So today I met Grant Cooper today who is the lead organiser of this championship. No small task. He drove me up to a botanical park where we had a short interview with the local ABC radio station and then headed back via a coffee.
This event is a massive undertaking. The venue is perfect with a large wharf shaped in a right angle pushing 400 feet out into the harbour the red pointer shows the wharf. The arm is hidden
. One arm is roughly North-South 250 feet, the other East-west 400 feet. So they can cater for all wind directions. The conditions are similar to the Europeans but without the 180 degree wind shift at lunch time. The predominant wind is Easterly and I have seen both A and B rig wind strengths. The nearest land and that is only a spit of land is half a mile away. The other on site facility is a public toilet and acres of tarmac. Everything else has to be trucked in.
There will be a scaffolding control area at the end of the wharf, temporary railings to stop you falling in the water, a practice area, handy launch and retrieval area, marquees for boat storage, measurement, judges and food. Fingers crossed we will be blessed with fine weather so all the required electronics for PR, streaming, results and heat board will all function perfectly
It’s a massive undertaking but through Grant and the team, it seems to be running seamlessly.
One of the many neat things they have done is to organise an evening debrief at the local sailing club, handily 5 mins walk from my accommodation. This allows competitors to get together after racing and enjoy a beer or 3.
Racing in 6 days.
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