Sunday, 10 August 2008

9 ABC members (Grant, Nicholas, Graham L, Trevor P, Jude, Orca, Wayne, Brian and myself) made the trip down to make the most of the track without hire karts (thanks Paul) and the offer to try 5.5m sails. Good to catch up with the Wellingtonians who had made the trip during the week and made the most of the track over the previous 2 days. No wind to start so the AGM went smoothly, no-one trying to get out early to get on the track, then most grabbed a 5.5 and started sailing in about 5 knts. Started a bit flukey but then about midday a steady breeze settled in. Race day was cancelled, bugger, but it didn't really matter. Organised our own races, 10 minutes long, which gave a good chance to practice with the 5.5 sails. There was also some very close racing in the 7-8 knts with all divisions mixed together. Often there were super heavies, heavies, middles and lightweights all fighting for the top places, certainly showing that the 5.5s even out the fleet in the light breezes. Also the 5.5 is very "forgiving" which meant all weights could handle it well even as the breeze grew a bit.

The wind kept rising which meant some of the late comers sailing 4 metres started to become competitive. At about 10-12 knts Nicho and I made a switch to 4 metre sails to compare performances with those persevering with the larger sails. Most made the change after this as the wind rose up to about 15 knts. More racing, each time slightly changing the course so we did the "in out thing" and double "in out thing" which meant some serious tyre wear but exciting racing and of course flat out straight around the outside, both ways. Despite some dubious sailing as far as direction goes everyone managed to start without any incidents (only a bit of cheating) with about 18 on the track at times.

Personally, I found this the best practice day I have had at the track. It was a chance to race (lots of races) with a 5.5 for the first time and see where the cut over point is to the 4 metre. There were lots of blokarts on the track which gave a chance to see where the passing spots were and practice setting this up. It gave a chance to practice the different courses which may be used at Worlds and look at kart setup for quite different conditions as the wind came up to about 15 knts at times. We got in about 15?? races over the day finishing about 4pm when the wind started to drop away. With no serious racing it was a chance to try things to see what happened. Must admit that my sheeting hand was quite sore at the end of the day with 4 hours of solid sailing.

Hope the guys from down south had a good trip home and managed to get around the snow.

Thanks to Stu and Theo for the different courses and to Paul for allowing a lot of people to try the 5.5 for the first time. Yes this did pay dividends as will be seen in future events at BPP.

Russell