Race Report from Stewart McMillan, Stinger Buggered the start ... ... again. Pedestrian race enjoyable sailing with the 3 other entries just visible. What more can one say. * readers please note, that Stinger did actually come 2nd after handicap!!!!! Race Report from Darcy Blackmoore of Young Entertainer After a disappointing Sunday morning of Cup Action we were keen to get out on the water and send it! We had great weather and even had to apply sun screen! We are on the start line and the tide is ripping out but we got the lead and headed for Kauri Point. All boats around us popped spinnakers but the wind was a little aft for our gennaker set so we held on with our head sail until we cleared the land and the wind moved forward. We had a sweet set and the crew helmed and trimmed the boat to the bottom mark. The wind was moving around between 10 and 18 knots. The gennaker definitely worked well in these conditions and maybe a clean bum would have increased our speed... We rounded the mark and headed for home. Young Entertainer, Eye Spy and Stratus had a great duel upwind to Kauri Point. Around Kauri Point we cracked sheets and headed for the line. We got both lines but we weren't fast enough to get the handicap win. Sam, Dunc, Blair, Jude and Warren did a great job getting the boat around the course and Warren learned a few new words... We will make a sailor out of him yet! A great day to be sailing with Hobby Yacht Club! Race report from Trevor May of Eye Spy I just managed to finish the anti-foul in time to be put back in the water last thing on Friday. Quite an effort to be completed around all the rain. The paint was still a touch on the soft side but at least we didn't miss the race. Was it all worth it? Sunday race: As it turned out we were "three up" to make use of a nice clean hull. Eric, John Emm and myself were enough in the 13-18 knots of wind. We did miss the extra hands during the down wind legs tho. We decided on using No.2 headsail to speed up the tacks and the No.2 kite to ensure we could run it around Kauri Point and on to Rhona as we thought it may get a little shy. The wind squared up towards the mark which meant we were side by side with "Stratus" for alot of the leg. Maybe the No.1 kite would have been advantageous. Too late..........will need to sail well up wind to ensure the required gains. Got a sore neck up wind as we had to cover "Stratus" and all the while do battle with "Young Entertainer" for the lead position. The lead changed a couple of times with all boats pushing the limits with depth in order to keep out of the tide. Once sheets were "cracked" around Kauri Point the Young boats extended from "Stratus". Eye Spy no match for the power of the 11 but close enough for the win on handi-cap. I love it when a plan comes together......... I understand "Stinger" had an issue at the start line but good to see "big Yellow" out on the race track. Good on ya Stu........ Great conditions made for a great sail. Roll on summer. TREV |
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