Our sailors sailed well to place 3rd behind Napier Boys College (winners) and Tauranga Boys College. Andrew Stretton led our team to victory in some key races, beating the top teams on some occasions. The general plan of Andrew and Max (Aiken) doing the "dirty work" of disrupting opposition boats at mark roundings while Zoe (Brasell) was sent ahead as the "Rabbit" worked well a lot of the time.

The first day of racing saw plenty of breeze for the 420 yachts and a few capsizes. Zoe and Theresa (Painuthara) had a capsize early in the day but recovered well to drive their 420 hard on the beats to windward and planing fast on the downwind legs.Less breeze on the Monday saw more great racing with our team again taking some scalps but losing a couple of races we perhaps should have won. Great to have Andrew leading the team but we looked a bit rusty at times.Tuesday saw lighter breezes again but the Tauhara team seemed to settle quickly, taking good care of their boat speed and low speed maneuvering as well as improving tactics and communication between boats. Max and Ida were back at their best and having a lot to say at mark roundings to gain positions.Overall it was a good regatta for us. We improved heaps and scraped off some of the rust that comes with too much time between big regattas. Our younger crews (Ben Bullock and Alex Aiken) are starting to look like real pros in the front of the boats, really adding to their boat's performance on the water. We are making more improvements to our starts and mark traps in preparation for the Nationals at Algies Bay in April.