Wellington lived up to its windy reputation today. Everyone pulled out their little 4th or 5th rigs and some spectacular sailing was had by all.
The day was nicely summed up by our UK friends sailing in this years’ regatta; this from Bob Clements on a UK based forum this evening:
'Good god these guys are hardcore! Today we were out on the 4th rig and struggling to keep it upright upwind (let alone downwind), and they were steaming downwind completely 'on it'. We've just had a bit of a 'go and send it' session, and Hoggie got Romulus (ex Stagecoach) completely airborne a number of times.'
As expected the conditions have put the pressure on boat handling and the experienced combinations of Paul O'Malley-Jones and Richard Billett (Gobsmacked Dwarves) and Michael Bochner (Bocco) and Tim Barraclough (Gizmo) have moved into the leading bunch in races 5 & 6. Paul secured a brace of thirds and Bocco recorded ninth and fourth.
There was some confusion surrounding the location of one of the marks in the harbour course sailed in race 5; so while Bocco scored ninth he was the leader of the group (including Martin Hughes and Inspire Group) who sailed a slightly (4 miles!) longer course.
At the front of the fleet ‘normal service’ resumed in race 6 with Alex Vallings and Jeremy Smith (Nuplex) leading Chris Skinner and David Healy (Martin Hughes) home.
The continued consistency of the New Zealand team gives it 626 points with Australia some distance away on 380.
Overall placings after six races with worst score discarded:
1 'Nuplex' (NZL) Alex Valings and Jeremy Smith (5pts) 2 'Garde' (AUS) Brett Hobson and Chris Johnson (17pts) 3 'Gobsmacked Dwarves' (AUS) Paul O'Malley-Jones and Richard Billett (20pts) 4 'Martin Hughes' (NZL) Chris Skinner and David Healey (23pts) 5 'Romulus' (NZL) Steve Hogg and Rodger Barnes (28pts)
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