HYC retain the Golden Rivet trophy!  Results: 1st Urban Cowboy (HYC) 2nd Eye Spy (HYC) 3rd High Spirits (HYC)* 4th Crewcial Fix 5th Mind Bender (HYC) 6th Satisfaction 7th Young Entertainer (HYC)* 8th Gaucho 9th Blue Beat (HYC) 10th Firsty (HYC)* 11th Waterwitch 12th The Boatshed 13th Nona (HYC) 14th Escape (HYC) 15th Wild Horses 16th Six Gun Justice (HYC) Best start - Young Entertainer (HYC) on +0.00seconds!!!!!!! Fastest boat around the course - Urban Cowboy (HYC) Tail End Charlie awarded to Six GUn justice for never giving up! Most Spectacular Round up prizes awarded to: Gaucho (who rounded up twice) Urban Cowboy (HYC) Thank you to the the start boat crew on Lady Claire & Bruce for taking photographs - which will be posted on CCYC flicker account soon. Also thank you to David Meek on the bar and our awesome house committee for feeding everyone and the raffle! Golden Rivet 2 by Escape!!! ( apologies to the Rolling Stones) I can't catch up Satisfaction I can't catch up Satisaction Tho I try and I try and I try and I try I can't catch up, I can't catch up When we're heading for the start And the cleat jams on the main sheet And Bruce can't let it go So we're rounded up deluxe And there goes Crucial Fix on time I can't catch up oh no no no Hey hey hey that's what I say I can't catch up Satisfaction I can't catch up Satisaction Tho I try and I try and I try and I try I can't catch up, I can't catch up When we're hoisting up the kite And the snap shackle lets go So we drag it in by hand Clip it on again but it won't stay shut Have to take it down I can't catch up oh no no no Hey hey hey that's what I say I can't catch up Satisfaction I can't catch up Satisaction Tho I try and I try and I try and I try I can't catch up, I can't catch up When I'm trying to round the mark And I'm on port tack and starboard's called It's my own teammate doin it We shout out but we're put about Cos you see we're on a losin streak I can't catch up oh no no no Hey hey hey that's what I say I can't catch up, I can't catch up I can't catch up Satisfaction No Satisaction, no Satisfaction,no Satisfaction RACE REPORT FROM TEAM SATISFACTION The day started bright and bushy tailed with our usual tradition of a bottle of cold champagne and strawberries as we leave the marina. Today we aim to have a pleasant race with some friends from up the creek, and my what a turnout...16 yachts on the line! The wind seems good for us to get our 17 tonnes moving comfortably as we round Kauri point, and hoist the big gennaker. Someone suggests leaving the headsail up as well so we try that and it seems to fill both rather nicely. Today’s crew are looking rather spectacular with a few newbies on-board for the cruise, little do they expect the carnage of 6 or 7 boats trying to round the bottom mark together, they all do admirably well to get the monster down and below with only one broken nail. (and we feel quite pleased that we didn’t manage to bounce anyone over to the bridge…Darcy eyes are still watering) Up to the top mark and the old girl is relishing the stronger winds, we pass a couple on the way up. A rather slow and nasty gybe at the top followed by a slow downhill run, but clearly we aren’t game to hoist that big wet thing downstairs again. Just as we get to the bottom mark, the cowboys with the hired young guns come screaming through with all the rags up, wipe out majorly and nearly climb into the commodores bathroom, they are trailing all sorts of memorabilia around the mark and we dodge behind them with our sharp knives flailing. Back on the wind up to Pile buoy we sail under our old foe Bluebeat, beating them home by 2 boats. Team Satisfaction returns home in 6th place, very excited and looking forward to the prize giving. Thank you to all the crew and committee boats, a great day on the water. El capaitaino Filippo. Race Report from Nona As we head to the start line the sea is a mass of sails. Sixteen boats, it’s a great turnout. We make a good start just ahead of Satisfaction, Mindbender, High Spirits, sailing two handed, and Wild Horses. We head wide of Kauri Pt with eased sheets and then put up big blue. Blue Beat and Mindbender are outside of us as we approach the northern side of Pile buoy so we do the yelling , whistling bit to remind them of Pile buoy being a mark of the course. BB just keeps looking ahead. Hello fellas, you are in the same team. We make Chelsea with a bevy of others boats and it is a case of close the eyes going around because we are all, windward/leeward boat to someone. With half a dozen boats in a row heading out to Watchmans Island things eventually sort themselves out. Hard on the wind down to Meola and the number one is struggling