WAKA Racing competing in Malaysia. Image copyright Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images.
by Garth Ellingham
After being home 3 weeks we decided it was time to leave again. A splash of itchy feet maybe? We left for Malaysia on Saturday for the Asian Match Racing Champs. In Kuala Terengganu. Temperature in mid 30’s, monsoon rain and a lot of current making it a challenging and sweaty task. The end goal, qualifying for the Monsoon Cup.
We started today’s racing in very little breeze and it stayed that way throughout. A great day for the boys posting 4 wins from 4 races. A little bit of a rusty start was soon shaken off and we got into the full swing of things again as the day progressed. The highlight of the day was beating Aus skipper Michael Dunstan from Sydney. We managed to get off the start line a boat length ahead and then extended a little in a tacking duel up the first beat. Then downwind we extended but overlayed the top mark for the second time by miss judging the strength of the current. He gained a tad more but we still held our nerve to cross the finish line 3 lengths ahead. A good win and one that we were happy to put away.
Tomorrow we will finish the 1st round robin and then carry on into a second. Staying focussed and hydrated is the key for the team along with keeping the intensity up in the downtime.
Waka Racing would like to thank Ian from Tax Management NZ for helping the team get up here to compete, along with Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ross Munro of Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.
WAKA Racing
Asian Match Racing Championships
No comments:
Post a Comment