Great sailing and big water for the Europe Dinghies in Pigeon Bay

Beating up the Bay - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships Antje Muller

Starting right by the jetty - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

Defending champion Tom Arthur generously shared his local knowledge with the visitors from the North Island, which may partly explain their good results. Both Friday and Saturday, the breeze was steady from northerly directions with little shifts and bands of pressure on certain parts of the course.

Racing was very tight throughout the fleet. The first three were usually very close together, with Ben Carrick poking into the pack several times as well. The next four had similarly close racing, and especially Tim Scott and Andy Greager delivered several tacking duels. Dave Carrick and Nick Grant usually battled for ninth and tenth, while Grant Radford, Anna Spyker, Justin Dowell and Tony Samson seemed to be quite happy to always finish in the same order. Multisport ace Diane Sowerby unfortunately could not compete on Saturday due to family commitments, and with sailing abandoned for Sunday that left her with only half the races on the board. Despite a streak of mishaps that included falling out of her boat and half drowning, Maree Andrews found that she could keep pace with the fleet in the races she was able to complete.

Before - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

The first race was the lightest and a great starter for everyone to ease into the sailing. Jake Weeks from Napier had come South again for his second try to wrench the title from Tom but could not catch him in these light winds. In the second race however the wind came up and Jake showed great speed upwind and downwind, winning this race in front of Antje Muller from Northland and Tom. Susie Weeks came fourth in the lighter winds, but Ben Carrick managed to pick up the pace when the wind came up and beat her in race two, and managing a third place in the last race of the day.

Similarly, Andy Greager seemed to prefer the fresher breeze and got ahead of Tim Scott in race two after coming seventh behind Tim in the first race. The afternoon races were held in nice moderate breezes, which kept the fleet close together and made for exciting racing. Sometimes the right hand shore had a great lift in store – but then again sometimes it did not, and the breeze from the left got the boats on that side up to the mark first.

Class Association President Tim convened the Annual General Meeting for Friday evening where the fleet came together for a good chat and some planning for the next season.

Event organiser and Club Commodore Ross McGreagor came into his own on Saturday when the wind was just fresh enough to have all of the fleet fully powered up to windward and planing downhill, and he finished the series with a fourth place in race eight. Antje found another gear in this breeze and even caught Tom on the short beat to the finish after coming around the first mark only in fourth place in race seven. Jake however showed the best speed off the wind in these conditions and overtook Tom in race six, and both Tom and Antje in the last downwind of the last race to finish his series with a first place.

Husband and father Marty Weeks watched the action from the jetty and took some great pictures. On Saturday evening, the Club put on a yummy BBQ and desert, and to top it off, Marty shared his observations with the fleet.

Downwind - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

Sunday morning was an early start for the fleet. Instead of going sailing at eleven, everyone was roused before seven in the morning to get the boats into safety. The Tsunami warning for Banks Peninsula was for one to three metre surges, arriving 9.35am. The boat storage area was cleared out quickly, and most competitors chose to go straight home seeing that they had to get up the hill anyway. The North Island contingent plus locals Tim, Tom, and Ross stayed behind to watch from the safety of the cottage up the hill.

Nothing happened for a long time, but around 10am, Akaroa 30 miles to the East reported the sea levels dropping far below low tide levels. It was another 90 minutes before anything happened in Pigeon Bay, and the time passed with cups of tea and eggs on toast. It was low tide now, but then suddenly the water disappeared completely, leaving nothing but mud across the bay from the vantage point. Only minutes later, the surge came in and the water came up to the usual high tide mark before receding again. A series of smaller surges ensued, and at about half tide another large surge came high enough to cover the boat storage area and the jetty. Even when leaving the next morning, surges of up to half a metre could still be observed.

The top three - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

It was beautiful weather and light winds on Sunday, so the results might have been quite different if it had been possible to sail. With the Tsunami however, there were currents as strong as a river in full flood, and the bottom mark that had been left out travelled up and down the bay with the surges.

Due to the events, the prize giving was a reduced affair. The open and the ladies title went to Antje, Tom came second and Jake third. Second lady was Susie, and third Anna. Winner on Handicap was Nick, Ross came second, and Andy third.

The next New Zealand Championships will be held in Wellington in February 2011.

Too Much Water - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

No Water - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

After - 2010 Europe Class New Zealand Championships © Antje Muller

Overall

Scoring codes used

Sailwave Scoring Software 1.94 Build 29
http://www.sailwave.com/