October 08th, 2020
Translated from Japanese:
The "1st Weta Class All Japan Championship" was held on October 3rd and 4th at Lake Hamana Beach Marina in Shizuoka Prefecture. There are 6 boats to enter. Participating boats on the day were 3 boats from Enoshima Yacht Harbor in Kanagawa Prefecture, 1 boat from Onizaki Yacht Harbor in Aichi Prefecture, and 1 boat from Hamanako Beach Marina. At the moment, of the 11 Weta boats in Japan, almost half have gathered together and lined up on the beach. (Report / Photo / Yoshimasa Sato Beach's Marina)
This is the first Weta-class race in Japan, but the number of entries is only 6 boats, so the first priority is to enjoy the race with the friendship of the sailors, so entry by boat (per boat) , One person or team can enter), and there is no limit to the number of people on board in the team & players can be replaced freely for each race, which is very loose? It was held according to the rules.
The race was unfortunately a super breeze condition of 0 to 3 meters on both the first and second days. Of the five scheduled races, one long distance race with a total distance of about 10km and two sausage course races, with a beach start starting from the entrance gate of Beach's Marina and a round trip to Hamanako Bridge on the Tomei Expressway. A total of 3 races were held.
We couldn't see the high-speed jumping scene, which is the original pleasure of Weta, but the Weta riders are experienced and have a full lineup of 100 battles. It was an "adult athletic meet" that I enjoyed in a friendly mood from beginning to end, even though I could see the exchange of "Ibushi silver" skills of those people.
The prestigious first victory was Aoki Boat (Mamoru Aoki, Ryutaro Kitao, Masaaki Endoh). Congratulations. Next time, I hope that the number of boats will increase and that we will be able to have an exciting race in even better conditions.
Weta class is a New Zealand-born trimaran dinghy. It may not be very familiar in Japan yet, but it has the potential to deliver extremely high-speed performance. It has the stability and comfort of Trimaran, and seems to be very popular as a dinghy that can be enjoyed by families in New Zealand (FUN FAST EASY concept). It is a type of boat that I would like to see more and more popular in Japan.
Other photos and race results can also be viewed on the Beach's Marina Facebook page.
