3-7 Class North Island Champs Abandoned!!

[John Elliott]

Hi Folks

Your trusty old ex-writer-up John Elliott getting all excited about a big
write-up here.

Well, it would be a big write-up if we had much sailing to write about.

Things started on a positive tone: we had a good steady 5 knots or so
roughly from the South as we arrived at Lake Ngaroto around 9am.

Unfortunately, it slowly eased and subsided around 11.30, just as we started
racing.. We took quite a long time to complete a full-course Race 1 as the
wind slowly died away.

Most of us (11 total) finished a very shortened version of a second race,
whereupon we hit the shore for lunch. The wind then died totally and
permanently for the rest of the Weekend.

On a calm Sunday morning we eventually voted to give up on the idea of the
North Island Champs, and, having seen a couple of Hot Air Balloons in the
distant airs of Hamilton, we agreed to pack up our boats early and go home..

There were a few highlights:

Race 1 : Derek Snow worked his way to a good win after Lucia Chagas
excelled on leg 1 to take a good lead into leg 2, only to head the wrong
way.. She held on to take a very good 2nd just behind Derek, and Paul
Moriarty was a close 3rd. All 3 showed good skills. as did Joe Bachelor
(Paul's fellow- Waitara sailor, who sailed what used-to-be a heavy No 77
into a respectable 5th place!) The rest of us struggled a little.

Race 2 was finished soon after the start in a dying breeze.. Derek Snow
suffered from unluckily choosing the wrong side of the course. I feel that
the course was too short to deserve respect for fairness (although Derek
still managed a good 4th) so it was probably a good thing that the rest of
the series never took place.

We had a great evening meal, and lots of good talk, but Sunday dawned as
windless as Saturday pm had been, and instead of sailing we soon agreed to
abandon the contest, pack up, and head for home.

A very unlucky weekend for those who travelled: No contest at a venue which
normally provides better racing than Hamilton!

Our thanks to Race Officer Owen Walker and his staff, who all did their best
for us.

John Elliott

(P.S. : Apologies for delay - because I forgot to take details home with
me and the contest was abandoned, I had to wait a week for Owen to return to
the clubhouse and send me our aborted results!)