Well the forecast for the weekend said cold, 30 to 40 knots, torrential rain and big seas and it was not too far wrong. It put off a few of the 50 entrants for the weekend but the 40+ that did make it enjoyed a great regatta. The wind for Saturday and for Sunday morning was fresh to strong but manageable, and it moderated considerably for the later races on Sunday. It did rain, but unlike the weekends flooding further north in Wairoa and Gisborne we only got heavy showers on Saturday and just grey skies Sunday, but it was definitely cold, with the mercury topping out at about 12 degrees on Saturday! The waves were however a feature of the weekend. A really big 2m+ easterly swell with a big southerly wind chop on top made for really tricky conditions both up and down wind, plenty of swims through the fleet and an interesting search for marks through the swell and the rain. Even the top sailors found it hard, particularly with the big swell pushing the boat around and constantly changing the apparent wind. 

 

As usual the cream rose to the top.

 

In the ILCA 6 it was a great weekend for the Pilkington family. George Pilkington, who will be representing NZ at the world youth champs next week, prevailed on a count back from Zach Stibbe. Louie Poletti had two bullets and ended up a close third on count back from top woman Greta Pilkington, who won the last race in the more moderate conditions. They were followed closely by local Napier rising star Winston Liesebach, who was super consistent all weekend with a discard 6th the lowest discard in the fleet. . Miya Prescott just pipped Rose Dickey and Nina Mannering for the top youth girl spot while Phil Wild in 6th overall was the leading Master from Dave Johnson and Ed Tam.

 

With the strong conditions several sailors opted for the ILCA 4 while still sailing with the ILCA 6 fleet, and it was Lukas Johnson who stuck it out for all 6 races that cleaned up that the 4's.

 

In the ILCA 7 youth well and truely dominated experience, with Dylan Forsyth winning every race, some by shall we say generous margins! There was a great battle for the minor placings with really close racing in the whole master bunch,  but in the end somehow Andrew Dellabarca managed to be at the front of that bunch when it counted, getting second in every race, while Rob Woodward and Tony Nicholson fought it out for the last podium spot, Rob ultimately holding on to claim 3rd overall.

 

So a really successful regatta despite the challenging conditions. With the Nationals at the same venue just a few weeks away it was an interesting "warm up". We are looking forward to Napier delivering an actual summer in January, so we can all leave the winter thermals at home and hopefully enjoy 4 days of champagne racing.

 

Nick Page