The big advantage of a "weather bomb" is that you also get wind, something we haven't seen much of this year. The aftermath was 15 knts building to 20–25 knts mid afternoon – fantastic for the race day. The fact it rained all day didn't stop the enjoyment of our first windy race day for 8 months. The day started with the AGM at 10.30 which went smoothly and reasonably quickly. At race briefing there were an even number of 4m and 3m sails up, but as the wind rose to about 20 knts most changed to the 3 metre. 4 stayed with their bigger sails with Orca managing to control the gusts and coming away with a couple of wins in the heavy weights – good sailing in these conditions and Dave W showing he also fast in these conditions.. The light weights all ended up with 3 metres after a couple started with 4s. Exciting sailing in the winds with some squalls catching some out a few at times. At one stage 6 sailors failed to take the fast tack by the netball court, all ending up on the grass and 4 sailing under trees to end up skidding along on their pulley whips. Where's the camera when you need it? It couldn't have been better synchronised if they had tried. One broken mast from doing the same trick and both Jude and Nicko ended up 50 metres down the path between netball courts and lakes – the safety route for those who don't make the corner. Quite a few spun out as gusts hit but no damage. The youth sailors handled it all without a problem. Haydn had a 100% day getting 5 out of 5 although in one he had to hunt down David who got the perfect start. The minor placings were fought out between Grant1, Wayne, Graham, Trevor, Barry, Jon, and Tony with perhaps Grant being the most consistent. The heavyweights were very even with the 3 metres of Russell, Nicko, and Alex fighting it out with Orca with his 4. 3metres 4 wins – 4 metres 2 wins. Dave W, Jenny, Bruce and Grant were also there fighting for places. As we started the 12th race of the day the wind dropped a bit and the rain finally got to our start system with the recall signal being sounded instead of the start signal with 10 seconds to go. A minor hiccup for the race directors. We tried again but the wind had gone a bit fickle and rather than all change sails again it was decided to call it a day – most were glad at this stage to get into some dry clothes and warm up a bit. One last all in race to keep those on the track happy and it was time to pack up. Results out tomorrow. Thanks to Trish and Marg, with help from Bexs and Mattie, for running the starts and finishes – all very smooth all day. Wet? yes. Windy? yes. Great fun? definitely. And not a 5.5 in sight!

Russell

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