Auckland Blokart Club News

David Heilbron, Paul Beckett and Grant Crawshay represented the ABC at the annual champs at Yeppoon in Central Queensland.

Three solid days racing across 8 divisions with good winds saw 2 to 5.5m sails in use, but most of the time 4m.  The recent storm made the beach unsuitable for a wing mark, so a two mark course up and down the beach was used.

Two marathons were included with everyone in from two starts within each race - one for production and one for performance. 79 blokarts on the beach - what a sight!

See video footage at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZErMZpKTF8 - the team features well - spot who's who.

The event dinner was held at the Restort, and was attended by all the sailors and their families.

Paul made 2nd place in the Performance Heavyweights, David pulled in 3rd place in Performance Middleweights, and Grant (helping with the timing and sharing Paul's kart and borrowing for the Marathons) made 4th in Performance Heavyweight.  A great showing for the ABC is such tight competition!

Do you have a Blokart and want some sailing tips? Or want to know how to
maintain it? Or make it go faster?

Maybe you don't have a Blokart but want to give it a try – we have 3
club karts available for first timers.

Come along to the Auckland Blokart Club
<http://blokart.jigluhood.com/tags/auckland-blokart-club>'s monthly
training day from 1pm on Sunday 21 March at Bruce Pulman Park, Walters
Road, Takanini.

We'll have:

NZ and world champions covering sailing techniques for beginners

Sail choices for different conditions

Basic maintenance – tyre pressures, changing tyres, cleaning bearings

Looking after your Blokart – keep it dry, storage of sails

We will also hold some friendly, fun races
<http://blokart.jigluhood.com/tags/fun> so you can practice those tricky
dial-ups and upwind starts and get used to sailing with other Blokarts
close by.

You don't need to be a club member to join in, so invite anybody you
know with a blokart. Just turn up and we will look after you.

See the website for more information about the Auckland Blokart Club
<http://blokart.jigluhood.com/tags/auckland-blokart-club> and contacts –
www.abc.gen.nz <http://www.abc.gen.nz/>

Graham

Postponed!

Yes, after all the wind and predictions of 15 kn SW all day, it didn't
happen. And not through lack of trying. On meeting at the car park, the
wind seemed about right although a little more South than SW. By the
time everyone rigged up and Grant1 had damaged Rod by wacking him on the
head with a pulley whip, the wind had swung a little more and dropped to
about 10-12 knts. The sailors set off for the stream.

The next problem was getting the two trailers on the beach and my 2
wheel drive van. Lack of rain meant the beach track had lots of deep
loose sand, maybe 20-30 cm in places. Jon towed his trailer on and
dropped it and Rod offered to pull the club trailer on but got stuck
after 20 metres. Dropped the trailer so Jon with a bigger 4 wheel drive
could tow it out. No go. So a passing 4 wheel drive offered to tow both
up the slight rise. Got nearly to the top of the rise before everything
came to a halt. Rod then went and got the sailors who had arrived to add
some manual grunt. Finally got the club trailer on the beach. Everyone
came back to push me through. With a run up and hitting the sand at
speed managed to get 200 metres to top of the rise before needing a
helping hand. Finally everyone on the beach but .... the wind was now
south and no-one including those with 5.5s were making much progress and
all having to tack to get back along the beach.

After 45 minutes decided it was not going to happen, much to the relief
of all the heavyweights and I could hear to cheers from Nicko and Orca
who couldn't make it on the day.

Now to reverse the process of getting off the beach. Assembled everyone
by the soft sand and with Jon towing the heavy trailer, Rod the light
trailer and Trevor there to tow anyone through who got stuck. I went
first, took a long run up, powered through the sand at 50 km/hr, missed
the traffic coming the other way, and got out without a push. Jon kept
going with the aid of the pushers and got towed the last half by Trevor.
Rod made it most of the way, needing help at the end.
Back to the car park where the sailors had struggled back against the
wind and then had to drag karts over sand hills. Everyone stuffed but
all got Easter eggs <http://blokart.jigluhood.com/tags/easter-egg> for
their efforts and we will do a repeat in a months time. Hopefully the
beach track will have hardened a bit by then.

Thanks to Jon, Rod and Trevor for getting the trailers on and off the
beach and Trish for setting everything up for race start although not
needed this time.

The back up dates are:

* 10/11 April
* 8/9 May

See everyone Thursday night at Ardmore where you can drive to the edge
of the track and not get stuck!

Russell

Postponed!

Yes, after all the wind and predictions of 15 kn SW all day, it didn't
happen. And not through lack of trying. On meeting at the car park, the
wind seemed about right although a little more South than SW. By the
time everyone rigged up and Grant1 had damaged Rod by wacking him on the
head with a pulley whip, the wind had swung a little more and dropped to
about 10-12 knts. The sailors set off for the stream.

