Interislander Optimist & Starling Regatta at Queen Charlotte Yacht Club - Overall
by Christel Hopkins 18 Feb 2018 22:31 PST
16-18 February 2018
Day 3 certainly made the past two days like a piece of cake. With the cyclone looming not far off the day started out with a glassy Marlborough Sounds.
The Committee headed out to wait for the breeze. The Optis and Starlings then set out for the racing area while the breeze slowly started to fill in. It was a challenging day, both for the race committee and the sailors.
Race 7 was started with 5-7 knots of breeze, but a wind shift meant a second go was needed. The Gold fleet then had a general recall and had to start under Black Flag. The rest of the race sequences follow with the Starlings also put on Black Flag.
Another round of starts went away with the breeze building to 15 knots with some heavy gusts. Once the Starlings were away for their second race of the day, part of the course had to be pulled up and changed as a large logging ship was inbound to be towed in by Tugs. The Optimist were herded up after to finish while the Starlings could finish their somewhat shortened race.
Not long after the logging ship passed, the course was laid again to get the last race of the day underway.
It was another successful regatta for Queen Charlotte Yacht Club - she might be a small club but they can make things happen. Only just over 5 weeks away and QCYC have to do it all over again for the 2018 Toyota Optimist Nationals.
More information and full results can be found here.