Auckland Blokart Club News
Live News from the Auckland Blokart Club. www.abc.gen.nzThursday, September 30, 2010
UK Open Photos
Congratulations to Barry & Nicko in their recent success in Wales.
Some good photos available at http://www.oldmillstudio.co.uk/Galleries/Blokart.htm
Grant
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Auckland Winter Series Race day - Sunday
10-12 knts provided perfect conditions for the final day of the winter series.
Both lightweights and heavies were sailing 5.5s with enough wind for the restricted to also get around without a problem.
Each division had 6 races with a number of winners in each division. Results out tomorrow.
Update after 1 day at British Champs.
Theo leading S Heavies with PB 2nd. Barry leading Heavies with Nicko second. Sound like it will be an interesting 2nd day. No idea of points.
Russell
ABC Race Day - Ardmore
Remember day light saving!
Decent day predicted for the last day of the winter series.
10 knts NW expected around midday, maybe a little more later.
Meet by 12 noon for set up. Late registrations and transponders by 12.30.
Briefing 12.50 and race start 1 pm.
Remember you must walk your karts back into the car park, not sail. After a race please sail to the coned area to get out of your kart, not sail amongst all the tipped over karts.
See everyone there.
Russell
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Winter Series Final Raceday, Sunday 26th
Looking good for tomorrow with 12-15 knots likely and mostly fine weather.
Any extras we don't know about? Let Russell know if you are sailing but haven't registered before.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Wind's up - so are the planes
.... a plane. In fact quite a few with the warbirds on display and the
prevailing meant they used "our" runway. We waited 40 min for the first
display to finish then it was 3 metre sailing for most with a couple of
2s for the youth sailors. Did a couple of races and then free sailing
before we again left the runway for 30 minutes for the next display. The
sailing was fast and furious with many excursions on to the grass as
some failed to take the corners. Plenty of spectators and some to come
back for a sail when the wind is a bit less. All told a good day
Ardmore - Sunday 19th - the wind is up!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Ardmore - Sunday
Note, the War birds are also flying out of Ardmore on Sunday so we may
get a bit more noise than normal.
The wind and tide are ok for the beach but with this storm due today and
6-7 m swells predicted on the west coast it might not be wise. Probably
not a lot of beach to play on. The high wind sounds good tho'.
Forecast is for plenty of wind tomorrow and dropping a bit Sunday so we
should be ok at Ardmore and maybe 3 metre sails for the first time in 6
months. Rain is predicted to stay away most of the day.
Updates over the weekend.
Russell
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Auckland Sunday - Ardmore
were setting up.
Everyone had a great sail despite the wind direction making tacking a
necessity on the runway.
Four visitors turned up and went for a sail in the club kart, and have
said they'll be back. Tony's new sign was working well! Ray and Tony B
also assisted the newbies making sure they were safe and had a sail out
of the way of the rest who, of course, had to have a few races! Brett
helped out with the newbies too - not much option really as they were in
the kart he was sailing. But tehy did let him go to joint the race.
Ross, sporting a new kart with new livery, and Russel with his Worlds
Pod & sails were strutting their stuff - but don't they look fantastic?
Russell & Trevor turned up after the washed-out Tauranga Boat Show event
that didn't happen (and brought the rain with them - briefly).
Also a rare first was Russell not out there in the front all the time.
What with the kids kart and a new sail, plus fickle wind some gave him a
decent run for his money. If you got caught in a hole it was curtains.
Everyone (well almost) was very photogenic and it was great to see all
the smiles. Good to see John driving a blokart instead of a coffee
machine - he must have left Lucy at home getting the wrinkles out of the
5.5m sail - Lucy has yet to show off how fast she is now! Allen K blew
the cobwebs away and headed home for another engagement. Plus all the
regulars had a good blast. Neil was a bit hard in his Delis - even in
this wind a broadside around the mark take its toll on the tyres!
Plenty of opportunities to test sailing skills and "do we have an
overlap" on the mark?
Cheers
Grant
Auckland Sunday - Ardmore
to pass. We 're looking at 10 Knots max.