The next problem was getting the two trailers on the beach and my 2
wheel drive van. Lack of rain meant the beach track had lots of deep
loose sand, maybe 20-30 cm in places. Jon towed his trailer on and
dropped it and Rod offered to pull the club trailer on but got stuck
after 20 metres. Dropped the trailer so Jon with a bigger 4 wheel drive
could tow it out. No go. So a passing 4 wheel drive offered to tow both
up the slight rise. Got nearly to the top of the rise before everything
came to a halt. Rod then went and got the sailors who had arrived to add
some manual grunt. Finally got the club trailer on the beach. Everyone
came back to push me through. With a run up and hitting the sand at
speed managed to get 200 metres to top of the rise before needing a
helping hand. Finally everyone on the beach but .... the wind was now
south and no-one including those with 5.5s were making much progress and
all having to tack to get back along the beach.

After 45 minutes decided it was not going to happen, much to the relief
of all the heavyweights and I could hear to cheers from Nicko and Orca
who couldn't make it on the day.

Now to reverse the process of getting off the beach. Assembled everyone
by the soft sand and with Jon towing the heavy trailer, Rod the light
trailer and Trevor there to tow anyone through who got stuck. I went
first, took a long run up, powered through the sand at 50 km/hr, missed
the traffic coming the other way, and got out without a push. Jon kept
going with the aid of the pushers and got towed the last half by Trevor.
Rod made it most of the way, needing help at the end.
Back to the car park where the sailors had struggled back against the
wind and then had to drag karts over sand hills. Everyone stuffed but
all got Easter eggs <http://blokart.jigluhood.com/tags/easter-egg> for
their efforts and we will do a repeat in a months time. Hopefully the
beach track will have hardened a bit by then.

Thanks to Jon, Rod and Trevor for getting the trailers on and off the
beach and Trish for setting everything up for race start although not
needed this time.

The back up dates are:

* 10/11 April
* 8/9 May

See everyone Thursday night at Ardmore where you can drive to the edge
of the track and not get stuck!

Russell

There will be 3 nights for a new twilight series, The Ardmore Sprints.
This is to try out various conditions at Ardmore airport plus a chance
to try a slightly different type of racing. The next 3 Thursday nights
will be used for this event.
Every second race will be "reverse grid", based on the previous race.
This should mix up the results a bit plus give some of our newer sailors
a chance at clean air at the front of the fleet. Also a challenge for
the front runners to try and get through the fleet.
We start this Thursday, $10 for the 3 nights.
I will send NoR and registration form direct to everyone who has raced
in the past. Money direct to bank or pay on the night. Any new people
interested let me know and I'll forward instructions.
There will be prizes but no ongoing trophy as in the past. We have
access to the airport and now we need to work out best options for the
future. We will try and be set up prior to everyones arrival but please
don't just head out on to the runway
<http://blokart.jigluhood.com/tags/runway>, we have restrictions on use
as this is the busiest airport in the country and we need to keep
control of activities. Park in designated area and wait for a briefing
on sailing and safety.
Set up from 5 pm. Briefing at 5.45 with immediate race start. No animals
on the airport (not including fish).
See www.abc.gen.nz <http://www.abc.gen.nz> for instructions on where to
go under "live news"
See everyone there Thursday.

Russell

Well that was a bit of fun.

The weather played its part, the Rosies got up to their normal tricks
but did a great job with making sure the social side ticked over
without a hiccup, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on and off the
beach. So thanks for making this one the trips of the year and
congratulations to all the sailors, everyone's a winner with this trip.

Dave from the camp has thanked us for our support and welcomes us back.
I left a bottle of wine for him and he's great to work with so hopefully
he will keep the lease on the camp for a while. I have booked everything
for 18/19/ 20/ 21 November which suits the tides (same as this time) and
those traveling after Worlds.

The north area of Tokerau Beach is fantastic, certainly wider and
smoother then where we set up and southern end. The benefit of our
current set up is the ramp, grass set up area and access which is
lacking further up but maybe we need to get starters/scorers/spectators
further up to make the most of this northern area, as long as the stream
doesn't come back. Something to consider as this area would allow
windward/leeward courses plus faster sailing, ..... if you want faster
sailing!

I would also be keen to get any feedback on areas of improvement. I have
stuck to the same formula for a few trips now, slightly reduced number
of races in favour of more free sailing time to finish of each day,
relays only on lighter wind days, and tried to let the new ones do their
own thing a bit while still being part of the group.
Let me know your thoughts for constructive improvements.

Hope all got home ok, dodged tsunamis, and missed the accident on the
Brynderwyn Hill.

See you all next event.

regards
Russell