As it turned out, sailing was a roller coaster of events. On our own budget, without a coach, we rocked up the day before the regatta and hoped to have our 6 year old charter boat working ok. After a short sail at 5pm, we were dismayed to find out the gasket had fallen out which meant at least 2 hours of repair. Not to be discouraged on a trip with no support team at all, we opted for before-the-first-race repair. So Roy and I headed to the club nice and early the next morning to fix our race craft.

The first day’s racing was mixed and saw us in second spot. However, a super light and insane second day race surprised even ourselves as we finished the only race of the day more than 5 minutes ahead of the next boat and pushing us up the leader board to gain pole position. A pitiful third day with more downs than ups lost us our lead and slip to second. The last day of racing was smooth sailing as we managed to increase our point differences between the boat behind us and catch up with the leaders. However, the penultimate race which carries double points was not enough for us to overhaul the eventual winners despite us winning the race. In hindsight, the third day of racing lost us the regatta. We lacked the consistency when needed and it cost us. However, if anything, this experience will go a long way, having taught us what is required to stick our elbows out that inch more to win it.

All in all, we had a great outing in Auckland and felt the money was well spent! Thanks for supporting us… SQ… =p

TeRence

Carrying the yellow sticker off the start.

Going around the top mark.

Top mark rounding

Photos courtesy of Snow-Hansen

Prize Presentation

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