The third race of the winter series was held on a beautiful sunny day on Coromandel harbour and 10 yachts came out to compete.
Unfortunately, the wind was reluctant to play ball, so the start was delayed an hour to give it time to come to the party while the crews sunbathed and told war stories.
Eventually, a massed start was made and we all headed for the shortest course in our island race arsenal in a steadily more fickle wind. At times, yachts within a few hundred metres of each other on the same tack would be 30 degrees different in their point of sailing. Maku, Special FX and Wright One were making the best of the conditions and managed to get around Cow and Calf and head back to the start finish line while the rest of us struggled in dying and even more fickle wind shifts.
Spinnakers were hoisted on the return to home, and while they filled for a while, eventually they just draped themselves over the foredecks hanging listlessly. Maku, Special FX and Wright One managed to get home in that order, but the rest of the fleet retired defeated by the lack of wind.
The Race organiser managed to step blindly into the open hatch on the foredeck in an attempt to adjust the spinnaker, resulting in severe bruising to his ribs and leaving his crew to finish packing up the sails and a trip to A&E. No further damage but sore for a while.
Next race not until 29th as per the calendar.
Blue skies Rex
