While the weather was far from perfect, we still had a very successful day at the club starting with a large group of new trainees going through the initial session with Safety, gear, boat parts and a trip around the bay. After lunch we attempted to get Pennant races 3 & 4 away with our first try at running the tree different classes on three different courses and seperate starts.
The weather was in a word crazy with anything from 4-5 knots up to 20+ knots and NNW through SW in direction.
We eventually got away with the Sabre start at 13:18 with a fleet of four Sabres then five NS14s at 13:21 and finally three in the B14 class one being a 49er at 13:24.
On the way up to the top mark the breeze swang to the left (into the West) and built a fair bit making it a very shy reach to the wing mark. In the Sabres Wasabi was in the lead from Apisca and in the NS14s it was Viva la Vida ahead of Sundaze and in the B14s it was Early Warning from Jumpn' Jack Flash. During the first lap Wind Wizard decided to return to shore and the 49er had their hands full so also returned to shore. Then Under the Radar had the rudder float off the pintals and after some assistance and a trip to shore headed back out to compete in the second race. With the breeze mostly in the western quadrent the sausage was basically a pair of reaches and the final lap again had the Sabres and particullarly the NS fleet had a near windwrd out the the wing mark. In the Sabres Apisca had moved into the lead and held on the the finish with a two second win over Wasabi with Loose Change in third only 20 seconds furthur back. In the NS14s at the finish it was Viva la Vida with a nearly 40 second lead over Sundaze and Noiseworks in third. In the B14s Early Warning after an early scare from Jumpin' Jack Flash who then had a swim at the bottom mark so the margin ended up was quite large.
On Yardstick (Line honors)
Sabres Apisca first Wasabi second and Loose Change third
NS14s Viva la Vida first Sundaze second and Noiseworks third.
B14s Early Warning first Jumpin' Jack Flash second
On Handicap it was
Sabres Loose Change Phil Bloomfield first Apisca Jo-Anne Verrier second and Wasabi Guy McDougall third.
NS14s Noiseworks Stephen Townsend and Jayden Gadischke first Viva la Vida Darren Eggins and Georga Ottway and Sundaze Sam & Lindy Bailey third.
B14s Early Warning Ross Daley and Tony VanGalen first and Jumpin' Jack Flash Roger Jackson and Luke Veiceli second.
The breeze was quite fresh by now and some of the boats decided to head to shore as the race officer while taking a wind reading lost her balance and fell through the dodger, so we ended up with just the one race.
Hopefully next week will be a bit nicer weather wise and we can get all the new trainees out in the boats.
Next week we will attempt to resail Pennant Races 1 after the Anchor Wetsuits race.