a little in the 15 -17 knots of air. Around Meola, we leave the spinnaker on the cabin floor and pole out the number one with the boat hook. Firsty and Waterwitch pass us before Chelsea and we round in a more sedate manner and set our sights on catching Satisfaction. It is not to be. We finish 13th , HYC retains the Trophy, and we all got to play. Thanks to crew Bronwyn, John and David, the CCYC start boat, the social Committee for the wonderful vittles, David on the bar and most of all, ALL THE BOATS THAT TURNED OUT. Sailing was the true winner on the day NONa Race Report from Firsty! We couldn't get a lift and wash at Westpark so had to try to get off what we could with the window washing brush, which wasn't much. We started 2 up Tim and I and took the extra 3 minutes which was needed. Got a crap start as I misjudged the incoming tide, then sailed a slow 2 sail reach against the tide to Chelsea. Rounded Chelsea and overlayed the mark to stay north of Pile buoy. Here we met Young Entertainer who had gone a bit up harbour and fogotten to round Pile. Sailed to the stbd layline with a nice lay on Meola. We appear to have picked up a few places on the beat anyhow. Rounded Meola with a quick gybe and got caught up with the mainsheet around my foot pinning me to the underside of the tiller. Tim wonders what the bloody hell I'm up to as he grabs the helm. Finally I got free. Another slow reach down to Chelsea and we set up for the mark to round down below Waterwitch and try to take her stern on the exit. Our plans are thwarted by Young Entertainer making their overlap inside the zone and barging the buoy with no rights. I though they were on our side?? Tacked shortly after the mark and found ourselves in badly turbulent air from all the boats up to windward. Water Witch just above us starts to make a bit of a gain, but we manage to make it back and gain a little height as we start to get a little clear air. We get just enough height to make them tack away as we stick out in the tide. Another short tack and we think we can make it around Kauri Pt, but the wind veers a little to knock us so we tack back out again. Before too long we tack back and realise that we have overlayed, so it's ease sheets a little and head for the finish. A nice day on the water, but not a good races finishing 10th. Congrats to Urban Cowboy and Eye Spy for 1st & 2nd. Race Report from Urban Cowboy "It'll be great ... a bit of social racing in the upper harbour ... all over in a couple of hours ... reaching back and forth with the Code Zero up ... we might even relax the 'no drinking while racing rule' ... come on, it will be great". That is what I told them and, with three days to go, there was only going to be three of us and we would have reached back and forward. But as the day grew closer more people came out of the woodwork until, on the day, there were eight of us. Hmmmm .... thats enough to have a crack. Ah well, lets get up to the start and see what unfolds. And so here we are, reaching up and down waiting for the start, we are on 20 minutes, which seems like an eternity. Suddenly first scare of the day. I get a bit to the right of the start boat and the depth is reading 0.1 metres under the keel ... uh oh ... heart rate up, don't really understand what is going on, dive for the start boat and nothing changes ... only to find that the keyboard man has shifted the depth reading from the port instrument to the starboard one and I am looking at something completely different. To be fair, starboard is where depth normally resides and so he is only returning everything to business as usual ... heart rate subsides. Finally, 20 minutes happen and we are away. Across the start a few seconds late (me too timid) with the No 3 Jib and full main heading for the first left turn. The wind is free enough so we unfurl the fractional Code Zero and power up a bit. We make the turn, the wind is now aft, the Code is not doing it for us, we are at the back on our own and feeling very lonely. Ok, lets pop a chute. There is enough wind to make the masthead running kite a bit of a hand full so we go for the fractional. This the first time we have ever peeled from the Fractional Zero to a fractional kite (Fr0 is a reasonably new toy) and so for a while the sails interfere with each other and it is a slow hoist. At some point during the hoist the kite bag makes a bid for freedom and is last seen heading for the Riverhead Pub while we make good speed in the opposite direction. We work left to make the run in to the mark a little easier, relax, sail fast and enjoy the moment. First mark. Around just behind Firsty. I want to keep right and so as soon as we have the boat