Today was the first race of the new season after a break of 2
months. Orewa beach has always produced some surf for us, but
today was dead flat with a gentle breeze, a nice easy start to the
season for everyone.
16 boats arrived at 9am for Scrutineering with a few new crews
racing with us for the first time. Our new club trailer was on
debut - 2 years in the planning and building has produced a
functional setup which can be used not only on the beach but also at
boat shows etc as part of our displays.
Race Director for the day was once again Alan Astrop.
Drivers briefing was held at 10.30pm and was slightly longer than
usual as we clarified a few rule changes adopted at the A.G.M.
Racing started by 11am with 8 boats in each heat. With flat
conditions it was important to get a good running start to your boat
and out to the front first into the clean water. This became
apparent through the day as the first two places usually pulled away
from the rest of the pack.
After lunch a strong off shore wind developed and managed to get
a couple of the boats to head skywards (good one Bradley!!)
Some preferred to angle park at the finish instead of parallel
parking like the rest (on ya Waz!!)
With an unusually low tide, the last 5 races were finished at E
buoy instead of the usual beach finish, due to the appearance of a
sand bar in front of the finish line.
Racing finished at 4pm and we headed back to the Surf Club for
results and refreshments. Congratulations to ‘Mr Video’
for taking top spot.
Our next race is at Whangamata in 2 weeks time. Most of us
have bad memories of 4+ metre surf with a lot of broken gear the
last time we were there. Lets hope for the same again!!!
