It was a tricky little swim with a twist at the end.
The tide was coming from south to north. The wind was blowing from north to south, so there was a bit of a battle between the two, resulting in some aqueous upset and a few inadvertent inhalations of salty water.
Adding to the other factors, the course was a bit complex, with a few twists and turns. Nevertheless, by the time swimmers got to the long leg from the dolphin to a buoy north of the yacht club ramp, you’d have expected Lucas to be dominating.
It wasn’t so … a mystery swimmer took the lead into the northern orange buoy and struck out for the finish line.
It wasn’t to be an ordinary night. The northern orange buoy wasn’t the last buoy.
As Blenheim swimmer Chris Smithers powered towards the finish in the lead, Lucas wisely headed for the final yellow buoy, rounded it ahead and scored another win, followed by Chris, Finn Bryant, then Ben Marshall.
Sam Trass and Jasper Sneddon were next in the youth parade, ahead of the season’s lead female swimmer, Lilly Claridge.
Nia Linyard was only 15 seconds behind, with Maddy Shallcrass hot on her heels and Christina Harris taking the fourth women’s spot.
Positions were critical in the short swim, with Roger Matheson and Phoebe Diamond tied at the top of the table.
In the race to the finish, Phoebe had to detour to take the final yellow buoy, possibly losing a place to finish behind Billie Maskell and Ara Wyatt, but still ahead of Roger in fourth.
That gave Phoebe eight points and Roger seven, not enough to break the deadlock between the pair. The short course trophy is going to find extra space, as the engravers labour to fit two names in the available space.
There should be plenty of room. This a new trophy, donated by me, Peter Gibbs, to mark my final night of compiling points, photos, results and stories on this page after doing it for 20 years. I’ve loved it, but it’s time to say goodbye.