Skipper – Gary Swain Crew – Gaylene McCaw, Robert Moore, Gary Matthews & Denise Ellis The course was set at 18 nautical mile from the start line at Russell out to Whale rock, down around Roberton Island and back to Russell. As we readied ourselves in the pre-start the yachts kept coming out and it was an awesome fleet to see with tall ships, super yachts, cuts and everything in between. With ten minutes to go we positioned ourselves on the port end of the line. WE had a great start crossing within seconds of the gun and had an amicable discussion with the skipper of SO’ cat who asked if he could go past and drop below us. No discussions with the 120ft super yacht which powered past a few minutes later with twenty crew. We were now in 3rd place. We passed starboard of the cruise ship and followed the super yacht across towards Kerkeri inlet, where they tacked across the harbour towards Tapeka Point. As they tacked we got a good lift and did not have to put at tack in!!! At the next crossing we were only 500 meters behind. We tacked across to keep in touch only to watch them disappear into the distance. We rounded the top mark in about 6th position and proceeded down through the islands. We decided not to run a spinnaker on the day and had a interesting downwind duel with a couple of local boats through the back of Roberton Island. When we got out of the lee of the island we were off again. We held our place and went to the finish line between the channel markers on the Paihia side of the harbour. We were either 7th or 8th across the line out of ALL of the boats, and we were very happy to receive 3rd prize on Handicap in our division. All in all an awesome day, great winds, perfect sailing, great spectacle and great event. After racing everyone gathered at the Russell Boating club and enjoyed themselves into the evening. Gary & Crew |
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