Sailing Magazine
A beautiful hot day at the beach with 10Knotts of wind was the order of the day on Sunday the 9th of February. The second round of the Hobie Grand Prix saw 23 boats entered for a great days sailing. The first race was hotly contested in 10knotts of wind throughout the fleet. A great sausage\triangle course out to the fair weather mark, made the courses a little longer that normal giving everyone a bit of reaching practice(a triangle course for the cats is a must as this is where the cats are the best fun – VIVA wing marks please!!!). On Handicap Justin and James Butler won the first race followed by Greg De Beyer on a H14 and Malcolm Gibson and Dylan 3rd on a H16. Wayne Smith slipping back to 4th spot after cleaning his sails for a couple of minutes. The second race saw the wind dropping a little but conditions were great. Peter and Matthew Hall winning, with Wayne and Chad 2nd and Greg 3rd on the H14. Aldino a respectable 4th and Marry 5th on the H14’s. A good sail from David into 6th position on a H16.
As this is the first year we have run a balanced handicap system some adjustments have been made. The adjustments have been made to close the gap between the H16 and H14 results. Peter, Sean, Wayne have had their handicaps cut slightly and the H14’s have had their handicaps increased slightly. As you will see from the race results the corrected times are very close and the net points are very close too. Essentially there is a tied 1st place for a H16 and H14, there are 2 points separating 3 sailors for second place, there is 5 points separating 5 people for 3rd place. To improve your position you will need to do all the races going forward and be consistent, one discard has already taken place and once we have done 8 races the second discard will take effect. At the next GP3 we will be asking for at least 4 races on the day if it is possible – maybe shorter races. I would like to see a minimum of 20 races sailed for this year’s GP series to make it fair and challenging.
Thank you for joining in and please support the next GP3 on the 30th of March.
