Another long day which finally yielded one race for most divisions. A very light southerly prevented any action until very late in the day, with launching delayed until well after 4pm for all fleets.

By that time the breeze had clocked around to the SE and just got up over the 5 knot minimum requirement. All classes except the GGM Radial were able to complete one race in the very unsteady breeze, with lumpy onshore conditions  and many pressure and direction changes. Racing finished at sunset for the later starters on both courses, with the last boats getting to shore in the late twilight and the GGM Radial start apparently being abandoned due to it getting too late for them to complete a race before dark.

So far only provisional results are available.

Provisionally the best Kiwi results of the day were Mike Keeton, second in the GM Radial, Matt Blakey third in the Apprentice Standard and Scott Leith 4th in the Radial Apprentices. The balance of the Kiwis had a mixed day in the challenging conditions, particularly the three of us in the Standard GM’s who failed to shine, all getting results in the 30’s!

Pete Van Ryn loosing about 30 places at the top mark when underlaying illustrated the closeness of the racing, as well as a certain lack of judgement at critical moments on his part!

Tomorrow we have a 12 knot onshore breeze forecast so hopefully racing will get away on time and really kick the regatta into action. Current forecast is for similar but slightly freshening conditions for the rest of the week so it continues to look promising for the series in spite of the difficult start.

Nick Page