Rotoiti Javelin Class North Island Championships 2012

by Antje Muller on 9 Apr 2012
The final Javelin Class event for the season this year is the last regatta of the North Islands Taveller Series.

Class President Colin Shanks booked The Bach at the lakeside again for this special get-together. The special attraction of this Rotoiti venue is that the boats are rigged on the lawn and launched straight into the lake.

This year’s event had special rules to find out who is the best skipper in the fleet. Three of the top boats that are all the same hull design got together and each had a nominated skipper while the crews were swapped around.

Friday evening brought some rain but as soon as the delegate from Palmerston North arrived the clouds cleared.

aturday morning beckoned the sailors with sunshine and a nice wiring breeze. Colin Shanks with Riders on the Storm won the invitation race but as soon as racing started in earnest, David Brown with Trailblazer won the three official races.

After lunch, Bradley took his surfboard for a spin but the wind eased and he had to return to shore soon. Gina jumped on the boat with Colin for a race and then decided to swim back to shore. Race Officer Peter Millar got onto Full Frontal and left the officiating to Antje. After a race each as crew and skipper with Max, he decided to try sailing by himself and beat Colin and Craig who were so far behind that they did not even see the mark Peter had rounded. It was getting crowded on the little tender serving as committee boat when David and Antje went for a final single-handed race. The day on the water was an all-round success with lots of fun for everyone.

Debbie went shopping and bought two bottles of nailpolish, a toothbrush and a syndicate lotto ticket for the fleet but she forgot the marshmellows again!

Full Frontal did not even bother to take the sails down, just rolled the boat over in a protected corner before the fleet went to the hot springs. There some discovered how to turn white pants brown and get instant tans. The major feature was a water rat swimming across the hot river, but it dived out of sight when Bradley tried to catch it. There was still a bit of competition going on, this time going up the little waterfall which by expert opinion was flowing at 110 litres per second.

The next morning did not boast much wind so the sailors enjoyed another coffee before hitting the water. David won the first race but then the chain plates coming undone on Trailblazer worried him enough to button off a bit. Craig Gilberd on Full Frontal seized his chance and went on to win the final two races of the series. The most successful crew was Bradley Nixon who could book three wins in the official races.

Another swap around was done for a final fun race, which was won by Trailblazer.

It was a perfect sailing weekend with competitive racing, some fun on the water and a great atmosphere on shore. Many thanks to Peter Millar for the race management, Colin for organising and everyone else for making it a great event!

For more information on the Javelins see www.javelins.org, and additional photos are posted on http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.375192479187975.89588.137474022959823&type=3