|
by Steve Ashley |
 |
|
NZL 241 |
|
"The Rigging Shop" |
|
|
|
|
The
2010 A-Division Catamaran N.Z. Nationals got off to a
fine start on Monday afternoon off Takapuna beach with
the invitation race sailed in around a 12 knot NE sea
breeze.
|
|
|
|
A
fleet of 14 cats had come together from all around the
country from as far away as Wanaka and Christchurch in
the south and Keri Keri in the north. Numbers were down
on previous years but due to legitimate reasons and
generally not through any lame excuses. |
|
 |
|
The
forecast for the week was for fine weather with little
wind except possibly a brief breeze midweek. The wind
had been fresh from the east the previous week and had
brought in a bit of seaweed which allowed for an
increasing convenient number of excuses to be made up
for lack of performance. |
|
Tuesday
saw the first two races run in very trying conditions
for the race committee. Swinging around the compass a
cheeky 0-5 knot breeze kept us all waiting for some time
and in the end the racing got underway in less than
ideal conditions. Two short races were held in almost
lottery conditions but both were won convincingly by
Kevin Wichman in Cat Can Do NZL 237 which had us all
thinking that he’d likely take out the series if the
wind stayed light. |
|
 |
|
Wednesday
brought a change with a good breeze and it was decided
to take advantage of it and run 3 races. The first two
were the breeziest with the wind up around 18-20 kts
with gusts of up to 27 kts making for some exciting
sailing. |
|
In
the first race The Rigging Shop, NZL 241, got buried out
of the start so tacked away and sailed the right side of
the course whilst most of the fleet kept going left and
by the top mark a substantial gain had been made but by
the second run Murray Philpott, NZL 1, was starting to
close but stuck a bow in and flipped whilst trying to
retract a centreboard, he was soon back up though a
little more breathing space had been gained but with
Murray’s uncanny ability to almost always regain the
lead by the finish, if on the rare occasions he wasn’t
already leading from the start, there was still no room
for errors. Just when it seemed The Rigging Shop had
clinched its first win a vicious little gust hit and
caused a pitchpole just 100m from the finish but after a
few tense seconds was righted and still made the finish
first. |
|
 |
|
In
the second race, without tipping out, the rolls were
reversed and Murray beat Steve, this was great racing
but the breeze was starting to take its toll on some of
the rest of the fleet and by the 3rd race
only 7 boats were left racing. The casualties seemed
mainly due to rigging and foil failures. Daryl Senn on
Scythe NZL 246 managed to get between Murray and Steve
in this one. |
|
Daryl
has a unique trapezing style, which even in the most
demanding conditions has him looking as relaxed as
though out on a quiet Sunday afternoon drive in the
country. |
|
 |
|
Thursday
had us sailing again in lighter conditions but with the
wind up around 15 knots at times. |
|
Steve
again chose the right side and got a comfortable lead
with Ken Urquart NZL 250 closing fast towards the end
but on the last run the breeze out front eased off and
the whole fleet converged at the finish but with a
slight wind change just before the line which favoured
everyone else except Ken and Steve they only managed 7th
and 8th respectively. Murray, of course
managed to get through and win as he did too in the 2nd
race but Steve then managed a second followed by Daryl. |
|
Friday,
eventually, allowed us to race at around 2pm when a
reasonably steady Northerly of about 8-10 kts kicked
in. Murray was ahead on points and led the race from
the start but Steve had to be sure to keep Kevin behind
to hang on to second. It took most of the first beat
from an even start to overhaul Kevin but once Steve got
ahead and Kevin tacked for clear air it was all over and
Steve continued safely in second place for the remainder
of the race. |
|
 |
|
Apart
from one or two frustratingly light races and the weed
factor the series was a resounding success. Takapuna
did a great job of running the Nationals for us, so much
so that at our AGM, held on Wednesday evening, it was
decided that we’d like to hold the 2014 worlds at
Takapuna. It’s NZ’s turn then and Takapuna’s bid will
be presented at this years worlds in Italy in June. So
fingers crossed. |
|
The
most interesting new addition to the fleet was Tom
Bloch’s new boat NZL 252 which he’d only tested for 4
hours prior to this regatta. He’s the first to try
curved boards on a boat in NZ and it was unfortunate
that on the day when they potentially would have come in
to their own, on the breezy Wednesday, he broke a rudder
in the second race after managing a 3rd in
the first race though. Full credit to Tom for building
the entire boat, including foils, in a relatively short
time and making it to Takapuna and too for rebuilding a
centreboard which had broken on his first outing only a
week earlier. |
|
 |
|
It’s
been proposed that next year we will hold the Nationals
at Keri Keri in Northland during the April school
holidays and we’re looking forward to a record number of
entries of at least 20 boats. There are two new boats
being built at present with at least another one due to
be started soon. Two new guys are about to join the
class and the Napier and Wellington chapters won’t be
able to call on the excuses they used this year.
|
|
Hopefully
we’ll see Mike Drummond back in the local fleet again,
with his new design on the water. With his recent roll
in the design of BMW Oracle designing a world beating
A-class should be a breeze!
|
|
Finally
a big Thankyou to The Takapuna Boating Club and all
those that so generously gave up their time to make the
event the success it was and also to all our Generous
Sponsors without which we would not have been able to
have half the fun we did. |
|
So
roll on 2011 !!! |
|
 |
|
|
