Hi All,,,,, The first of the Thursday Night Summer series of races kicked off last night with a fleet of 18 boats but only 17 sailed!? The less said about that the better.

The wind moderated throughout the day with perfect conditions greeting the sailors for the first race that was very efficiently started at exactly 17h30. (Dave Rushtons watch read 17h31 and he was already trying to hurry the race officer along to get thinks moving!) Wind at the top of the No1 sails out of the NE or maybe ENE and the Pond back to the normal level, just as if nothing had happened a mere 4 days ago! Andrew Heathcote shocked and stunned the gathered crowd by being visibly the fast boat on the water by far and cruised to 4 race wins out of 6 races and was taken out of one race when close to the front with one of those RCLaser raft-ups at the leeward mark. He then slipped to 3rd place in the last race that was finished as the sun disappeared and the wind chill dropped another 5 degrees.Well done Andrew what ever you did just keep doing it!

The NPO concerts are still affecting racing with 2 competitors packing in early to head off to the city hall but I'm told that it is the 2nd to last concert so another distraction will be gone shortly. Others showing flashes of speed and brilliance in the fleet were Lex Brockbank, Mark vd Wat, Dave Rushton, Harry Ellens, Dale Gove and John Burn. Dave finishing up in 2nd place and Harry in 3rd.

Des Fairbank was the race officer and very high class on the water judge for the evening and had most of the fleet getting dizzy from all the 360 spins that he had the fleet doing, and that's a first for a Thursday night and certainly not the last!!

Boerie rolls and a few frosties were enjoyed in the clubhouse after the racing as by that time the wind chill factor had dropped to about -5 degrees

So all in all a real excellent start to the Thursday night series,
See you there next Thursday
RCL50