November 16th 2002
Club day at Whangamata Beach
Conditions on the day were 'FLAT AS'. We
could have done with the Lion Red VW Kombi ad to give us some
waves, Alas this was not to be, so all you guys who have been
practicing your starts today should have shown results.
For those watching, it was a good time to analyze
driver styles. Defending your line was important as there was
next to no difference in speed in the top five. It was nice to see
Steve Parr again in the Matamata Motors boat, still using his 'balls
to the wall' style of hitting the corners on the inside full
taps & forcing the opposition to give racing room on the
outside. The various styles of racing make it hard for the
officials, sometimes being closer than 'the misses' and me on
a Saturday night.
Mark Powell in Waikato Sandblasting boat managed
to turn the Rock FM boat into a paddling pool between 'D' & 'E'
buoys. I saw Mark explaining to the Rock boys how it was not
intentional - YEAH RIGHT! By the way Mark, there's a well
known song 'I messed with the law and the law won' so expect
PAYBACK sooner or later.
Welcome to our two new boats, Tony & Jason
Smith in A-Team & Brent Howard & John Mangan in Get
Smart. Well done, hope you guys had fun and we look forward to
seeing more of you soon. Great also to see Rod back in Mason Lowes
Construction with new co-pilot Darren Whittaker.
Jon & James Astrop in Kamikaze went into the
finals with just a 2 point lead over Kelvin Kay & Matt McKain
riding Eta Ripples. Waz & Flash in Armour Linings were
close behind so it could have been anyone's race in the final. After
a bit of a drag race start, Kamikaze in pole position just had the
legs on Waz & Kelvin, however James blew it in the last lap by
pulling out the kill switch. A mere 3-4 second lead is no
cushion when the rest of the field is barreling down on you at
70kph! (James is still trying to find out who came past laughing and
whooping!)
 Only
a couple of penalties all day with one bumped buoy and a boat
managing to cross the finish line. We won’t say who they
were as I said to Steve & Gavin I wouldn’t mention it.
Thanks to all the helpers - Leon, Matt's two
girlfriends La & Rachel, the scorers Amber, Judi, & Ann. A
special thanks to Laura who acted as starter and got very wet
prompting a few guys asking 'Are you cold or just pleased
to see me?'
Photographer Jason Bartley was on the beach taking
loads of shots and we hope to have him put the photos up on the net
for us http://www.big.net.nz
- 07 865 8832
Thanks to every one taking part.
 Alan
Astrop
See Race
Results for placings and overall club points for the season.
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