Auckland Blokart Club News

Mostly fine?? Yeah rite! Mostly wet!

The day started at 7.45 for the early team to set up timing, tent city, barbeque and tables. Rain started about 8.45 and continued through to 10.30 with very little wind. Finally the wind arrived about midday. By this time most had hot drinks and food to sustain them through into the afternoon. Lots of food all day thanks to Jenny, Rosie, Tony B, and Louise. What a great job and then John arrived with his mobile cafe for more hot drinks. Must remember this for the future. Rosie D (Frucor) supplied lots of cold drinks, with some left over for the next event.

9 teams of 5 sailors  hit the start line, racing 3 teams at a time in a double round robin format. With 10-12 knts gusting to 15 at times there was a mixture of 5.5s and 4 metre sails. Some lulls kept everyone on their toes. Raced windward/leeward courses of 5 minutes with a 2 minute dial up. With the grass being part of the sailing course there were plenty of people pushed off the tarmac as teams tried to progress their sailing mates. Some were quite aggressive in trying to take the opposition sailor on to the grass while others took the opportunity as it arose. After 3 rounds Sharks and Shooters had equal points with the top Bay team 1 point back. Hamilton started a bit slow but came back with 2 wins in the last 3 rounds to pull their points up. The V Team also started slow but then had 3 wins midway through to put themselves back into contention. The rain came through with a drop in wind about 2.40 so it was decided to end after another 2 rounds. These last rounds were tight racing in the lighter conditions with big gains to be made by sailing the right course. Sharks had a 1, 2, 3 finish to gain a bonus point in round 5 which put them in front going into the last round where they were to meet Shooters who were sitting in second equal with Hamilton. Both Hamilton and Shooters won their last matches to finish second equal but Sharks placed 2nd to comfortably take out the overall win and the trophy which they hold until the next teams event.

Steady rain made packing up a bit of a soggy job and the food and hot drinks were most welcome at the prize giving.

Lots of good racing all day and some interesting tactics involving team sailing, quite different to what we are used to. All had a fun day and certainly plenty to eat.

Thanks to Trish, Julie and John for doing the timing and Matt and Rebecca for flag and hooter duty. Great to have the support from Graham and Bunnings for the barbeque, tent kitchen and dining area and Roger and Rowena for the tent out on the grass for shelter later in the day.

Results:

1st - Sharks (Mako, Bruce, Jon, Rosie, Ray)

2nd equal - Hamilton (Nicko, Alex, Graeme, David, Paul H)

               - Shooters ( Marg, Russell, Cam, Lucy, Jude)

 

There will be another teams event  at Papamoa in August, hopefully with the same teams making an appearance plus extras from around the country.

Next weekend we are trying for The Great 100 km race again. Updates during the week on the wind forecast but at this stage looking like the wrong direction.