Black Rock Yacht Club Xmas Regatta - Day 1
by Daniel Vaughan 29 Dec 2021 23:08 NZDT
28 December 2021 - 2 January 2022
Argo - Stewart Vickery AUS 665 - Black Rock Yacht Club Xmas Regatta © John Graham
With Covid preventing an Int14 Australian championships for two years this regatta is the first chance for i14s to get some racing in.
The sun was shining and the breeze was fresh to moderate, what could be better than going for a blast on a 14 in flat water. Being last in the start sequence, racing got under way at 2:30pm once the other classes had taken off, Anthony Anderson was working a different tactic starting on port and heading out to the right-hand side while the others went left. In flat water it did not take long to mow through the other fleets, this is i14 sailing at its best!
At the top end of the first leg the breeze got very fickle and shifty while the sea breeze was trying to take hold (more on this later) Roger Blasse and Andrew Gilligan made the best of the situation rounding first well ahead of Lindsay Irwin, followed by Stewart Vickery.
From here it was very much a holding pattern with no major gains to be had as the breeze had swung left and started filling in with the sea breeze, the 2nd downwind leg was a straight run to the bottom mark, fully powered up and flying downwind it was like the other classes were standing still, there were plenty of Sabres and 125's in the mix, like little sea mines ready to jump out at you at any given moment. Rounding the bottom mark and a short reach to the finish it was Roger Blasse and Andrew Gilligan taking out the first win of the series.
The teams had plenty of time to regroup after the first race while the other classes finished and the course was reset to the new wind direction, as all this was going on Mother Nature decided to perk up as the seabreeze continued to build to 20-25 knots and the decision to fight it out the following day was made.
Looking forward to another great day today (Wednesday).