Held at Wattle Farm Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd July 2023
Race Officers Report
We had 30 entries for the Auckland Champs which gave a nice even split with two fleets of 15 racing under the SHRS system.
Saturday started with a light shifty Southerly breeze which required a few course changes until it finally settled to the predicted SW after lunch.
The course was 2 laps using an inside out gate at both the top and bottom marks and an extended second lap with the finish at the top gate.
Day 1 was relatively incident free with 8 races (16 heats) completed by the scheduled finish time.
Sunday was forecast for stronger SW winds – Mid A rig increasing in the afternoon.
The reality was no wind at the scheduled start time and racing eventually got underway an hour late at 1100 in a light SW.
We completed one more round of qualifying, making that a 9 race series, before splitting the fleets into Gold and Silver.
Three races (2 Silver and 1 Gold) were completed before lunch in an increasing SW with a couple of gusts causing boats to dive in on the down-wind leg. Some B Rigs made an appearance after lunch but the wind by then had settled to manageable A rig conditions for the rest of the afternoon. A reasonably consistent wind direction with predictable shifts made for some exciting racing.
The increasing wind strength meant higher boat speeds and consequently more incidents which were swiftly dealt with by the umpires.
We completed 5 rounds of Finals racing before the scheduled finish at 1500. Congratulations to our medal winners – Ian Vickers 1st (V12), Reuben Muir 2nd (V11) and Roddy Booth 3rd (V10).
That looks like a domination by the V boats but the Venti, K2, Brit Pop and Viper all performed well and the ever-threatening V9s were often near the front.
Congratulations to Leon Talaic taking out the Silver fleet from Graham Roberts and Graeme Perry.
Graeme Perry also took home the Woodie medal with a boat which he designed and built.
Thank you to our Umpires – John Rountree and Wayne Boberg. Their presence certainly helped the racing go smoothly and any disputes were settled quickly. It certainly took the heat off the Race Officer!
Thank you to the NMMS race management team – Ian Westlake, Roy Granich, John Porter, Murray McDonnell, Dave Lewis and Colin Beavis.
Finally, there was an overwhelmingly positive response to the use of an inside out gate at the top of the course. It certainly has its place where the starboard lay-line may be compromised or hard to sight.
Ross McClew (Race Officer)
