Race Officer’s Report:
Twelve yachts reveled in the unexpectedly mild, gusty A to B rig, West to South West breeze on Race Area C. The DF 95 fleet got off to two starts while the IOMers changed up from B to A cos they were sure the breeze was dying. Sure enough, as soon as they started racing, the wind came back and the IOMs occasionally pirouetted down the run, and battled the gusts up wind. Tex changed back to B and once again the wind perversely eased until NZL 00 came off for repairs.
Rick (NZL 92) showed composure and consistency to take every race but one.
We welcomed Dave Hill and his DF 95 to the day’s racing. We could see the competitive spark ignite and he will definitely be back for more. NZL 79 suffered rig damage in Race 4 and came back to the start line with a C rig. Darry tried everything to keep his positions after excellent starts – lining up for the gusts, praying for the wind to blow, pleading for a shortened course, and so on. In the end his course management skills were good enough to take out the overall win for the day. Well done Darryl.
We got through 16 races – 8 each for the two divisions. The high quality in both divisions, of starts and racing around the course, justified keeping them separate for their races. Each skipper effectively experienced a 2-heat-regatta by racing, then having to wait for the other class to complete its race before the next start. It was interesting to see how each skipper filled their down time. Some tuning, some practising off the course, some just resting, etc.