3.7 Class NZ Championships- Third time, lucky and a new Champion

by Chris Mitchell on 4 Apr 2010
The third day of the 3-7 Class National Championship, hosted by Evans Bay Yacht and Motorboat Club, was a huge one with the minimum of five races all held on the one day to decide the contest.

Preliminary results are Andrew Brown first, Rhys Johnston second, Lance O'Connell third, Kevin Holland fourth.

The first two races were held in a NW breeze in 5 to 18 knots and was extremely shifty and the fleet was well spread out as a result of all the shifts, sea state was very lumpy. The course sailed was the M course, (windward beat with 4 leg zig-zag slalom reaching downwind).

Then ashore for brief time the wind switched around at 11:45am and the following three races were held in a new Southerly breeze that was much more stable. Races 3 and 4 were triangle-windward-leewards' in 18 to 25 knots and the final race was in a fair bit more than that.

This time the whole fleet was very close and the leading three were neck and neck all the way around the track. The water was now flat and the boats were screaming around for some wild rides with such a good breeze in flat water, so everyone was just hanging on, with capsizes becoming fatal.

The top three edged out a little ahead of everyone else. In the final race a bit of confusion over a premature starter saw Lance and Andrew go back to the start (when they needn't have) and still get to the top mark second and third behind Rhys.

Rhys had the speed on reaches with Andrew and Lance having the speed upwind. The three of them ended up going around every mark together.

Class Website: www.3-7Class.org.nz

Event Website: http://www.ebymbc.org.nz/farr37nats.shtml