PRO James Tudball reports:
There was a lot of heat on Saturday for Races 3 and 4 of the Club Champs... but unfortunately not a lot of wind. At 1PM there was barely a puff on the harbour, so the race team (James Tudball, Tim Heath, Mark Gray and Quentin Burns) opted for a brief onshore postponement to give the wind time to see which direction it wanted to fill from.
At 1:30 we were a bit miffed to see the Squadron had plonked their start line directly in our racing area (along with 30+ Etchells), but we managed to co-exist!
At 2:30 we were underway in about 5 knots from the NNE, showcasing another great fleet size of 40+ Lasers to the rest of the harbour.
All fleets started impeccably well in all races, with nearly every boat perfectly on the line as the guns went.
The breeze was filtering down the harbour in patches, so the front runners in both fleets were those who managed to stay in the pressure upwind, and work strong by-the-lee angles downwind.
Despite the light winds and late start, we managed to have everyone back to shore by 5:30... adequate time to enjoy Paul and Shirley's famous Club Champs BBQ on the deck. This was particularly enjoyable on such a balmy evening!
ILCA 4: (1st / 2nd)
Race 3 results: Miles Greenwood / Zoe Allen
Race 4 results: Miles Greenwood / Zoe Allen
ILCA 6 (1st / 2nd / 3rd ):
Race 3 results: Sara Bruce / Charles Byford / Martin White
Race 4 results: Sara Bruce / Healy Ryan / Andrew Cox
Shout of the day: The racing was very competitive in the radial fleet. A shout out to Sara Bruce who positioned her boat meticulously in both races. Also to Miles Greenwood in the 4.7s who won both races and sailed extremely well. And a special shout out to our newsletter editor, Chris Tattersall, who jagged a 7th in Race 1.
ILCA 7 (1st / 2nd / 3rd ):
Race 3 results: Zander Bijkerk / Dave Newman / Geoff Kirk
Race 4 results: Zander Bijkerk / Julian Taylor / Geoff Kirk
Shout of the Day: Zander demonstrated superior boat speed and top light wind technique and tactics to win both races. A shout out to Dave Newman for pushing Zander in Race 1 and to Geoff Kirk for sailing consistently across both races in the tricky conditions. Also Max Djura, who sailed well in Race 2 to claim a 9th. Max crossed the line and gave himself a big cheer. We absolutely loved seeing that.
A parting note in regard to the Sailor App. Tim Heath and Tuddy had some challenges scoring finishers in the first race via the app, due to the fleets compressing and crossing the line at the same time. The task was particularly difficult for them as a number of sailors had not signed on via the app. Luke Parker's paragraph in the newsletter from back in April is still incredibly salient:
“This was the first time your correspondent has used the new App for race management. It’s a fantastic product that makes the process on the start boat simple and results are immediate. However for the system to work, all sailors must sign on via the Sailor App with the correct sail number. This is critical. The club has been lenient with laggards who don’t sign on correctly this season. This leniency has an impost on our volunteers. On Saturday it took the handicapper and commodore considerable time to manually enter results for sailors that didn’t sign on properly.”
So, don’t be surprised if the goodwill ceases: PLEASE SIGN ON CORRECTLY!
