2022 Stack Winter Champs
Murrays Bay held the long running Stack Winter Champs over the weekend 15/16 October and turned on a wide range of conditions at what will be the venue for the upcoming ILCA 2023 Nationals. The event was run very well with RO, Nick Olson and team dealing with some tricky conditions not to mention a cold snap that really made it feel like it was still winter.
While full rigs weren’t able to compete the radial fleet was strong with an excellent turn out from competitors from all over the country as far north as the Bay of Islands/Taipa and as far South as Dunedin with Queen Charlotte, Tauranga, Napier, Hamilton as well as Auckland all well represented.
Day one was Easterly, lightish and got lighter through the day. Reigning female National Champ, Greta Pilkington, leveraged her recent European experience to be the stand out performer with two wins: gliding past some old hack to take the lead and extend in the first race. Zach Stibbe snuck into second on the line with Phil Wild in 3rd. Race two softened even more and saw a lot of place changes throughout the race – most notably was Greta who worked her way up into the lead with George Lane second and George Pilkington in 3rd. Racing was then abandoned for the day.
Day two was 15-20knots from the SW and garnered a great deal of excitement on shore from those keen to smash the beats and send it on the reaches. Interestingly enough, it was the older hands who had the legs over the course of the day. Race one saw a lot of place changes with initial race leader opting to sail another course, a couple of capsizes here and there and shifts typical of a puffy south wester. Lane showed consistency and was quite happy to watch numerous boats around him mess things up and found himself in the lead with a couple of legs to go. George Pilkington repeated his previous solid top 3 place with second and Wild getting back to 3rd. Race four was certainly the one for the old boys of the fleet with Wild, Lane and Dunedin sailor Peter Graham rounding out the top three. By now, most of the fleet were hurting but only half way through the day. Lane sailed sensibly and consistently to take race 5, George Pilkington in 2nd and Zach Stribbe powered into 3rd on the last beat. The last race saw Lane again sail well to take another gun with Graham in second and Greta storming through into 3rd. To top things off after four breezy races, everyone then got to enjoy the relaxing 40min slog back to the beach – gotta love the southwester!
Overall, consistency was crucial as the score card showed that between the top three overall place getters, there was only one race between them outside of the top 5 over the entire event (when Greta capsized????).
1st George Lane 7pts 1st
2nd Greta Pilkington 15pts 2nd , 1st Female
3rd Phil Wild 15pts 3rd
4th Zach Stibbe 20pts 4th, 1st Male Youth
10th Maddy Rist 48pts 10th, 1st Female Youth
It was great to have a strong fleet represented by so many parts of the country and sets a great scene for the upcoming national champs in January 23.
Phil Wild
