Race report from Escape (George Higgins) Hobbiwockery ‘Twas raceday and the Cleary Coves Did gybe and tackle on the wave All mimsy was the wispy wind And the tidal flow outgrave. Beware the Hobby flock, my son, The Spy that speeds, the Thirst that stings Beware the Nona bird and shun The frumious Phantalings. We took our vorpal wheel in hand Long time the Cleary foe we fought. ‘Til by the bomb dumps muddy band We’ve go the slithy shipsters fraught. But as in uppish joy we sail The Phantalings with cries of woe Come whiffling out - depth short - and hail Same team! Be kind! And on to port please go! One two, one two, the boats sail through And we are sadluft on our ear. The crew can but rue they are left to pursue And make fast tread, all are ahead, only Escape in arrear Down wind we gyre and cry for “kite” To catch the Cove raths real soon, But the bag takes flight and the hoist turns to shite - Two circles - three places - query dollars - kaboon!! We galumph- Ole’- to join back the fray And we see Hobby’s efforts take flower, Calooh! Callay! Oh frabjous day! The Golden Rivet is our. ‘Twas Clubhouse and the Cleary team Did grype and mumble in their spates All jublus wa the Hobby cream And many a rum downgrate Race report from Nona The day dawned like “déjà vu”- the winter series. Light airs or none at all. Bite the bullet and we will give it our best shot. After all, the Golden Rivet is at stake. John and I drift around the start boat trying to keep within drifting distance of the start and out of the front runners way. Our time comes up and we drift with full a main and number one over the start about a minute late. We slowly head to the port side of the course hoping to get out of the tide and struggle up to the first mark with Cracka under us. Look at the depth gauge and it is one metre under the keel. Time for a strategic tack so that we don’t spend 10 hours waiting for water. Up around Beach Haven right behind Eye Spy and the wind is starting to pick up 5-6 knots, although from varying directions. Up and around the start buoy and the mighty Nona is really enjoying the 6 knots and clean bottom. Heading down to Beachhaven ( passing Eye Spy), we unfortunately find ourselves calling starboard on Gaucho. Oh dear. Tai Rangi, Elan and Six Gun Justice are valiantly working hard. Around Beachhaven heading for home, the wind has shifted slightly and Eye Spy behind us puts up the spinnaker. We look towards the finish and there is to greater distance to keep ES out as we two sail to the finish. Well done to all the HYC boats for firstly putting their boats on the water (10 Boats) and then sailing hard. Numbers do count. If we can front up with similar numbers for the Golden Rivet 3 then our credibility will be maintained as well as our “honour” Thank you to CCYC for making it a good day, with so many boats on the water that one poor gin palace was distracted to the point of running aground by Hobsonville. A good viewing point and some may say “karma” Also a big thanks to Jo and Corinna for the sustenance, Dave for the hydrating fluids and the CCYC start boat and crew on Sirena. Nona. Race Report from Six Gun Justice The plan was that Duncan and I would take advantage of the three minute rule and race double handed. However the fate of the gods intervened which meant Satisfaction would not be racing in the Golden Rivet ... we therefore kindly offered Jude and Phil a ride on the Mighty Justice. Rarring to go on sunday morning with raging hangovers (due to a corporate do on Satisfaction) we set off.... . Phil decided to take advantage of the motoring out time to gather his thoughts on a bunk below, while Duncan suffered silently! Out to the start and main hoisted and then up with our no1. We had a good start - infact we were delighted to learn that we got the 2nd best start for Hobby! We slowly, very slowly sailed along eventually passing Elan and then catching up to Tai Rangi. There were woops of joy as we caught up to Gaucho.. we spoke too soon as they got the wind and watched them sail into the distance. Hmmmm everyone who started before us was catching up with us. What tactics should we adopt now- "Christmas music" and a beer and signing loudly in the hope to deafen the opposition. We got to the first mark and hoisted the spinnaker (pity no one was near us to admire it!) We were flying, the wind swung round to on the nose and we still had it up... argggh time to get it down.... phew down and packed away. For the second leg we opted not to hoist the spinnaker again.. but happily sailed along listen to the christmas CD for the tenth time.. We were in front of Blue beat and Tai Rangi but then got distracted by a phone call and then passed us.. bugger. Hey ho we finished and had a great time. Second to last, but second best start! Thank you to Phil and Jude for crewing for us... with out you I do not think I would have convinced Duncan to race and we would have not got the spinnaker up!! Also thank you to Jo and Corina for feed us all! Race report from Eye Spy: The Eye Spy team gathered at the club just before 1200hrs. Greg, JK, Gill, Joe and I. There was about 0.5 knt wind speed. I had a chat to Craig and decided to even up the crew numbers and reluctantly lost Greg to ”Firsty”. I didn’t know if John Emm and Mark would show up at this point so, we waited till 1205hrs then made out way to our trusty Eye Spy. We were surprised the start went ahead as programmed due to the light conditions but excited to be involved in the “Golden Rivet” once again. Our start went well albeit a case of…….tidal movement as apposed to hull speed. We could see Goucho in the distance and making reasonable ground towards Hobby. The bigger boats were giving chase which left the small task of getting by “Wild Horses”. “Phantasy” did a great job of stealing their wind which