NEW ZEALAND - Pt Chevalier Weta Sailing – July 2007

NEW ZEALAND - Pt Chevalier Weta Sailing – July 2007
The morning looked cold and bleak, especially for one of the sailors who had only just got home from an evening activity! It was good to see the Weta sailors trading their sheepskin boots and an open fire for booties and a wetsuit. The Pt Chevalier Yacht Club has a good group of hardy sailors who sail through the winter. We liked the way they chose from an array of mooring buoys out the clubhouse window for a suitable course. It is a great stretch of water with the Waitakere Ranges as a backdrop. You can get good sailing two hours either side of high tide and they race every second week.
The forecasted front came through just as we were leaving the ramp - however we were treated with a hot sun all afternoon. We decided to drop the jibs as we still had plenty of power in the main and gennaker.
There was an interesting assortment of yachts and the Weta managed to tame them all as we flashed around the short course. It was obvious how relatively effortlessly the Weta handled, as many of the other boats tipped out in the SW breeze.
With a short, windward leeward course, there was plenty of action gibing the angles downwind. It is never a good idea furling the gennaker just as you hit the bottom mark, if you are as uncoordinated as the Weta Patron. Striking the bottom mark on four out of six roundings suggests a little practice/coaching is required!
The club had difficulty scoring John as he tried to round as many marks as he could find in no particular order. Fortunately the committee found his Weta antics fascinating, entertaining and obviously confusing as he happened to go through the startline for a gun.
Quite a few people turned up to look at the Weta and see it in action.
It was a huge amount of fun and we are really looking forward to the next destination sail at Castor Bay on August 19. We hope other Weta owners will join us!
Finally, last week we sold the final of the demo boats, extending the Weta family to include Tutakaka, Kawau Bay and Wellington.