This Series is now complete, with 4 very successful days. A total of 86 competitors took part altogether, with about 55 competitors on most days. Day 3 and 4 were at Conifer Grove; the latter unfortunately clashed with the Youth Trials, plus a few sailors were over in Sydney for a regatta, and being Easter - all these meant numbers were slightly down for the last day. Considering all of these, it was a good turnout, with 2 races in very light winds, followed by the third race in a 10 knot sea breeze to finish the Series. Vaughn Clark has had a very consistent Series, and despite missing the final day (he was at the Youth Trials), with 2 discards he was able to hang on and take first place overall for the Series, and of course was first IMCO and first Youth as well. An outstanding achievement. Arthur Gatland was second, and also took out the Masters and Grandmasters, with Sheena McKinnon third. The shortboard class attracted 10 sailors, but few were able to compete on every day, and light winds for some races made it a bit inconclusive. A full set of results have been sent to all those who took part.

This event is one of the highlights of the year, and (usually) involves a 3 to 4 hour race around Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands - great fun in varying wind and sea conditions. Unfortunately on March 7th there was zero to 2 knots of wind, and after the lead boards had been racing for nearly 2 hours and barely made it past the Rangi lighthouse, the race was shortened. Nevertheless only 7 out of about 40 sailors finished the "short course", still taking about 4 hours to do it! To add to the misery, most sailors were attacked several times by swarms of flying ants, making some take to the water to avoid them! A few sailors scored a tow back to Takapuna; many just struggled, wishing they had stayed home. The only highlight was a close view of the America’s Cup yachts about to start their match racing series. Still, next year has to be better - doesn’t it?? Please??

We need to decide if/how we will implement this Class into our NZ racing circuit, and what to do with the longboard classes. See the enclosed discussion paper, and please send your comments to me or to Roger Tweddell; I will correlate the opinions and present them to Windsurfing NZ.

"KZ" letters are also officially extinct. "NZL" is the only permitted letters for NZ sailors to use internationally. In NZ, just the number is acceptable, but if you intend competing internationally (or just look cool) add NZL to your sail number.