Race day 3

I had skipped the Matariki classic since I was super sore and shattered and knew I couldn’t do 3 hours of racing, especially since it was windier. I actually ended up on Turaco, a trailer sailor owned by one of the members I know well. We did ok, did 3 laps of the course which was nice, was pretty tough going though as it got up to probably over 20 knots.

I skipped the first race of the day since I was still shattered from the Friday (24th) and tired from the day before. I got out on the course just after the first race had started, I was a little worried I wouldn’t make it since they had set the course right up at the top of the bay which was a little unusual. Managed to get there with plenty of time though so that was ok.

The Race

Fabulous weather, around 5-10 so should be plenty to get a hull out of the water. It did die out during the race but thats ok. I started a wee bit behind, right up by the committee boat end though. Once again I wasn’t quite up to full speed off the line but I wasn’t too slow and managed to stay right up with the fleet, a few boats even had to tack underneath me which was pretty cool to see. Platinum and K2 rolled over the top of me (and Pom Puss) which was expected but a bit of a shame. The first tack was ok, not perfect but a massive improvement from what I had last time. In hindsight I should have just tacked off toward the right side of the course earlier as I think there were gains made on that side. When I came close to the mark I could see that I was ahead of Pom Puss, the first time I was ahead of anyone. I think they made a bit of a mistake further down but still, I was thrilled! Finally getting into the grove of things.

The downwind was pretty good, it felt like I was catching up with the fleet a little, I was covering well and just overall sailing nice and straight. I totally stuffed up the mark rounding though. I don’t really know what happened but I ended up jybing accidentally before the mark and bumping into it. I had everything perfectly set up, I had bouy room at the mark over 2 boats, boards down just before the mark and then bam. It just didn’t work out. I took my penalty turn and sailed on behind the rest of the fleet.

A bit of a slow tack toward the top mark but I managed to gain a little ground. According to Race Qs I was in the grove basically the whole way. I squeezed my way up to the top mark without needing to tack again and that was that. Platinum had lost a little ground somewhere and we rounded the mark at the same time. I was really tryinhg to make up ground but I just couldn’t quite gain enough.

I finished last. Despite this I finished less than a minute behind the next place getter which is a massive improvement from 10! I learnt a lot this race and although it could have gone better it makes me feel pretty happy that I can keep up with the PT fleet.

Full results Race Qs link

• 2024 1
• 2022 8