The Junior Regatta was held on Sat 15th Dec.

Results:http://www.wakatere.org.nz/results.html

See you all back at Wakatere for the Auckland Opti Champs late Jan 2013

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Hi everyone,

This week finds us all in the middle of the busiest period of Opti sailing for the year with multiple regattas being attended by Wakatere sailors in NZ and abroad.  This update is a bit longer than usual but there is a lot of information I need you to be aware of, some fantastic results by Wakatere sailors and a call to action for as many volunteers as possible over the next couple of months.

North Islands and NZ Ranking

The most important of the recent regattas was for our Open sailors who attended the NI's in Taupo over three days, because it was also a NZ ranking regatta. The whole squad performed really well in some testing condition and the three day format is a great test of a sailor’s fitness and stamina.

For those that don't understand the ranking system, a series of four regattas make up the NZ Opti Ranking and it’s the goal of nearly every Open fleet sailor to improve their ranking through the year and season on season.  The regattas are the Opti North Island Champs, the Auckland Champs (at Wakatere in Jan); the Interislander (Picton) and the Opti Nationals (Timaru this year). The reward for top placing is selection into the squads that attend overseas regattas such as the Worlds (Italy next year), Europeans ( Hungary) Asian Champs ( Japan) and the Nth American Champs ( Bermuda).

The regattas are challenging events for any Optimist sailor with four races a day on full length courses that run in nearly all conditions and Taupo was no different.  The first day was relatively light with wind between 8 and 12 knots and very shifty as always. Saturday and Sunday turned cold with strong cold SW winds and rain whipping up short seas and providing a real test of skill.  We also had Green feet racing on Saturday and Sunday and Rachel Willison and Lewis Dol should be congratulated for getting out there and giving it a go.  We look forward to seeing both of you progress in Green fleet this year.

On all three days we saw our Wakatere sailors perform to the highest level with nearly everyone achieving personal milestones of some sort.  Day 1 was all about Greta Stewart and Jono Weston and their top 5 placing in multiple races. This year a system was introduced where the top 5 sailors received a bib with their regatta placing on it, similar to the Olympics.  The whole team was hugely proud to see Jono W achieve the 5th place bib after day one.  Sadly Harry Milne and Josh Bull were sick for Day 1 with Josh never really recovering all weekend.

As the wind increased so did the influence of experience in the fleet and some of our more seasoned sailors started to make more progress to the front with top 20 results from Xanthe Copeland, Kate Stewart and Harry Milne (who battled sickness all weekend and still placed some fantastic results) Henry Haslett (1st in race 4) and Airi Kawana including a 3rd race placing from Xanthe.  However Jono W was in the ‘zone’ all weekend and finished in a superb final 5th place overall, an improvement of 70 places from this same regatta  last year ! (and he now holds that bib until January at Wakatere) from Mr. Consistent Airi in 13th, Henry in 23rd, followed by Kate, Greta and Xanthe in 26th, 29th and 33rd. However the whole squad should be congratulated for some superb efforts in one of toughest regattas of the year and remember… the next one is on our home turf!

Open fleet results at http://ltyc.org.nz/results/2012%20NI%20Opti%20Champs%20Open%20FINAL.html

Green fleet results at http://ltyc.org.nz/results/NIOPTIgreen.htm

See loads of photos at http://www.facebook.com/NZIODA

Jono in action at Taupo

Year 7 & 8 Regatta last week

This schools team event held annually at Kohimarama is great fun and a fantastic opportunity to represent your school in sailing.  Once again our sailors showed their class to place 1st (Greta), 2nd (Xanthe) and 3rd (Henry) overall in a fleet of 59. Our local school, Belmont Intermediate took the Schools Trophy for the first time ever, with a Team of Jono Nicholas, James Grover Grey ( out of retirement), Harry Milne, Jono Weston and Finn Buckeridge. Well done to all those who took part and wasn't the warm weather a pleasant change from the cold of Taupo!

Results at http://www.kyc.org.nz/admin/user_content/files/Intermediate%20Schoold%20Regatta%202012_5118.htm

Photos of this day at http://www.facebook.com/NZIODA

Sir Peter Blake Regatta

The next important regatta on the calendar is this weekend.  SPB is a huge event for centreboard sailing in the Auckland region and is thought to be one of the largest regattas in the southern hemisphere with likely attendee numbers at over 450.  Due to this we need to make sure our logistics and planning are in well in order so everyone sailing can perform to their best.  I was questioned a number of times over the weekend about who should be attending this regatta, and while this is obviously a decision for each parent and sailor I thought I would offer the advice I gave to so many yesterday-

Regattas are a huge amount of fun and an important step for the development of any Optimist sailor.  My expectation is that every Open fleet sailor and every member of the Race group who is available should be attending SPB. For other Green fleet or Sunday Morning sailors, if you have competed in at least one Sunday afternoon Green fleet race at Wakatere then you will be fine at SPB.  If you haven't, then target the Wakatere Junior Regatta on December the 15th as your first regatta instead. (Reminder – there will be no Race group coaching at the club this Sunday 2nd Dec, only C1 and C2 groups)

The trailer and the 2 X WBC  tiller steer RIBs for Green fleet support, safety and coaching will be available for transit from Thursday evening however we need people to volunteer for the following this weekend:

1. Assistance with loading of Optimists onto club trailer on Thursday evening 5pm
2. Assistance with loading of club RIBs onto trailers for transport to Torbay SC
3. Friday evening towing of the Opti Trailer to Torbay SC
4. RIB trailer transport - does anyone have a trailer capable of a taking a tiller steer please step forward, especially someone from Green fleet?
5. Parents afloat - 2 X WBC Green fleet parents per RIB for Saturday and Sunday during racing. Skippers need to have completed our RIB safety course.
6. Assistance with loading Opti Trailer on Sunday afternoon and return to Wakatere
7. Assistance with loading Green fleet RIBs onto trailer for return journey and unloading at Wakatere.

