Stratus Sailing Report – Closing Day We had heard that it blew in Timaru As we sauntered down the dock And that there were gales in New South Wales When we turned Taikata rock. But the sea it was glassy and the fleet it was classy When we reached the starting gate; And the skipper sighed and crew hopes died For we knew that our fouling -was great. For the lack of a rub to our grand old tub We went out the back door quite steady Till by West channel mark our folly was stark And crew cried for home we are ready. George says no way! This is Stratus we stay Till the fat lady singeth her song; Crew said what twaddle it’s home or you paddle! And that’s how our racing went wrong. This scans pretty badly but not as badly as we sailed. Congrats to the others - they sailed well! Satisfaction's Race Recipe The Last of the Summer Wine Ingredients; A late autumn day with splendid sunshine. 17 tonnes of yacht. 3 or 4 knots of variable wind. 1.5 knots of tide (outgoing). 8 x crew of various questionable origins. 4 x bottles of cheap champagne. A couple of cheeky reds and a dash of Rum. Method; Add the questionable crew to the 17 tonnes of yacht, mix slowly with slight winds and strong tide. Start racing at least 13 minutes behind the first boat. Simmer slowly in the afternoon sun. As the crew comes to the boil, add the champagne with a dollop of music and continue to simmer. Allow the mix to stand for a long period at Kauri Point, whilst applying liberal red wine. Add some encouragement from Young Entertainer whilst passing under motor. Pour the crew back to the marina and allow time to cool. Ensure there is one sober driver and one crew to tie up and wash down. (or maybe wash up and tie down) Note; This recipe may be enjoyed with either chocolate or salmon. Despite the racing…..we had a great day, Our thanks to all. Race Report from Young Entertainer Saturdays Closing Day race reminded me of a time long ago when I was in trouble with my mum. My mum had to tell me off for back chatting her. Mum gives me a good telling off - she is angry! I mutter something under my breath, mum is now very angry and shows me the wooden spoon. She gives me a good smack with the wooden spoon - in fact she is so pist off with me that she sends in a mint over arm swing with the kind of wrist action that would have an Indian cricketer on his knees. Bang - the wooden spoon snaps across my bum with such force that it breaks in half. I laugh - mums crying..... I go to my room. Then dad gets home, consults with mum and then gives me a clip round the ear for being smart, then another clip for breaking the wooden spoon! I mean, really, I broke the wooden spoon?? I had crew of Blair, Dunc and big Mike. Boat had clean bum and was ready for action. Got to the start line and the fun begins. No wind, no course, plenty of confusion on the start line, unfair handicap, was that a flag or a light, why is there both at the same time? Whos time are we using? We get started and find a hole. Gennie wont set. Bigger, faster, newer boat with same handicap goes past. Mint. More holes in the wind but we keep fighting. Pass three boats and two more pull out due to no wind. Get a good 6.5knot boat speed coming back up wind and close in on the leaders. Another hole in the wind and nothing ahead. Time is ticking so we throw in the towel and head back to base. Pack up boat in quick time and head to club for prize giving. Walk through the door to see and hear prize giving has finished. WTF? Are you serious? There are three crews still at the Marina packing up their boats! What a complete lack of respect shown for myself and our club members. I am not happy. Had enough of the whole thing really. Awesome points from Saturday: Lovely weather, new club members on the water, Craig and Robbie's new boat, Blue Beat winning, great food and good company. Ill put the wooden spoon away because on the whole there were plenty of happy faces all enjoying our club. And thats what its all about. Race report from Firsty It was the first race for us on Firsty the Beneteau First 36.7. With the light winds we had selected the number one light, then thought that we would go with a masthead kite after the start. Up she went but looked pretty small. After some debate we decided that it must be the fractional kite so dropped it to pull up the other kite, only to find that it was a similar size. Oh well, we will drop it and hoist on the fractional halyard. Well that looked much better, seemed to fit and set better. Managed to get past a few boats as we managed to pick up some of the puffs by good luck, but it was really going from hole to hole. Those Young 88's and Stratos appear to be doing well in the light up ahead but we were making small in roads drifting down with the strong outgoing tide. After rounding the bottom mark we managed to get around Stratos on the wind. Those Young 88's still looked a long way in front but slowly we managed to close in on Eye Spy, then Nona. As much as we tried in the closing stages of the race we couldn't get that Blue Beat in spite of trying to keep well out of the tide. Well done to Gary and his crew on Blue Beat. An enjoyable first race for us. Race Report from Eye Spy Confusion reigned once again on the Hobsonville start line. Chatter, questions, banter and expletives jammed channel 77 during pre-start. The Eye spy crew of JK, Cristin and Cookie were entertained by this and were one of the only boats starting on time. It was great to see so many entries......a good fleet. So we started pretty well and called for the kite straight away. We had torn the "Westpac" kite the race before and I hadn't repaired it so JK connected the spare No.1 kite... hoist!! Something's caught up!! Turned out that previously someone had banded the kite as part of packing. Not enough breeze to break the rubber bands so we had to swing off the tapes to do so. It finally set and we made chase for the other 88s ( yep......we started 2 minutes behind them again) . Keeping the kite full was the mission at hand. Got to Meola and we were on their transoms. Things were looking up! .....especially when Satisfaction went passed (motoring) with all on board having a jolly good time. Distracting tactics? But what happened to all the boats who started before us? Many stories were told in the bar afterwards........running aground, not being able to get back to the line to name a few...... We heard over the radio waves the race was shortened so knew what we needed to do. Getting passed by Craig on "Firsty" was our first job followed by, allow the other two 88s to kick our ass..........job done.......4th. Thanks to my crew on the day and I hope to see you all on the Winter series. Race Report from Blue Beat (a very modest race report from the Closing Day winner) Hi All Great day on the water a petty there was no wind and lots of tide Rob and the M&Ms done a great job Race Report from Nona What a day. It was great to see so many boats on the start line. It was just unfortunate that the winds were light to say the least.A Mark Foy start and we were off with big blue flying - sort of and Blue Beat right be side us. Off Island Bay we wiped him off as he dropped his spinnaker for some reason (read the course twice and sail it once) before his kite is hoisted again. We inched wide of Kauri Point while Blue Bear creeps through the Kauri Point hole with impunity. BB gets around Meola before us then the struggle to spot the wind shifts begins(I am being generous in this description) . With an out going tide it leads to watching the depth gauge as we try to get out of the tide. Meanwhile Firsty and Eye Spy are slowly catching us up. We manage to hold out Eye Spy but Firsty powers past ,so third (eventually) over the line. This was definitely a bit of a lottery with the shifting/changing no wind conditions. But it was better than wallpapering. Thanks to the fleet who started, welcome new member Kentucky Woman (Chris) who unfortunately found the mud shortly after the start, the bar staff, Dave, Paddy and the catering crew, Jo, Corrin and Sharon. Sitting outside the Club, sun shinning - the Club is a great place to be. |
Race Reports >