The World's team & pace setters got a good sail in yesterday afternoon
with predominately 4m sails, although the 5.5m sailors were sometimes
faster. Much swapping of gear as all the best tips were tested out.
What out for Team NZ at the worlds. We'll have regular updates coming
your way during the event. This time next month we'll be in the thick of
it at Ostend. The likely future World Champs will start to make a move
and the placings will start to show which way the results will head.
We're ready for whatever the beach throws at us - we've survived "slime".
A casual sail today. A few have gone down to the Bay to sail, so good
luck to them (wind and placings in the racing).
See you at the track this afternoon. There's lots of new people and
gear - flash stickers and fast karts!
Cheers
Grant
Sunday, September 05, 2010
The Great Race - This time!
Finally! With plenty of wind predicted there were expectations of a fast race. It was a 3 metre wind but the beach was still quite soft and sticky with the slime from the westerly gales over the last 2 days all over the beach. This meant most opted for the 4 metre to get through the sticky spots and to guarantee a fast north leg to the 5 km turn mark. The wind was 45 degree to the beach which meant hard on the wind, even some tacking at times, but a 60+ km/hr leg the other way. With plenty of sweepers coming in it was tricky sailing.
23 turned up, the "Belgium team" all in borrowed karts and Andrew joined us from the BoP.
With a slow leg one way we put a time limit on the race as it wasn't likely we were going to get the 100 km in especially with limited beach. The wind dropped at the start making the first down wind leg a bit painful with no great speeds until the last 2 km when the wind squared a bit and freshened. This gave the back markers a push and they caught the front bunch after being about 300 metres behind.
Graham and Barry get a good start and were fighting it out at the first mark with David H close behind. Cam, Orca and Russell had come through into the next bunch when the wind came in. Then the slow leg back to the start with some tacking at crucial times and sweepers to dodge. After the first lap Graham had the lead, Barry a close second, Russell back a bit just in front of Cam with David and Orca next. The fast northerly leg saw spectacular sailing especially when hitting the slimy bits with the karts sliding through these under limited control. Visibility was marginal as goggles quickly became covered and in the end a number resorted to no protection so they could see well. Barry hit the front with Graham next and Cam overtaking Russell on the upwind leg. The front 2 got a bit bogged down which let Cam and Russell come through with Cam slowly pulling out bit of a lead at one stage 3-400 metres. End of lap 5, 50 km mark, a sweeper took Cam high and this let Russell through and he opened up a 200 metre lead on the next downwind leg. Half way back a huge wave took him up the beach into the soft sand and Cam retook the lead. At this stage quite a few were pulling out as the sailing became quite tough and the tide was coming in. Cam hit a soft patch which allowed Russell to come up. Both pushed out onto the hard sand as the wave receded and Cam then flipped his kart when getting back going. All this with less than 1 km to go with the flag up to finish the race as the beach was fast disappearing. Both got going but Russell had snuck in front and ended up winning by about 30 seconds. Graham had pulled out with eye problems and David had come through to pass Barry on the last lap to take out the light weight division.
Dom sailed a 3 metre to win the 50 km race about a minute ahead of Derek with Jenny getting third.
Some great sailing heading north, frustrations coming back and overall could have done without the slime but most had the grin, even if it was hard to find under the layers of green sand. Photos will tell the story.
Results:
50 km race
1st Dom
2nd Derek
3rd Jenny
Lightweights
1st David H
2nd Barry
3rd Jon
Heavyweights
1st Russell
2nd Cam
3rd Neil.
Plenty of stories to be told I'm sure.
Happy fathers day for Sunday and no sailing at Ardmore today, most recovering or cleaning.
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Great Race Is on!
Low tide is 12.15, therefore:
10 am, meet at car park for set up, last minute registration for those who haven't entered.
10.15, those driving to the stream head for the beach access.
11 am briefing at the stream
11.10 approx. race start.
The wind has held but we may need to be wary of a few sweepers on the beach as it has been wild overnight. Please let it be better than Kariotahi a few years ago! The rain has passed anyway so it should be a great sail!
Grant
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