How exciting it was to see a big TY fleet roll up for today’s “Take a junior or two and maybe their parents as well around the lake race”. Fantastic. And we still have room in the rigging area for lots more.
Thanks to Amelia and John our duty crew today for setting us a great course and guiding us around far flung marks. The wind was slowly swinging to the south from the west posing a challenge for setting a windward start and they did a great job to set the start so the fleet got away cleanly to the first mark.
TY starters for today’s race were; Serenity with Wayne, Daniel, Dylan, and Richard aboard; Amourette with Brad Kylie Dave, Tallarah, Braysden, Dylan and Deakin aboard; Frou Frou with me, Andy, Alan, Mica, and Patrick aboard; Nirvana 7 with Rylie, Beck, Todd and Justin aboard; Breakaway with Hayden, Jo, Steve, Bailey, Flynn, Max, Cooper, Rosstered Off with Jim, Richard, Dave, Shaun, Asher, Shane Charlott and others too numerous to mention aboard and; Hataitai with Connor, Aaron, Martin and Silvy. Forgive me if I have missed a few crew names or use the wrong spellings for your name. But if you keep on turning up I am sure I will get it right.
Frou Frou was busy shaking down the new crew, practicing our tacking and jibing manoeuvres and getting everyone aboard familiar with her, and missed the start. We also missed our opportunity to exchange “trash talk” with the other boat crews. Of course we would have been very polite so as to set a good example for our juniors Patrick and Mica.
By all reports everyone got away from the start cleanly. Rosstered Off led the way to the first rounding mark with the rest of the fleet close together and just behind her. By the Oak Flats mark Rosstered Off was well ahead of the TY fleet and carried the dying breeze back up the course to near the reef mark. The rest of us were left to bob up and down making sporadic progress under spinnaker until late afternoon when the Easterly kicked in at around 8 knots to help us to the finish, all bunched up again.
My spies tell me that there was a bit of water balloon exchanging going on between some of the TYs. I am sure it was just a kind gesture to help opposing boat crews cool off or perhaps it was a little sibling rivalry emerging, and no doubt all done within the good sportsmanship requirements of the AYF rules of racing.
Results for Pointscore 21
Boat Name Place Corrected Time PBH (CBH)
Serenity First 117.60 (127.68
Rosstered Off Second 122.89 (120.15)
Frou Frou Third 124.68 (124.68)
Nirvana 7 Forth 127.75 (126.11)
Breakaway Fifth (129.32)
Amourette Sixth (131.82)
Hataitai Seventh (138.69)
Only two more races to go till the end of the season with our final championship races scheduled for April 16. Please make the effort to sail with us and help finish the season off with a bang.