25 races were completed for the Winter Series. While some of the race days were in light winds, the final day on Sunday had enough to get through 15 races in good time and with enough variation to keep everyone honest with the racing. No more so than in the light weight division where there was a different winner in each race and plenty of sailors at the head of the leader board bringing up the rear of the fleet in a couple of races. Thank goodness for drops. Grant got the first win and was the most consistent during the day. Then Trevor, John Paverd, Ray and Jude all took a win with plenty of close racing and changes of positions during the race.
The course was set with three marks on the main runway to force some tacking and making the angles sailed and acceleration out of the tacks important. Plenty of action on these corners. For the last couple of races the down wind leg included both cross tracks and again having speed out of the top mark paid dividends further down the track. Changing strategies at the top mark in the different wind conditions meant some big gains or big losses, depending on whether you got it right on not.
The Cruisers was a battle between Chad and Matt, both sailing well if the light but also keeping the pace up when the wind came in to fight off the heavier sailors. Matt got the first 3 and Chad the next 2. Some very close racing between these two that kept the spectators interested.
The heavy division worked hard to keep the speed up but also had a couple of races in 10-12 knts. Wayne and Russell took most of the 1sts and 2nds with Alex getting a 2nd in the last race. Again, some very close racing in this division. Bruce, Peter, Trevor and John were all close behind at times to keep the pressure on.
The final results can be downloaded here: 2014 Winter Series Final Results (pdf)
