title! It was great close racing throughout the fleet and spectacular watching.

There were only 5 competitors for the Crews Race, and just 3 made it to the finish: Jason on Create Havoc came third, Graham on Flying Circus made second place, and Ollie on Absolute Marine won it - very well done to the youngest sailor in our fleet!

Once everyone was back on shore the wind abated again, and at 5pm we held the prize giving.

Many thanks to all the sailors for coming, to the partners and support crews for supporting our class, to the helpers on the rescue boats and committee boats for putting on great racing, to Karen for providing the best catering I have ever experienced at a regatta, to Peter Precey for officiating as Race Committee Chairman and compiling the results, to Tony Brown for getting through all races in trying conditions, and special thanks to Peter Gilbert for pulling it all together!

We will see most of you at the Labour Weekend Regatta in the Bay of Islands, and hopefully all of you at the South Pacifics in Tauranga 26th January to 6th February 2009!

Bye,

Antje.