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Last night we had another free social at the historic walled
Citadel which dates back 17,000 BC. From the left Mike Sheilds is shown
above (2nd from left),then Kelly Page and right Jeff Martin (Executive
Secretary of ILCA)
A very long light wind day today with the breeze coming and
going in small cells and constantly changing direction with some
frustration and unexpected results. In the Radial Apprentice fleet Mike
Pasco had a good day finishing only 2 places behind the leader Mark Page, the
only problem being Mark had a terrible day finishing in the late
teens. Mike Knowsley did better with a 13th in the only race sailed in
this fleet.
Mike Keeton did well to get an 11th in the only race sailed in
the tricky conditions in the Radial Master Fleet.
The Radial Great Grand Masters had 3 starts today but did not
manage to complete a race. Mike Shields was leading the fleet by a
comfortable margin when the first race was abandoned. The Great Grand
Master fleet are the only fleet on the Radial course to have any
OCS or Recalls as the adrenaline pumps very hard in that age
group. Today they squandered what wind there was with another 2
starts while the rest of us watched the breeze die. In the last race
with no result Tom Speed was leading until he got back to shore and found that
Sandy Grigg was so far ahead he could not be seen. So it could have been a
great day for the Kiwis in any races could have been completed.
The
Standard Masters had a
lot of starting practice with about 7
starts but only one result. Today they had more wind on the Standard race track
than the Radial. The first race was being lead by Colin Cadwell when it
was abandoned much to Wayne Fergusons delight. Wayne had a much better
2nd race and finished in the early 30s with Colin. Barry Cutfield shown above
had his drop today in these tricky conditions after an unsightly incident
when he was approaching the top mark on port and the large
gap he decided to sail into, suddenly and unexpected closed. Barry picked
up some new Irish words today similar in meaning to the new French words that
Stephen Phillips learnt yesterday.
In the Standard Grand
Masters fleet Jack Hansen & Bob Blakey got great pin end starts in the only
race sailed in their fleet. They managed to get clear and sailed the race
with the top ten boats. They match raced around the course and finished 9
and 10 ahead of Australian legend and the leader in their fleet Mark Bethwaite.
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