Issue date
Sunday 14 October saw Manly Sailing Club hosting the Hibiscus Coast Youth Regatta. After the north westerly gale that wreaked havoc over Auckland and much of the country on Saturday the forecast at 0700 Sunday was for 18-20kts decreasing in the afternoon. However what was forecast and what happened were not quite the same.
The plan to run open fleet races out of Big Manly Bay in clear winds were scotched 10min into the first race when winds were averaging in the high 20knots range forcing racing into the Bay in flatter water.
Manly’s Race Committee got off four races that certainly tested the sailor’s skills racing in such wind.
Leonard Takahashi-Fry and Tim Adair, long-time rivals in the Optimist, continued their battles, this time in the P Class. Adair scored four wins as Takhashi got to grips with the new class.
The Starling fleet has some intense racing in light of the conditions. Arkady Edmunds from Glendowie Boating Club won the day with three 1st and a 3rd followed by James Jennings of Murray Bay and Glendowie’s Tamryn Lindsay. Not so much glory at the back of the fleet with two broken masts and a rudder for Lisa Dartnall, Mathew Leydon and Chelsea Rees respectively but some very fast runs had by all.
Local sailors from Manly didn’t fare so well. In the Open BIC the Herbert brothers, Liam and Sean, completed one race before retiring for the day for fear of injury just prior to leaving to compete in the Open BIC Worlds in Miami FL USA in two weeks. None of the other BIC sailors completed a race due to the extreme conditions.
The Optimist Open division had Kerensa Jennings pipping Nick Egnot-Johnson for 1st place while Nick’s younger sister Sophie won the final race to clinch 3rd - all from Murray Bay Sailing Club. Dillion Browne from Manly was in the mix until capsizing towards the end of race 3 left him out of the running. Exceptional skills in very testing conditions all the sailors worked hard hiking and actually keeping their boats flat – I’m sure the start of School Term 4 will see some sore bodies.
