The Auckland ILCA (Laser) champs was held at Tamaki on 2nd and 3rd April, incorporating the Auckland Masters one day regatta on the Saturday. 

 

A good fleet of 44 turned out on Saturday morning to a forecast of light and variable conditions for the weekend and indeed that was what we got, northerly breezes 5 to 8 knots on Saturday and struggling to get to 5 knots on Sunday. That, combined with the usual Tamaki washing machine chop from ferries and with half of Auckland out boating, definitely made for some interesting racing. Standout performance had to be 82 year old Sandy Grigg being very competitive in the Standard fleet; never say local knowledge is not important, he joined Tamaki in about 1952!

 

On Saturday the Standard Masters, who made up the majority of the Standard fleet, enjoyed close racing with Al Tate making the most of the conditions to be the leading masters in all 4 races and take home the Auckland Masters trophy. He was followed by a close bunch in most races with Chris Brodie eventually coming through as leading GM and second master overall, Mark Hursthouse third overall and first GGM with David Giles and Mike Fyfe from Akarana rounding out the top bunch. In the Radials the Masters were in the minority but ended up well spread through the large youth fleet. Standout was Phil Wild, winning the Masters championship and sitting 3rd overall at the end of the day, including getting the gun in one race. Tamaki Apprentice Phillip Bennett was second master with leading GM Werner Hennig in 3rd.

 

On Sunday a few masters were back to join the balance of the fleets to decide the Auckland Champs. In the Radials Fijian Olympic rep Sophia Morgan had led overnight and had a great battle with Caleb Armit (Y) in the two races completed on Sunday. In the end it was Caleb who won on count back from Sophia with George Lane(O) third and Greta Pilkington, who won two races but struggled a bit for consistency, finishing 4th overall. In the Standards the racing at the top of the fleet was close both days but Thomas Mulcahy dominated the results in the end with Samoan Olympic rep Eroni Leilua second overall and master Chris Brodie 3rd.

 

Overall  a challenging regatta for all but great to see a strong fleet at the end of this Covid affected season.