• Trailer booking

The Optimist trailer is available and a place can be booked on the WBC website with priority given to Green fleet sailors.  If using the trailer please ensure you have your own tie down straps and any additional padding you require. The trailer will be in the club compound and will be available for loading from Thursday evening from 5pm.

Opti trailer booking- Sir Peter Blake Any Open fleet sailors who need assistance to attend the regatta please contact me separately.

• Base Camp & Briefings

We will have a Wakatere Base Camp at the regatta which will be a blue nylon dome shaped gazebo with a Wakatere banner outside with space for storing sailing gear and getting some shade from the elements.  This will be on the grass to the left of the club when looking at the beach.

We will run a Wakatere race briefing here for all sailors with head coach Finn Drummond.

8:45 on Saturday

9:30 on Sunday

There will be a separate Green fleet briefing straight afterwards.

• Registration & Torbay

We also strongly recommend people make the effort to get the boat to Torbay on Friday evening, register and get your race pack.  Also make sure your turn up early on Saturday morning as parking can be difficult and you don't want to be late on the water. See the event layout before you get there

Peter Blake Regatta official website

Any other questions or issues with attending the regatta please get in contact early this week.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Since you have been involved in sailing Optimists at Wakatere you will have heard everyone from the club constantly remind you of the requirement to volunteer and join in and we all appreciate everyone efforts to date.  However with our ‘away regatta program’ plus the Wakatere Junior Regatta and the Opti Auckland Champs (NZ Ranking Regatta) we will need more help than ever.

Over the next few days I will be sending follow up emails requesting people join teams for on-the-water activities and off-the-water activities for both of those key WBC events- Wakatere Junior Regatta Dec 15

Opti Auckland Champs Jan 26 -28

Please be ready to share some time to make sure our club maintains the high standard of event management set by our predecessors.

Noumea

And finally best of luck to Jono Weston, Jono Nicholas, Xanthe Copeland and others attending the regatta in Noumea next week as part of the development squad.  Don't come back too sunburnt!

The Sunday morning program at WBC is going from strength to strength under the careful leadership of Ed Crook, Mike Dol and a range of wonderful volunteer parent coaches.

After several fully booked  Learn to sail courses held recently, a number of boats have changed owners, and their keen skippers are out on the water, with an incredible 79 sailors in this program. This is in addition to the 20 or so sailors in the Open coaching group.

Here is a link to some recent photos of the action ( no facebook login is required)...

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10151308936765149.513780.101699930148&type=1

Many of these Sunday AM sailors should be signing up to the Sir Peter Blake Regatta held at Torday on 1-2 December. This regatta is a lifetime experience, which recognises what Sir Peter Blake achieved and stood for. Sign up as soon as possible at  http://www.blakeregatta.co.nz/ and find out about the easy ways to get to the regatta and have support on the water this weekend.

Airi leading race 7

Henry leading race 3

Below 1: Robbie leading race 7 and Below 2: Kate wins race 5

The Stack Winter Champs at Murrays Bay is the first “must do” regatta of the season for any Opti sailors who are planning to hit the Auckland regatta circuit. It is renowned for some weather events, and this year was no exception, with a storm coming through on Saturday. Fortunately, MBSC called the day off early, so the sailors could make alternative plans for their day.

WBC had 18 sailors in the Open Opti fleet, which was ¼ of the whole fleet, and they had some real success over the weekend with Airi, Kate and Henry all winning races and Robbie McCutcheon leading a race.  Xanthe Copeland was the top finisher in 9^th, with 6 WBC sailors in the top 20. Jono Nicholas and Jono Weston were 2^nd and 3^rd 12 year olds. It was great to see Jess Berry back on the water.

There has been some big jumps in results from last year for many of our Open Opti sailors, so it looks like it will be a fun season ahead, especially with the support of the Open group coach Charlie Baillie Strong. If you are new to the Opti, or Opti racing then make sure you try to get along to Opening day this weekend for an afternoon race, or join the fun at the next Opti regattas – it doesn’t matter how you go as long as you are making some friends and learning along the way.

Full results at http://www.murraysbay.org/uploads/1213%20season/winchamps/Course%20B.htm

The final day of the Auckland Opti Winter series was completed in perfect conditions at KYC on September 22. Up to 62 sailors competed in a series of 31 races.

Well done to Jono Weston who ended up 2nd behind James Wilson. Xanthe Copeland was 5th and Kate Stewart ended up 6th. A number of WBC sailors have learnt a great deal over winter by sailing in this series, which was run as a joint effort between Kohi, Murrays Bay and Wakatere. We hope it will run again next winter.

A range of prizes were given out on the final day by Yachting NZ CEO, David Abercrombie.

Full results are at  http://www.kyc.org.nz/admin/user_content/files/Optimist%20Winter%20Series%202012%20v7%20Final_4145.htm

More details are on the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/2012-Auckland-Winter-Sprint-Series/400153233352170