Opening Day Race Div 1 The Opening Day Race for the Div 1 Dinghies was sailed in ideal conditions with a gentle Nor-westerly, peaking at about 10knots. The 1000hours start time was postponed by 15minutes, whilst Mackenzie was righting her Starling, after an unexpected swim before reaching the start area. With a fleet of 4 Starlings, 1 Firebug and 1 Optimist, the decision was made to take the race area into Hellyer’s Creek, and use the new IRB as the Committee Boat. This worked very well indeed, and Stuart and Tamas quickly laid the leeward and windward marks, enabling a true beat to mark 1, and a start line square to the wind direction. The Starlings looked very professional, once they located which way to go. They milled around at the starboard end, looking for the perfect start, and Ollie was in prime position at the gun. Unfortunately Barnabas was OCS, and failed to start correctly, so Phoebe led the Opti/Firebug fleet. The Starlings did 2 laps of the course and finished with Ollie 1st, Kieran 2nd, Grace 3rd just overtaking Mackenzie 4th, close to the line. Barnabas did not have a good race, when he parted company from his Firebug, leaving him swimming while the dinghy sailed rapidly away from him. The Patrol Boat was quick to pick him up first, and then catch up with his escaping dinghy, which capsized and got it’s mast stuck in the mud! That is the only snag with sailing in Hellyer’s; it is quite shallow, but the positive side is the lack of tide. The second race started straight after the first race, with an equally exciting battle for the best start position between all the Starlings. Ollie came out on top again, but a sudden breakage, meant total loss of power from the mainsail, and he was left with a 300metre gap to close, and Kieran got well away. However Mackenzie and Grace stayed hot on his heels throughout the 2 lap race, with Kieran 1st, Grace 2nd, closely followed by Grace 3rd, and Ollie having sailed his socks off, only about 100metres behind. Phoebe sailed competently around on her own as Barnabas had been towed home so she ended up with two 1st positions. Thanks to Justine for coming out to help with the Race Management; Sean, Tamas and Stuart for operating the Patrol Boats, and Tina who kept everything together on the shore. No easy feat with Market goers wanting to block access off into and out of the compound in the no parking zone! The first Friday Junior Sailing Night was also a success, with 4 new families joining, and a fifth coming next Friday. The current youngsters did a great job looking after them all, making everyone feel welcome, showing them around and taking the juniors for rides in the Starlings. Some of the new parents (and grandparents) have experience of sailing, and two of the Dad’s got straight out on the water and joined in the YNZ Safety Boat Skipper’s Course which Kim Admore ran last Friday. If any club members want to help out on a Friday night you’re most welcome to come in any capacity of expertise. A love of sailing and/or children is a great help! Gill Moore (Dinghy Sailing Coordinator) |
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