It's been a while since I last raced in the big smoke, so I thought it was time for roadie again.
With my paint now dry on my DF65 hull I hit the road at 6.30am heading north.
Using the new Hamilton bypass express highway, it was a very
smooth trip north, not any faster timewise that other routes, but 2/3 of the
trip you are now isolated from oncoming cars which is a lot safer :)
Got to a glassy Wattle in Auckland, Nigel had just beaten me
there. The carpark filled up fast with sailors arriving, 18 in total. I pulled
up out my hull and started roping her up with winch sheets and a bridle. This
all took time, so I missed pre 10am practice race while getting her ready. I
cut it to close again. All done and I threw her in with only a few seconds to
spare. A good start with momentum on a very light breeze, luckily everything
worked the first time. We were using the East jetty with our cars all moved out
slightly back in the carpark so we could walk up and down the seal. Ian the
Ro's plan was to race here as long as we could until the wind changed, then
have lunch and reset on the afternoon breeze. His plan worked to perfection, even
if the wind came in from the opposite direction forecast for the afternoon. I
had a great day and could do nothing wrong. A few grumbles were heard from
people losing places, and cheers from others gaining places with some pretty
radial Wattle wind shifts all day! Light shifty condition is what I love being originally a Lake Sailor :)
Just before 4pm we squeezed in one more race. Afterwards everyone quickly packed up and disappeared
Homewood, all sunburnt after another fanatic days sailing at Wattle.
7pm and I was Safely Back in Tauranga, I have other commitments
Sunday, so I wish all the sailors and officals the best for Sunday.
Many Thanks to Ian RO, Roy observer/results taker and the rest
of the wattle team, for another Great Day at Wattle Farm, Auckland :) Thanks
NOTE DF65 sailors
the new mark 7 winch and drum sheets don't seem to travel as far as the previous 6
version winch. You have to slide both boom sliders towards the bow to get your
boom to go all the way out to 90 degrees downwind which is not great.... To the
manufactures/rule makers; it would be much better if we were allowed to use a
slightly bigger drum on the next version of the 65. or if we could please adjust the rules so we can wrap
some tape inside the Mark 7 drum to just make the diameter marginally bigger
to counter this new challenge? (Currently the rules disallow us from altering the drum, maybe a maximum inside diameter rule could easily fix this new challenge.)
Thanks Graham NZL104
Provisional Day 1 of 2
results at;
