2014 12 Foot Skiff Nationals- Dancing with Cyclone Lusi

by Russell Davis on 18 Mar 2014 With the remnants of cyclone Lusi due to hit the top of the North Island of New Zealand and travel down the country last weekend a tough decision was made to run the New Zealand 12 foot skiff Nationals in the wake of clubs and organisations around Auckland and New Zealand cancelling events.

Forecasts were all over the show with some saying 80 kts was on its way and others saying only 30 kts.

First race was scheduled for Friday at 1pm with three back to back races. The schedule was compressed as Saturday was looking like a write off. All skippers and crews were torn between the second rig and third rig, third being the smaller of them both. Two boats decided to go out second rig with the rest of the fleet being third. Second rigs were call of the day as the wind never kicked like it was forecast until about ten minutes after the last race.

Friday night saw the leftover of cyclone Lusi land squarely in Auckland. Saturday the troops met down at the Auckland Sailing Club at 10 am to assess the situation. A steady 40 gusting 55 kts at Bean Rock and a massive chop on the harbour put paid to any chance of sailing that day. Code flag sausage was hoisted and we all retired for the day.

The schedule was rearranged so Sunday saw us getting ready for 4 races. Start time was 10 am with two back to back then in for some lunch followed by another two back to back races. Third rigs bolted in we all left the ramp for what turned out to be some very close racing in a northerly breeze that was swinging left all morning

Lunchtime had everyone scurrying around to bolt in their second rigs as the breeze eased. When the breeze swung to the left right around to the North West we all had to hurry and put our third rigs back in as the breeze settled in to a nice 20kts. The afternoon races were once again very close with lead changes all through the races.

Returning to the ramp was a whole lot of happy and very tired skiffies. There was a clear winner in the series however from a smart decision on rig choice for the Friday races.

Results are as below.

1) C-tech 8 Chris Reid and Andrew Clarke
2) Frankienskiff 15 Tim Bartlett and David Hazard
3) Absolute CNC 20 Russell Davis and Arkady Edmunds
4) AGAIG 21 Glen Armstrong and Roger Barnes
5) One and In 36 Ben Defluiter and G Unit
6) 12 Gauge 44 Leon Oliver and Andrew Wotherspoon
7) Exonet 45 Matt Stevens and Tim Coltman
8) Ugly Stick 48 Simon Ganley and Jono Clough
9) Skiff.org.nz 52 Craig Anderson and Sven Panel
10) Design Source 52 Paul Macintosh and Kenny Fyfe
11) ASCC 59 David Mcdiarmid and Nick Catley
12) Liquid asset 66 Mike Rhodes and Thomas olds
13) Barfoot and Thompson 66 Greg Roake and Neville
14) Martin Hughes 75 Tom Peet and Brad Collins
15) W2 87 Tim Snedden and Will Wright