100Km Race

It was forecast to be the perfect day for racing 100 km. On arrival at Muriwai Beach about 9.45 the wind was over 20 knts, gusting closer to 30 but more important it was a good direction, almost square to the beach. Everyone turned up in good time to rig and sail past the stream to the start area. Russell, Grant Archer and Fred drove down to the start, Russell proceeding to set up the course with a 5 km mark giving a 10 km circuit to sail. Everyone set up 3 metre sails with slightly different mast combinations. A couple tried a 2 metre out before the start but some soft patches of sand and sweepers coming up the beach meant a constant top speed was not possible. It was decided to trust everyone with the start and not have an official time keeper for the race. Natalya and Jude were sailing the 50 km race and would then start taking some times for the rest of the fleet after finishing. After a 2 minute dial up, everyone was away, no one pushing the start line too hard so maybe we do this “no hooter and flag start” for future events, just rely on trust for the start, yeah rite! Wayne took the lead from the start line closely followed by David and Russell who had their own tussle for the first 3 km before Russell got clear and set off after Wayne. On the first leg back to the start the karts were sorting themselves out in some sort of order with the main fight being between Fred and Neil. These two swapped places throughout the 100 km, never being more than a few seconds apart with Fred often gaining on the straight legs, Neil gaining time on the corners. Looked like a fun battle but being so close there was no time to relax and have an “easy” leg. Grant Archer was following David, with Rod not far back but staying in touch. Natalya was just ahead of Jude and stayed that way for the 50 km being about 30 seconds ahead at the end of the 5^th leg. The beach had sweepers constantly coming up to the high tide mark meaning some tricky sailing at times to miss the deep water and the soft patches of sand. The front karts were sitting above 50 km/hr at times only to hit a soft patch or water and take a while to build up the speed again. A couple of patches of slime meant some slippery slidey sailing but nothing too bad. There was a seal on the course but easy to miss as he was down on the waters edge. The marks started to cut up a bit after a few laps which meant a different technique to get around with speed. Most didn’t manage this, either stopping or slowing dramatically with a couple spinning out. Wayne continued to lead and was lapping every 10 km about 7-8 seconds faster than Russell who slowly lost touch until lap 5 when a puncture 4 km down the beach forced Russell out of the race. Russell had pulled well ahead of David who was then up the 2^nd followed by Grant. This is how it finished with Wayne crossing the line after 2 hrs 6 min 14 seconds, David 2^nd overall and first light weight, Grant, Rod, Neil, Fred, 2 seconds behind after leading into the final turn. Seemed like everyone enjoyed the race, especially the constant high wind of about 20 knts, gusting above this. No real fast legs because the wind angle was square to the beach, 60 km/hr the top speed for Wayne. A formal prize giving will be held at our next get together where the 100 km trophy will be presented. Results Heavy weights 1^st Wayne 2:06:14 2^nd Grant Archer 2:14:36 3^rd Rod 2:26:00 Light weights 1^st David H 2:11:11 2^nd Neil  2:19:46 3^rd Fred 2:19:48 50 km Race 1^st Natalya 2^nd Jude