Competitive start of a race
Competitive start of a race
Picture of Arnd

Arnd

2024-03-02 Heineken Regatta Day 3

Getting to the Start
Morning crowd at the SMYC
Morning crowd at the SMYC

Once again we all met for breakfast croissants and a hot caffeinated beverage at the marina and proceeded from there to our committee boat and departed the lagoon with the special 08:00 bridge. 

Rob checking the wind on Startboat B
Rob checking the wind on Startboat B

The winds had picked up a bit and the weather looked perfect for the third day of racing at the regatta. We had a full schedule ahead of us with several starts and finishes from our catamaran.

Racing
Diam on one hull
Diam on one hull

The racers were getting more competitive and started crowding the start line, resulting in several boats being OCS and having to return to the start. There was little barging and shouting at the start, and thankfully no collisions.

5 racers close to the start line
5 racers close to the start line

Our starts went without a hitch and we had 2 crews working the finish line to ensure that no competitors got missed or had incorrect finish times written down. Despite that, I managed to get one boat wrong but the other racers soon complained and I found and rectified my error in the scoring software.

Broken trimaran (two-and-a-half-maran)
Broken trimaran

The other course had more issues, with charter boats getting damaged and a trimaran getting hit by a big catamaran on the start line. It turned into a two-and-a-half-maran with the front part of one ama getting separated from the boat.

Evening

After we returned and had some free Heineken at the volunteer bar, I did some tasks and then returned for the the prizegiving ceremonies. Afterwards I returned to the boat with a spare Italian submarine sandwich from the volunteer boat for dinner and called it an early night.