Greetings CMYC members,

Yesterdays racing had an extra facet to it. The race officer was Al Ross assisted by Anzan Zhang. Al, having worked for the NZ embassy in China, is familiar with Chinese customs and language, and Anzan is a Chinese citizen, so it is little wonder they hatched a plot to introduce, an “international NZ/Chinese event”. (That is a quote from Al at the briefing). To top it off  the Chinese flag was flying from the flagpole. But wait, there was more. Each sailor was given a slip of paper with their sail number written in Chinese, and this had to be called out on finishing each heat. For instance, my boat is 146, and the interpretation in Chinese is “Yow  sir  leo”. Of course a few sailors struggled to remember the correct interpretation and I heard Nick call out “Rhubarb, rhubarb, mutter mutter” to the amusement of the sailors.

The course was 1 triangle but when the wind picked up it was extended to 2 laps. I thought the conditions were very good for sailing and was surprised by a few comments on the winds shiftiness. Congratulations to the podium placers, Polly, Glen and Ron, and to our race committee for their brilliant management of the day.