Winter Championship and Pointscore - heats 10,11 & 12

It was forecast to be 30 knots with rain. And if the day before was anything to go by, it was expected to be pounding rain.

As such, it was with some trepidation and much warm gear that the race management crew peeled themselves down to the club at 6.15am. Apparently, the sailors felt the same consternation, with many choosing to remain in bed rather than face a cold wet gale. And, as a result, numbers were down significantly this week in comparison with previous weeks.

Pleasingly, it turned out to be a beautiful day. No rain, sunshine despite the clouds, and a steady westerly breeze of 15-20 knots. Which was just as well because we were two volunteers down (one explained and one not). As it was, we were fortunate to have John Vasey volunteer to step in for the explained absence and Brendan Pollard generously offer not to sail, which covered the other.

Racing ran on time and smoothly with no course changes required in the consistent breeze.

It was a day of clean sweeps and near clean sweeps. Congratulations to Nick Pellow with a clean sweep in the 7s, Ian Alexander who was fixing for a clean sweep in the 6s until he was overtaken at the line by a tenacious Rob Blum in Race 11, and Charlotte Jenkins with a clean sweep in the 4s (albeit in a field of two), but notably maintaining competitiveness with several 6s.

Congratulations also to best on ground in the point score today – Chris Tattersall in the 7s and Rob Blum in the 6s.

Thanks to the on-water team of Andrew Cox, Pia Hattersley, John Vasey, and Brendan Pollard. Also need to acknowledge the extensive work done behind the scenes by Tim Heath in rostering and organising the volunteers each week, and to Geoff Boscoe and Scott Finlayson for their excellent work in publishing the results.