Issue date
I have just finished competing in the 2013 Oceanbridge Sail Auckland Regatta, held out of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club. This year in the Laser fleet we had some great international competition with sailors from Australia, Ireland, Holland, Korea and Sweden all coming over to Auckland to race.
Day one and two of the regatta were similar with 12-20 knot winds from the North East. After the six races held over the first two days, Ash Brunning (AUS) was leading by two points over myself in second place. Having not yet finished outside the top three in a race, I was sailing well but Ash too was on top of his game.
Arriving down at the club on the morning of the third day of racing, we were greeted with some strong Northerly winds. The race committee pretty much immediately abandoned racing for the 49ers, 49erFX’s, F18’s and RS:X classes as the breeze was only forecasted to build as the day went on. The rest of us were sent out and put to the test. The strong wind and tide made for some nasty chop and waves that were fairly random in timing, making sailing upwind a mission and very tough work. I scored a 1st and two 2nds for the three races held which left me two points off the lead going into the final day of racing.
Once again strong breezes were forecasted for the final day of racing, but from the SW this time making for some shifty offshore racing. I was happy to have a change in direction to mix it up a bit and have a chance to close the two point gap on Ash in 1st with two races to be sailed on the final day. The forecaster didn’t lie and the breeze quickly got up. The first race was 15-25 knots and I sailed well, connecting some good shifts on the out loop upwinds to take the race win and close the gap to one point going into the final race.
Between races the breeze increased more and swung right making it less gusty and more solid pressure, with fewer lulls around. I’m pretty sure we started the final race in 20-30 knots of wind and it stayed that fresh for the entire race. If I won the race I would win the regatta, so it was all to play for! Ash and I both were quick off the line and on the first upwind. We were in phase with the shifts and Ash led around the top with me not far behind. I was hot on his heels throughout the next three laps on the outer loop course, and after working extremely hard I finally overtook him by a boat length on the final upwind leg. On the last downwind he got more pressure inside of me (like a 30+knot gust!) and took the lead again. He couldn’t quite handle the massive gust he had found though and did a small spin out to let me right back in the game. We sailed the last quarter of that downwind side by side in a massive gust, just absolutely sending it! In 30 knots plus, I went for my final gybe to get inside of him and hopefully lead around the last mark but coming out of the gybe, my boom hit the water and I wiped out. Ash sailed past the bottom mark and landed a safe gybe to take the race win and the regatta. The last race was an epic battle between Ash and I which pretty much sums up the majority of the regatta. Well done to Ash, he sailed a really good event! Full Results
Oceanbridge, RAYC, Yachting New Zealand and the rest of the organising team did a great job to host a very smoothly run event with some great sailing conditions over the course of the four days. The race committee were amazingly efficient with getting the racing away on time and without any major delays all week, even in the testing strong winds that we experienced!
Now it is back into full on training mode, with four weeks left in New Zealand before heading overseas for our first European events of 2013. Next week our training includes a three day regatta that our coaches are putting on for us and the overseas competitors that have stayed around, which is officially the ‘Aotearoa World Cup’ regatta. The racing will be just as competitive as Sail Auckland was, so it will be some more great racing experience before heading overseas.
Thanks for all the support!
Cheers,
Andy
