30 November to 1 December
There’s a resurgence of interest in the EC12 class with fourteen boats having entered this national championship. The contest this year was the strongest nationals fleet the class has seen for some time. Unfortunately one boat had to withdraw, and one could only race on Sunday.
The forecast for both days indicated an unstable weather system with light breezes and shifting wind direction. The race management team were anticipating a difficult weekend.
Day 1
Against the odds, we arrived at the lake to find an unexpected SE breeze blowing down the lake giving perfect conditions for racing. A course was set prior to the briefing ensuring the first race could be kicked off right on 10.00am. Expecting conditions to change, we set about getting races completed while conditions lasted. The fleet started in A rigs with our eventual winner making an early call to drop down to a C rig during the morning. After a beak for lunch, most of the fleet returned to the water carrying the smaller rigs. At 3.30pm, with arrival of a 180º wind shift, racing was ended for the day and we all headed to the BBQ and a cool beer. With fifteen races completed, it felt like we had a good buffer given Sunday’s unpromising forecast.
Day 2
The weather man made it pretty clear that Day 2 was going to be a tricky one at Winstones – very little pressure and a bit of a lottery on wind direction. He was right for some of the day, but with a little patience from our skippers and a lot of setting, resetting and tweaking of courses by our rescue boat, we got in a solid second day. The last of nine races were completed before our finishing time giving 24 for the contest and 4 discards.
Some memorable racing over the two days with everything from C Rig weather to boats ghosting along in the lightest of pressure. Our top three podium finishers looked strong throughout and there were no surprises as the medal winners were announced. Interestingly the positions on the results table at end of Day 2 were nearly identical to those of Day 1, symmetry only being marred by a boat being sold to a Sunday spectator and its skipper having to withdraw.
A huge thanks to Kapiti Radio Yacht Club members who supported me with race management and to those members who kept the shore-side activities ticking along smoothly. Thanks also to the EC12 Owners Association for their very active support of the event.
Graeme Perry
Race Officer
