The old guy still got it

Chris Dickson in the lead after day one of the Telecom New Zealand Match Racing Championship

This morning’s raising of the AP flag on the Committee Boat, as she wallowed on the flat and glassy waters of the Waitemata Harbour had everyone wondering whether the predicted wind would actually arrive. Even the two national flags on top of the Auckland Harbour Bridge were limp. But with a delay of only an hour, Race Officer Megan Kensington was able to lower the AP flag and the first matches of the Telecom New Zealand Match Racing Championship were underway.

Conditions remained perfect for the remainder of the day. The 10-12 knot northerly breeze was so consistent that the set race course remained the same for the entire day and none of the marks required adjustment. With little tide, unusual in these waters, even the offset mark was not required.

Kensington, along with International Umpire Jeff Borland of the US, remarked on the day’s perfect conditions commenting that it was one of the easiest days of match racing they had ever managed. Seven flights were completed in Round Robin 1 and for what must be a record in match racing, only one penalty awarded (for a port/starboard in a pre-start).

There were no upsets until the fourth match of Flight 3 when Dan Pooley, skipper of the young team from the RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme, beat seasoned match racer Chris Dickson. Providing extra motivation, included in Dickson’s crew was their coach, Guy Pilkington, their 17 second win understandably the highlight of their day.

Bottom placed Samantha Osborne also caused an upset with her 18 second victory over top ranked Reuben Corbett. Korean skipper Byeongki Park also claimed the scalp of Phil Robertson in a tight race by just 10 seconds.

However, it was only a matter of time before the tally of wins grew for the more experienced match racers with Dickson and Robertson tied in first position with 5 wins and 1 loss each at the end of the day’s racing.

Reuben Corbett will be hoping for a better day tomorrow to complete Round Robin 1. Ranked 12th in the world, he is currently sitting in 5th place with 3 wins and 3 losses.

Racing continues on Friday with the first start scheduled for 1000 hours. Conditions are once again expected to be light.

Results

Flight One
Tiller beat Pooley by 33s
Robertson beat Wood by 43s
Dickson beat Junior by 21s
Corbett beat Park by 40s
Osborne BYE

Flight Two
Wood beat Osborne by 30s
Robertson beat Junior by 8s
Corbett beat Pooley by 1s
Dickson beat Park by 28s
Tiller BYE

Flight Three
Robertson beat Osborne by 8s
Tiller beat Wood by 13s
Junior beat Park by 33s
Pooley beat Dickson by 17s
Corbett BYE

Flight Four
Corbett beat Wood by 28s
Tiller beat Osborne by 13s
Park beat Robertson by 10s
Junior beat Pooley by 19s
Dickson BYE

Flight Five
Robertson beat Tiller by 14s
Osborne beat Corbett by 18s
Pooley beat Park by 33s
Dickson beat Wood by 24s
Junior BYE

Flight Six
Tiller beat Corbett by 15s
Robertson beat Pooley by 1min 23s
Junior beat Wood by 1min 5s
Dickson beat Osborne by 22s
Park BYE

Flight Seven
Junior beat Tiller by 52s
Pooley beat Wood by 38s
Dickson beat Corbett by 32s
Park beat Osborne by 28s
Robertson BYE

Current Standings
Dickson 5 wins/1 loss
Robertson 5/1
Junior 4/2
Tiller 4/2
Corbett 3/3
Pooley 2/5
Park 2/4
Wood 2/5
Osborne 1/5