Hi Guys,

For those who couldn't turn up you missed an awesome afternoon.  Apart
from a very few brief showers it was near perfect conditions.  Due to 
the recent windy weather the waves had swept the beach clean and 
packed the sand down right up to the grass which made for a hard, 
smooth and wide race track.The wind was less than forecast averaging  
around 10 -15 kts most of the time and stayed pretty much square on to 
the beach for 95% of the time making for some great fast racing over 
the 1000m course. It didn't seem too cold either, infact very pleasant 
especially when the sun was out.  

So the moral of the story is not to take too much notice of the 
forecast.

If my arithmetic is right we had 12 yachts turn up. 3x c3's and the 
rest mostly c5s.

It was great to have Roger, Clem, Darren and Desmond turn up from the 
BOP and see Francoise out on his new RGc5.

Great to have Bill Nairn set up the course and come out to race in his 
c3.  

John O'Donnell turned up but being straight from work was unable to 
bring his yacht so took on the OOD duties and did a magnificent job 
waving the flags at us. Both classes got in a few races each and then 
at the end some of us headed down the beach for a few kms and back 
just as a wee rain squall came through with a top up of breeze.  John 
followed us in his car and clocked us doing around 90ks.  I was 
surprised how little speed difference there was between some of the 
c5's and 3's and it's made me wonder a bit as to why I'm lugging 
around a big 3 when a 5 is almost as quick - they don't look as cool 
though and I reckon they wouldn't pull as many chicks - back in the 
day that is!

All going well we plan to sail next at Muriwai on Sunday 7th July.

Cheers,

Steve Ashley