Light winds on opening day of Sail Auckland

by John Wilkinson on 9 Feb 2003 Light winds frustrated sailors and race officials alike on the opening day of Sail Auckland. The Mistral Imco Boards only got one race away but the Optimist class managed three in the slightly stronger breezes close to the shore.

The other classes only managed 2 races in 4 to 6 knot breezes that oscillated from northeast to southwest.

Andrew Murdoch (NZL) and Michael Blackburn (AUS) both won races in the Lasers and head the fleet. Jake Bartrom (NZL) who won the Laser Radial class at Sail Melbourne is currently 4th.

Carolijn Brouwer (NED) just heads Sarah Macky(NZL) in the Europes, both winning races. The light shifty winds favoured the New Zealand womens crew of Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson in the 470 class as they won the 2nd race and trail the leading crew of Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani (ITA) by only one point.

New Zealands Finn class sailor Clifton Webb will be pleased with is leading position against a top class field including Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) who is 2nd and Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) 3rd.

Lasers after 2 races:

1.Andrew Murdoch (NZL) 4 pts

2.Michael Blackburn (AUS) 5pts

3.David Weaver (NZL) 12pts

Europes after 2 races :

1.Carolijn Brouwer (NED) 3pts

2.Sarah Macky(NZL) 4pts

3.Jo Dikkenberg(AUS) 7pts

Finns after 2 races :

1. Clifton Webb (NZL) 4pts

2. Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) 5pts

3. Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) 7pts

470’s after 2 races:

1. Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani (ITA) 4 pts

2. Shelley Hesson/LindaDickson (NZL) 5pts

3. Andrew Brown/Jamie Hunt (NZL) 5pts

420’s after 2 races :

1. Olivia Powrie/Sarah Bilkey 4 pts

2. Scott Kennedy/Alistair Thompson 5pts

3. Garth Ellingham/Scott Illingworth 8pts

Laser Radial after 2 races:

1. Blair McLay(NZL) 2pts

2. Mathieu Frei(FRA) 5pts

3. Matt Coutts(NZL) 5pts

Mistral Imco Men after 1 race :

1. Tom Ashley(NZL) 1pt

2. Oliver Guide(FRA) 2pts

3. James Wells(NZL) 3pts

Mistral Imco Women after 1race :

1. Barbara Kendall(NZL) 1pt

2. Allison Shreeve(AUS) 2pts

3. Julie Worth (NZL) 3pts

Optimist after 3 races:

1. Daniel Wilcox 11pts

2. Josh Nixon 20pts

3. Susannah Pyatt 21pts

For full results check out the official regatta website: www.sailauckland.org.nz