YACHTING - School crew prepare for nationals

Last weekend the Whangarei Cruising Club hosted the Upper North Islands Secondary Schools teams racing series.
The series was the final dress rehearsal for the national teams competition that will be held in Whangarei on April 28.
Following a picture-perfect day for set up on Friday, Saturday was cloudy, with a building wind. Teams got themselves organised and the volunteers (many of them back from the last Teams Racing Nationals in 2002) received some guidance on their roles and what was expected of them.
The racing was of a good standard, but the wind was at the upper limit and at times beyond that for teams racing. It was hard to undertake some of the standard teams moves but the sailors came in from the water with smiles on their faces.
Sunday proved too windy for teams racing and no sailing took place, which meant the round robin could not be completed and no final result was achieved.
All the top teams showed that they had the potential to be top teams again but all would have gone away realising that there were areas of improvement to be worked on before the nationals.
The volunteers had good exposure to how teams racing works and organisers have identified some areas of refinement required for the nationals, so all in all it was a successful weekend.