Elliott 5.9 - Slam Dunk wins at Bucklands Beach and leads Traveller Series
by Gareth Howard - Elliott 5.9 Association 2 Sep 2022 01:32 BST
2 September 2022
Slam Dunk - winner - Elliot 5.9 Traveller Series - Bucklands Beach YC - August 2022 © Elliott 5.9 Assoc
The ever consistent Slam Dunk (Stu Clark, Cameron Horne and Stu Malloy) made the most of the mainly light conditions to win Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series #4 at Bucklands Beach. This strong performance backs up previous good regattas from Slam Dunk and they now jump to the overall lead of the Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series.
With sailing only possible on the Saturday, due to very light winds on the Sunday, Slam Dunk started the regatta strongly with two race wins. Shapeshifter, who finished second, finished well, including a race win in race six, but this was not enough to overhaul Slam Dunk.
Nevis/Blurr had mixed results but still managed a race win and a second placing to ensure that they held on for third place.
The tight competitive Elliott 5.9 racing was again to the fore with five different race winners over the six races. Race starts were fiercely contested. A number of boats were caught out as OCS and this cost a few boats precious points in the results.
Overall, the conditions were generally light with the odd minor squall with some puffs of breeze touching on 20kts. This kept everybody on their toes and provided a good mix of conditions across the races completed. While the breeze was shifty at times, the race committee, led by Chris Marsh, did a good job to get the six races away and each race remained relatively true.
The Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series now heads to Sandspit (24 - 25 th September) for the final regatta in the series. Sandspit is always a popular venue with most crews accommodated in the cabins boarding the Yacht Club. Friday night will see a BBQ held at the camping ground and the class will have its end of season celebration at the Yacht Club on Saturday night.
Slam Dunk has a handy overall points lead going into this final regatta but defending champions R+R are still in with a strong chance. As well, many other overall placings are only separated by a few points so there are many places still to be decided right through the fleet.
Full results will be available online elliott59.weebly.com/results.html and pictures online www.facebook.com/elliott5.9
For more information on the Elliott 5.9 Class Association visit www.e59.org.nz
A full list of previous Champions can be found online 
