SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 2001 Auckland Land Yacht Club Secretary Geoff Hall Reports...   My day started with a phone call from the Auckland Land Yachting Club Captain Colin Palmer at around 7:10 am. "She's looking pretty fickle, I'm going to hold off on a decision for racing till 10am and just see what the wind is going to do." The long range forecast has been predicting sou'easterlies at 10 knots - the clouds outside were saying sou'west at 10. This is all relevant if the wind is from the west then its Muriwai beach, and from the east its Orewa beach. Colin had called for a hands-on approach to help make a decision on the day's events. He sent Peter Clouston, our West Coast resident, land sailor and Muriwai weatherman some 500 metres from his home down to Muriwai Beach, stick his finger in the air and come back with a report on the beach, tide and wind conditions. To balance out the information Karla (Mason) and I jumped in the car and drove the 1000 metres from our house to our east coast sailing venue Orewa Beach and give a report on conditions on this side of the country, all this was happening while the rest of our landyachties were tucked up safely in bed having a Sunday morning sleep in, and our British friends were settling back in their armchairs with a cup of tea and watching the Saturday 6pm news. The phone rang at 9:50am, the decision was made with the wind coming from the sou'west at 6-7 knots and building. It's Muriwai, 1pm start, let's activate the RingTree (a phone list to let the Auckland club members know what's happening). AT THE BEACH Getting out of the car at Muriwai Beach was a good feeling as the fresh breeze felt stronger than six or seven knots, it was more like 9 or 10 from the sou'south west. At around 12:45pm there were 2 IMAC Duos, several c5's and a couple of c3's rigged and ready to go play. The day soon became a fun and training day, with the half dozen or so interested people that came along to learn more from the experienced pilots that were there. Between the training periods we managed to get four races underway two c5's and two c3's. A great day had by all, as well as talk of a raceday at Orewa this Wednesday, April 25 (ANZAC Day which is the day NZ remembers the fallen in the World Wars). More on that later Geoff Hall Auckland LYC New Zealand geoffro@xtra.co.nz     SUNDAY'S IMAGES Click on photo for larger image. May take time to load.   Auckland LYC President Karla Mason caught real close-up as she flashes past in a fast run on Muriwai on Sunday, April 22. Kevin Lord out for a blast in his "Hawk".   Muriwai beach bums! Bill Nairn helping out Colin out for a jaunt Geoff Hall ends a run. Where have they gone! John O'Donnell having fun. Top female pilot Karla Mason. Colin Palmer again. Bill Nairn in front! Who's beating Colin? ...Why Bill Nairn! [  b a c k   t o   th e   t o p   o f   t h e   p a g e  ] PREVIOUS MURIWAI BEACH OUTINGS! BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS Auckland LYC's Sandpaper - April issue