Forceracing- Farr 3.7's greeted by the wind in Wellington!

by Andrew Brown on 3 Apr 2010
Andrew Brown (ForceRacing) reports from the 2010 3.7 Nationals at Evans Bay, Wellington:

I arrived in Wellington late Wednesday night, after a 9 hour drive, and the previous days flight back from the Asian Sailing Championships in China where I was coaching. I arrived in the dark and noticed quite a bit of breeze around. Checked into the accommodation and got sorted out, and the next morning went to the yacht club to be greeted by 25 odd knots.

I got the boat all ready and prepared, then went out for a quick 'check' sail to check over the boat and the skipper as well as the conditions. Well, the conditions were more like 25 with gusts recorded at 34 knots, so quite tough but awesome fun!

Friday was the start of the regatta, and the boat passed through measuring with flying colours, I then made sure the boat was prepared for racing. The postponement flag quickly went up as soon as the committee boat was out there, as they were recording gusts of 40 knots, with the wind steady at 25. So no racing on Day one of the regatta, but the race committee signalled an early start for Day 2 of 900am.

As the day dawned, it was obvious that there would be no racing and after 6 hours waiting with the wind sitting consistently at 30 and a gust or two recorded at 45knots the racing was called off for day 2.

That means tomorrow will be an epic day, with five races scheduled and another 9am start.

However the weather may have the final say, but all the sailors are hoping for a reprieve from the wind and some yachting to be had!

Signing off from Windy Wellington,

Andrew