Wakatere was a busy club on Saturday as the Optis had an Open fleet clinic, whilst the new Starling sailors hit the water for a sail. The YNZ youth clinic, which was being sailed in Laser radials, 420's, Technos and Hobie cats were operating at the same time. This made it a great opportiunity for the Opti sailors to get an idea of what might lie ahead in their sailing careers.

It was a perfect sailing day with a fairly steady SW 10 knots. Geoff Woolley and Chris Steele ran some drills to starts with, then we rattled through 4 short races. The results of the day ( with no discards) were:

On a beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday at Kohimarama yacht club 19 sailors assembled at ten for some fun but competitive races. The first four races were quick and snappy about 25 mins long with very shifty, light conditions making it not unlike snakes and ladders.  The next race was a lot longer at almost one hour and was also quite shifty. First overall was Sam Barnett just edging William McKenzie, third was Leonard Takahashi- Fry, with James Watt in fourth and first girl was Eliza Wilkinson in fifth. Next week is Wakatere, all open sailors are invited, hope to see you all there!

Sam Barnett

P.s it is always great for those on the Committee to get thanked so thank you to Xanthe Copeland, your lovely manners are much appreciated.

PP.s Thanks to Pete Wilkinson, Alan McKenzie and Pauline Barnett for running 5 great races.

Results:

Yes, it is possible! There is life after the 2011 Opti Nats

The Opti calendar on the left side of this page has been updated to include the sailing taking place at Lake Pupuke on Sundays as well as the Kohimarama winter regatta.

Andrew Brown is coordinating morning coaching sessions on some Sundays at Lake Pupuke prior to the 1:30pm races.

We have arranged several Opti Open fleet winter clinics at Wakatere, Kohimarama and Murrays Bay which will have a small coaching element followed by several hours of sprint races. These are planned for Saturday PM's so that sailors can fit in Saturday morning winter sports if need be. These will also be followed by some Sunday races from 10am. Take a look at the calendar for details. We will need parental support to run these sessions so bring some gear along.

Shortly we will confirm the dates of some Saturday fun races to be run in August and September at Wakatere.

Sam Barnett has posted this report of the sailing at the lake so far:

Every Sunday at Lake Pupuke starting at 1:30 Pm there is racing for Optimists as part of the Lake Pupuke’s winter racing series. There is usually a fleet of 5-15 mixed open/green sailors, with many sailors who were Green at the nationals using it as an effective way to transition to open fleet. The lake is very shifty with land on all sides making the wind do all sorts of things. This is good practice for getting the shifts right in regattas because the changes are so severe that you have to learn fast. This weekend saw plenty of wind some gusts of around 30 knots and some very quick downwinds were enjoyed! This was in contrast to the previous weekend that had challenging light conditions where every small gust was critical. Lots of top sailors from all around Auckland use the lake for winter training. Last Sunday saw the Lake being used for training for one of the NZ teams in the morning, making for very competitive racing in the afternoon. Racing in competitive fleets is the way to improve. And lastly it’s lots of fun, with a great atmosphere and lots of friendly competition.

Ps. Flat water is a great place to perfect your roll tacks, especially in the light.

We hope to see you all there when you are free.