Todays third day of the TY summer series at Weymouth provided some intense racing and very close finishes.
The day dawned overcast and raining, with very little wind. By the time everyone was rigged and ready to go, the breeze was up to around 15 knots, and the rain had gone away for a bit.
Course 2 was chosen from the book for the first race, which saw boats starting in the river mouth, racing up towards the cosmo club, before heading further south, towards Papakura.
After an even start, Murray and Rob L, in the quicksilver took an early lead, with Rob K in the beachcomber, and Aaron, Gina, and kids in the cherry close behind. Beating upwind from Shark Island, the cherry crew hooked into a favourable shift early on, and took the lead, just ahead of the quicksilver.
After beating for a mile, these two boats were still within a few meters as they rounded the cosmo club marker, while the beachcomber had lost a little ground. On the flat run back out to Shark, the gaps remained fairly similar, as none of the boats could quite reach escape velocity and get planing properly.
The next leg, heading towards the Papakura motorway, was a very close reach, and with the breeze still just below planing conditions, the longer waterline of the beachcomber came into play, and Rob came charging up on the other two. Both 16 footers just managed to hold the front placings rounding the next mark, and then managed to maintain their advantage on the downwind leg. The next leg, again upwind, allowed the cherry to open up a bigger lead, mostly thanks to the others getting out of phase with the shifts.
From then on, the race became a procession, as the gaps were big enough that no-one could challenge the others.
The second race was just a windward-leeward sprint, starting and finishing in front of Wattle downs, to allow the beachcomber time to get back on the mooring before the tide ran away. Another even start saw the beachcomber leading the way, ahead of the quicksilver and cherry. approaching the windward mark, thats how the positions stayed, until all three boats got into the strong opposing tide. At this point, the cherry again managed to scrape around first, with the other two boats scrapping it out for second, just a few seconds behind. Downwind to the finish, the beachcomber and quicksilver were each trying to get past the other, which allowed the cherry an easy win, and in a photo finish, the quicksilver again managed to finish second, just barely ahead of the beachcomber.
Then the rain came, and we all ended up sailing back to the club sopping wet. But above all, it was a good day on the water, enjoyed by all who went out.
One more day, two more races, and the final results will be known.
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