allowed us to slip through to leeward…..thanks coach. They came back at us a couple of times but the 88 can be quite wide when I want it to be. They could not get passed and was even forced to tack again prior to rounding the top mark. Thanks Denise for keeping clear while battle with “Wild Horses” was going on, but once that was over you were fair game. We got passed “Nona” again on the last down wind leg to the finish line. The crew work was superb ……..kite work….halyard tension………outhaul tension……all important stuff to be aware of in the light airs. We left Eye Spy feeling though we contributed something to the retention of the “Golden Rivet”. Job done. Race Report from Young Entertainer It looked like being a floater - I had visions of being stuck in the grip of an outgoing tide and going nowhere slowly. So we got on the boat and started setting her up to do battle with the CCYC boys and girls. It was the second race in the 3 race series for the Golden Rivet trophy. HYC had won the first race so it was all on the line and we knew CCYC was going to be hard to beat. We got out to the start line and had about 2 knots of breeze. The tide was running about the same... We took 3 min advantage as we where short handed - well single handed actually! No one really knew this cause I was talking to plenty of people on the boat. Got some strange looks too but i manged to get Young Entertainer out to the start line with her sails up and racing for the line. I was starting with the 88s and their weight advantage was showing in the early part of the race. Entertainer got herself into the game and im sure the extra couple of meters of mast and sail area allowed me to sneak up wind and carry some pace to the top mark. Not bad with a dirty bum and all... Firsty was up to her usual trick doing about 12 knots of boat speed in about 3 knots of breeze. By this stage I had let Trev through on Eye Spy and stayed outa Escapes way and kinda got in the way of a few CCYC boats. Sweet. I got a little puff of wind and Entertainer was off again. This time I caught up to Firsty who was hunting down Goucho. The three of us cleared the fleet and went about rounding the top mark. Goucho held the lead with Firsty and Entertainer close behind. Firsty soon had her large yellow kite up and was bearing down on me - I was hunting closer to the wind but eased sails to slow down and let Firsty run for the lead - this is a teams race after all! Goucho was still fast and around the pin we went in the same order. Up to the top mark again in the same order. On the run for the finish Firsty ran another down wind sail and finally passed Goucho. Firsty 1st, Goucho 2nd and Entertainer 3rd. Shows you how good the handy cap system is. Firsty fully crewed with down wind sails, Goucho two handed no extra and Entertainer single handed with no extras. All finishing within minutes and seconds of each other. HYC retain the Golden Rivet trophy! Thanks to our good mates at CCYC. Awesome bbq and drinks at HYC club afterwards. Race Report From Firsty! Nice day for a sail, pity there was no wind. Dropped down to Hobby to see if there are any spare sailors coz most of our crew are working. Trev kindly lends us his best crew, so Greg joins Tim and I in the car to go down to Westpark. Bruce arrives as well to make up a crew of 4. Looks like a tricky start to keep close to the line so that we can start on time. Greg suggests that there looks as though there is more wind on the starboard side of the course so we decide to start at the starboard end of the line. Just at the critical time the wind drops completely so that we just ghost over the line. We soon pick up a couple of puffs and we are off with the speed jumping up to a massive 0.75 knots. We make a few places on the right of the course out of the tide, then lose a few places. A lot of give and take but we think we are in the right place as we are in less outgoing tide than the boats in the stream, and they don't appear to be pointing as well. As the rest of the fleet tacks our course appears to have paid off and we pass around the mark in 3rd place behind Gaucho and Young Entertainer. Up with the masthead kite after the mark rounding but we may have been a bit premature as the apparent wind angle comes forward to about 65..... but we are holding it so that's all good. Darcy kindly gives us some room so we run down the course with the kite strapped hard in, then up with the genoa and drop the kite for the approach to the mark. We round the mark with Darcy right on our tail, and Gaucho ahead. We are making some ground on Gaucho when the wind goes light again. Every little puff causes Gaucho to heel over and pull away. She's an easily driven hull in this wind strength and shows her pedigree. When the puffs hit us they have little effect and we can't catch them before the mark. The decision is made to use the Genaker in the next leg to try to hold a little higher. Round the mark and the wind is a little further aft than in the last downwind leg. Gaucho has gone high to try to protect the wind, but there appears to be a little more wind out in the middle of the course so that is where we go. Gradually the Gennaker pays off and we manage to get our bow in front of Gaucho to take the lead. Then the call comes over the VHF that there is a shorten course so we hold down low to pass close to the committee boat and take the gun. A very satisfying race thanks to the hard work from Tim Bruce and Greg. Everything came together and gelled. Gaucho sailed an excellent race, but it is hard to hold off a bigger boat. Well done Darcy sailing with all his mates on the Young Entertainer coming in 3rd. We had 6 boats in the first 7 with us, Young Entertainer, Phantasy, Escape, Eye Spy & Nona. Craig on Firsty |
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