NEW ZEALAND POSTAL CLASSIC 2007 - RACE REPORT

Well, it could have gone better - and it could have gone worse a lot worse. 24 skippers from 4 countries entered the First New Zealand postal classic. This wasn't as many as we would have liked - hope springs eternal in the human breast - but it does represent about one registered Footy owner in 6. When you consider that two or three Footys racing was thought to be an achievement only 6 months ago that isn't too bad.

Now the down side. Finishers were pretty rare beasts. This was due to a number of things: weather, ranging from 20 knots at times in Colwyn Bay to flat calm in Bourneville, inexperienced skippers and poorly prepared boats. Many people, often those from big boat backgrounds, failed to appreciate just how well a model yacht has to be prepared to race in order to race reliably, and mark rounding sometimes took on a distinctly dodgem car quality.

Where people did overcome these basic hurdles, things actually looked quite rosy. The fact that there were 4 different race winners in the 5 race series showed that the competition was surprisingly tight and that the format can be used to give a high level of close racing in the future.

The handicaps were calculated from race 1 for the handicap series. Again consistency was required to rise above the fleet.

Congratulations to all the placegetters - and to everyone else who took the trouble to turn out and sail. From what we have heard, virtually everyone enjoyed themselves (some with rather wry smiles) and will be back with better fettled boats next time. Special congratulations to Robert McCormack (age 12) who was up there in the big money and would have won the youth prize if anyone had remembered to award one. Other awards that might have been include the International Footy Plain and Fancy Cursing Prize - probably going to Doug Hemmingway (see below) or John Amoroso for his battle with the Giant Pond Weed. - and the Total And Utter Disorganisation Prize to the Akela Team who showed tremendous energy in finishing their boat by the lake side, only to discover that they had left the battery pack (and spare) at home.

For those inclined to black humour, the three good stories that unfortunately remained unphotographed have to be the sinking of Bill Hagerup's brand new boat, the animated discussion between Angus and Keven the Demon Builder on whether they dared launch Angus' new Akela with the bulb attached by 'kind-to-the-skin' surgical tape (they chickened out) and the fall of Doug Hemmingway's boat from table to floor.

We are very much looking forward to similar events in the near future and the 2nd Annual NZ Postal classic next year!

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Postscript from Bil Hagerup:

"The New England attempt at the Postal race was frustrating for all of us because of almost non-existant wind, and for me because of the loss of my new boat to the Pond Monster. With all that, I somehow got in in my head that we didn't have any qualified runs. Well, I was wrong and incredibly thick headed. Scott Spacie, sailing an American Footy with his own rig, got the only sustained wind of the day to complete a 5-lap race with a time of 6:45. By the time he woke me up, it was too late for Brett to recalculate the regatta results. It looks like Scott would have finished about 8th overall. More importantly, he had the fastest time in Race 1. Scott graciously said not to bother with this, but his excellent performance deserves recognition. My poor performance deserves the blame. My sincere apologies to Scott!"