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Lake Rotorua Regatta 2005

Rotorua 8/9 Oct

Report by Alistair Deaves

Given the forecast, it was surprising that anybody turned up at all. Friday evening saw dogs being blown off chains and road signs being blown into road trailers, and the thought of getting into an OK and going sailing was the last thing on most peoples’ minds. Even so, six hardy OK Dinghy sailors turned up to battle the elements (along with fleets of Nolex 25s and Elliot 5.9s). Two more OK sailors arrived at the venue and didn’t sail. One didn’t even bring a boat! A third actually tried to cut off his leg with a grinder so that he had a good excuse not to go sailing.

There will be retribution. You know who you are!!

The organizing committee from the Bay of Plenty Trailer Sailor Association managed to get 4 races in on the Saturday. Extremely large shifts and sudden 30 knot squalls and cold driving rain were the order of the day. Black clouds would appear over the hill behind the town and descend on the fleet with amazing haste, laying waste to all before them. The secret to the racing was to ignore the 20 degree shifts and wait for the 40 degree plus shifts. It was this strategy that caused Grant Pedersen from Wakatere to win the first race. A thirty five know squall in the second race took out Steve McDowell from Worser Bay and sent him to the beach for repairs where he stayed while Mark Perrow from Wakatere won the next two races. Steve appeared for the last race of the day and became the only finisher as the wind increased to over 40 knots, the rest of the fleet seeking safety on the beach.

More moderate winds of 15 – 20 knots on the Sunday saw the two races shared between Steve and Mark. Steve’s DNS took him out of contention for the overall honours and so Mark Perrow becomes the first InterGalactic Rotovegas Champion. Hopefully next year we will have more sailors and better weather.

Results

  1. Mark Perrow - Wakatere Boating Club
  2. Steve MacDowell - Worser Bay Boating Club
  3. Grant Pedersen - Wakatere
  4. Alistair Deaves - Wakatere
  5. Darren Hunt - Napier Sailing Club
  6. Matt McDowell - Wakatere