The New Plymouth Radio Control Yacht Club hosted the Taranaki Classic IOM Regatta at Lake Rotomanu in Fitzroy, New Plymouth, on the weekend of the 31st of August/1st of September. This regatta was the 2nd regatta of a 3 regatta series for Classic IOM’s with the 1st hosted by NMMS at Wattle farm in June with the 3rd to be hosted by Kāpiti Radio Yacht Club on the 21st & 22nd September.
The Taranaki round saw 26 entries with sailors from as far north as Kerikeri and south from Christchurch, with excellent representation from clubs all over the country.
Friday afternoon saw some early practice with B rigs in preparation for strong winds forecast for the weekend.
Saturday arrived without the strength of wind predicted and it was A rigs for everyone. The forecast Northerly had a fair amount of East in it, which on Lake Rotomanu means the bottom gate ends up set a testing distance from the from the bank and a start finish line at an angle that made calling finishes incredibly difficult. With that the 1st race had to be abandoned and a decision was made by RO Paul Davies to finish boats at the top mark which made viewing the line much easier to record results and gave the welcome bonus of an extra beat to windward.
The racing format was Heat Management System (HMS) which went on for all of Saturday. During the day the wind did swing around to the North which meant a shift from sailing from the Northern bank to the Eastern bank which makes viewing the marks easier and a more consistent breeze. With the swinging breeze and a small amount of rain 8 races (16 heats) were held on day 1 with Blair Gerrard (TS2) holding the overnight lead with 4 wins from his 8 starts, with Chris Wischnowsky (V5) 2nd also with 4 wins and Reuben Muir (V5) rounding out the top 3 with 3 wins. The difference in points between the top 3 was 1 point so day 2 was going to be interesting.
On Saturday night the predicted weather hit with strong winds, torrential rain and an impressive lightning display waking or keeping some awake. By the time morning arrived the weather had passed and a typical beautiful day greeted the competitors at the lake with the only reminder of the overnight weather being a slightly wet ground underfoot. Wind direction for day 2 had a fairly consistent NW breeze coming across the lake. A further 2 races (4 heats) was held before the fleet was split into A and B fleets for the final 6 races.
Racing was tight across both fleets with competitors being tested with the decision at the bottom gate providing some big gains and losses with the left gate providing a big gains just as often as the right gate did (although listening to many the left gate was always the best gate if you took the right one and vice versa).
At the end of day 2 the top 3 from day 1 had managed to stay as the top 3 although the positions were reversed with Reuben taking 1st and the overall gold medal with Chris 2nd and Blair claiming 3rd overall. Blair also took the gold medal for 1st pre 2000 yacht.
Congratulations to all who sailed on the spirit of the weekend. These regattas are thoroughly enjoyable with a high standard of sailing but also a very relaxed and social atmosphere. If you have a classic IOM sitting in the shed I’d encourage you to get it sailing.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Kāpiti for round 3.
Stephen
NPRCYC Club Captain
