Nick Jerwood triumphed but the gap to Donks in second was tight
A brisk south-easterly breeze welcomed skippers to the lake and we had 6 brave guys come on out to play. The forecast yesterday was for really strong southerly breezes and about 15mm of rain which would have put a real dampener on the show. There was also a footy match somewhere which did not include any of our favourite teams, so we welcomed the chance to play in plenty of open space on the lake.
We set up a course the full length of the lake from near the jetty right up to the northern bank. This allowed open water everywhere and the opportunity to see gusts from over that southeastern beach for faster holeshots than boats sneaking along the western bank.
When we arrived at 12:15 the breeze was really strong so Nick set his C rig up and went to play. He was flying but within 20min the breeze dropped enough for the entire fleet to change to B rigs so we could handle the odd gust, except Ray S and Jason P who started with A rigs. But by race 3 it had calmed even more so the whole fleet changed to A rigs to maintain competitive racing.
The racing was tight, especially at the finish line, with several races won by less than half a boat-length. Starts were important and reducing the number of tacks helped you stay fast. Every time you turn the boat you lose 4 - 5 metres on the field. There were the normal "holes of air" caused by trees on the bank that caught all of us out, including the leaders. In fact just 3 metres from that big buoy near the south-west corner was a really bad hole and when you slide in and tack to round that buoy we all struggled at times.
Congratulations to Nick for the regatta win, but he was chased every step of the way by both Donks and Jason. Ross and Ray S often featured in the podium finishes. It was definitely not one-way traffic.
Oh for the record, even the replay had the Dockers come second. Still no silver in the cupboard despite leading for most of the match.
Event Results - Top 5
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