Mr Neil Easton (our faithful shore crew) and our dear friend Steve in their first Simrad were amongst the winners. Winning the small boat cruising division, in Steve’s modern classic Rainbird. I am so proud of Neil’s result on his first attempt. Roll on a Round the North Island campaign for you guys I say!
For Rob and I it was a chance to go sailing, without a pile of boat work, this was very refreshing for both of us. Moreover, having sailed 3000nm together this year and I suppose 5000nm in the last 2.5 years, the entire race went pretty smoothly, from the bacon and eggs for breakfast to the bubbly for the trip home.
The race started at Northern Leading off Mission Bay, then rounded Waiheke in a anti-clockwise direction.
To start with we were a little slow to readjust to the shorter courses. Our start I have to say was joint effort, which maybe why we were a little further back than usual. Soon after the start the wind died and unfortunately filled on the left while we were on the right hand side of the course. However, our code zero headsail once again saved the day and we made gains in the Tamaki Strait. We did not map out our beat well along the eastern side of Waiheke to start with, but 1/2 way along the leg found our confidence. From the eastern end of Waiheke to Motutapu was a code zero reach. We were uncertain if we should use the zero rather than stay using the headsail we already had up. However our Expedition based sail chart ( the charts that defines which sails should be used when) suggested we should, and it was right. It is good to have a non-subjective decision making tool for deciding what sail to use, rather than just being LAZY!
We changed to our big kite for the run to the finish. Rob worked hard during the sail change allowing him to finish in a T-shirt, much to concern on the finish boat.
We ended up finishing 6th on line and 8th on PHRF. Not the best start we have had to a series, but I have a busy calendar of one-design sailing and sailing as a training partner for the paraylmpians before the next event to sharpen up my short course racing and renew the intensity of our program. I just can’t wait to be out there again! Game on.
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