Waka Racing lead downwind. Image copyright Subzero Images/WMRT.
by Garth Ellingham
Today dawned on us after a night of high winds and rain. Fortunately or unfortunately none of this greeted us when racing kicked of this morning after a slight delay due to lack of wind. All of the races that were sailed this morning to complete the round robin stage were held in very light and shifty conditions. This has been the case all week with the wind blowing across narrow Hamilton Habour and being highly affected by large hotels and land formations.
For us our first race of the day was a vital one. Our fate was in our own hands with a victory over Bjorn Hansen guaranting that we made it through to the repacharge and a loss left us relying on other people to win/lose. Unfortuntaely for us it was the later option we put ourselves in. In the race we received a debatable penalty in the prestart but managed to nail our time on distance and win the start, which enabled us to win the first cross. From here we sailed a great first beat and consolidated on the downwind to achieve a substantial lead around the bottom mark. However after a poor mark rounding where we found ourselves a little slow and Bjorn luckily rounding with inside pressure he was able to close up on us. This is where we came unstuck, whilst debating about how to even up our penalty. We ended up doing the complete wrong thing and Bjorn was able to slide past to take the race.
Luckily for once the results went our way and we were able to just sneak into the repacharge. From here the weather decided that it wasn’t going to play ball with rain and a glass off occuring. This delayed racing for a couple more hours until we were able to get one race off late in the afternoon. Conditions were marginal with very light conditions a big shifts going through.
Repechage Skippers:
Ben Ainsle
Adam Minoprio
Alvaro Marinho
Ian Williams
Bjorn Hansen
Phil Robertson
In our race we had a formidable opponent in Ben Ainsle up first. He did a really nice job in the pre start leading back to the start line at the perfect time, resulting in us being late and in dirt. From here it was a tough road. We battled hard in tough conditions to close right up to him at the top mark only to see him sail away from us at the bottom mark. The rest of the coarse was pretty much a lay through so there wasn’t much we could do. Race over.
Video of Phil Robertson, Waka Racing's Skipper, on making the repechage:
So overall a pretty disappointing day but our heads are still up. We are only one race down and have four to go tommorrow. Although the skippers in the repacharge are all formidable opponents we are confident we can still do the business, as we have beaten every one of them a number of times in the last year,
Waka Racing would like to thank our main sponsor Tax Management NZ and all the support we receive from the RNZYS, Frontend, Zhik , Wells and Co, PredictWind and Devine Consultants.
WAKA RACING is Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, James Williamson and Sam Bell.
Waka Racing
Argo Group Gold Cup
World Match Racing Tour
