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Junior Sail Auckland is one of the biggest regattas of the season for Opti sailors and is sailed off Kohimarama Yacht Club the week after Sail Auckland, which is a grade 1 ISAF world ranking regatta for Olympic and other senior classes.
There were 120 entries in the Opti open fleet and 53 in the Opti Green fleet. Wakatere had 13 sailors in the Open fleet and 6 in the Green fleet.
On Saturday the westerly wind freshened to 20-30 knots, which was fairly challenging for a lot of sailors, but on Sunday the breezes were variable.
As always Kohi offered us a challenging chop and tidal flow, which is why we travel to regattas, to learn to sail in a variety of conditions.
We were lucky enough to have Susannah Pyatt coaching the Open fleet sailors, and she ran a really informative briefing for all of the sailors at 9:30 each morning and checked that the boats were set up correctly.
Congratulations to:
Jonathon Weston with a 2nd place in the Green fleet .
Marcus Somerville with a 4th and Jack Simpson 8th in the Open fleet.
Maddie Brogan with a 30th in open fleet being the first Wakatere girl in Open ( Girls note: the regatta was won by Olivia Mackay in style).
Harry Elworthy, coming from Green last spring and getting a very creditable 60th place, almost half way up the fleet!
Joseph Gibb-Pearson 11th in Green going hard in the breezy races.
Scott Macky 2nd place in the last race in Green.
Jessica Berry - First Green Fleet regatta.
Full results:
Open
http://www.kyc.org.nz/admin/user_content/files/Sailwave%20results%20for%202010%20Singapore%20Airlines%20Junior%20Sail%20Auckland%20-%20Optimist%20Open%20Fleet_6938.htm
Green
http://www.kyc.org.nz/admin/user_content/files/Sailwave%20results%20for%202010%20Singapore%20Airlines%20Junior%20Sail%20Auckland%20-%20Optimist%20Green%20Fleet_3972.htm
for me it was one of those regattas which showed that determination and a never say die attitude will give you results - both in the heavy airs and the light airs.
Wakatere showed the way with huge parental support, great team work in getting all the boats to Kohi ( still need to recruit a driver for the big trailer), getting the sailors prepared and having fun - thanks to all of the parents who willingly gave up their weekend to be there in support. There were ample support boats to support the sailors...its good to see a familiar face at the end of a long windy race.
Highlights:
Taking a few RIB's in convoy across to Kohi was a fun start to the Saturday morning for some of the sailors ( and their parents).
Mike Simpson teaching the sailors about the importance of drinking water and proper food - ask him about baked beans!?
Figuring out how to get across a startline with 120 boats on it! ( NB: there is no wind in the middle in row 4)
Susannah offering chocolate bars in exchange for OCS ( Bribe to get everyone on the start line).
Marcus's maveric tactical ability to pick shifts and wind pressure to make up 40 places in a race.
Izzy Hawkins winning a TV at the spot prizes.
Big smiles on everyone faces after a long weekend!!
BMW Oracle winning the Americas cup ( who stayed up?).
Well done to everyone, and especially thanks Mike Simpson for the Organisational genuis! |