squared away we roll into a tack and head for the next mark. Little to report - I concentrate on overcoming my tendency to sail the boat too high and try and find a groove. At times we are in the high 7's and at long last there are other boats around us and we are gaining. Second mark. Around in good shape. The chute has been packed in a gennaker bag, is on deck and up. This leg is really short and I wonder if this is a good decision, but by now everybody has the bit between their teeth. Wind is up a bit and so we sail fast to mark #3. Getting close, set up for the drop, jib goes up, we get ready ... and it all turns to custard. There is a boat to leeward and I get a late call to go around the outside. I take a quick look to see if we have room, at which point we are hit by a gust and Cowboy leaps forward a couple of boat lengths, now there is no room ... shit. I steer up to give them space and a quick glance to windward shows Bluebeat coming down to the mark ... shit ... situation suddenly getting worse. Urban is now on her ear and powered up. A quick stocktake - I have guys on the bow, the jib is up and sheeted too tightly, the guy on the main has become a spectator while we scream for the main to be dumped and the vang to blown. The wind stays in and the boat continues to power up. A bad situation getting markedly worse. Then the rudder lets go and we round up. Shit, shit, shit ... we are about to invade the personal space of the Commodore. I see Bluebeat perilously close and I scream for the chute to be dumped. The guy on the sheet lets go and, somewhat unexpectedly, so does the guy on the brace and instantly we have a big black flag flying from the hounds. Thankfully the boat stands up, the rudder bites and we steer out of the collision leaving the Commodore free to let the twitching parts of his anatomy stop twitching, I don't yet have this luxury. I don't know what happens to them after this, I am a little busy right now. Suddenly, miraculously we see that the leeward lazy brace is still aboard, someone grabs it, I dive to leeward to unload everything, and the kite is coming aboard, albeit into the cockpit. I find the mark, we are not badly positioned after all that, both the main traveller and main winches are clear of spinnaker and so up we go. Third mark. We come up onto the wind with the guys man-handling the kite into the cabin. The fractional is a 30 knot kite so it is pretty heavy when it is dry .... and it is not dry. Our sheets and braces are trailing behind under the shiny blue hull of Satisfaction with its bright red antifoul. I focus on speed. The sails are working, the foils are working and, as soon as it is safe to cross we roll into a tack and head up the harbour for the last time. Focus on speed while everyone takes a few deep breaths and we calm ourselves down. Have no idea where we are in the fleet, have not had time to look but it appears that there are more behind now than in front. Keep going. To the finish. I think that, as we are thinking about cracking sheets to head for the finish, we are third or fourth on the water. We roll the closest boats pretty quickly and now there is only one left in front. Sheets are eased, its all very pleasant again and I can afford to take a look and I see now that it is Eye Spy in front. I tell the boys we can relax now because its Hobby boats 1 and 2 and what happens now will have no bearing on the outcome of the day. Suddenly I am the recipient of some very dark looks and someone says "What, after all this you don't want to win now?". Well what can you do, we sail fast, the trimmers trim, the pin is closer and so we go to the pin and beat Trevor home by about half the length of an 88. We cross the line, head up, drop the gib and I look around. The crew are bathed in sweat, there is that "we dodged a bullet" feeling on board, a good feeling I have to say and a lot of comment of the "we should do this again" variety ... watch this space. We point the boat at the Harbour Bridge, a request is made to open the bar - immediately granted - and we head for home. As something of a postscript, after getting the boat squared away at Westhaven I left quickly to try and ensure I got to the club in time for the formalities. While I was in transit someone arrived in the marina in a power boat and gave us our spinnaker bag back. I have no idea who or how he knew where to find us, but thank goodness he did. Urban Cowboy now goes into a quiet period. We will slip out for a Friday rum race or two before Christmas, and will also take part in the www.crew.org.nz last Rum Race of the year. I would be happy to welcome a guest or two from Hobsonville at these events if anyone feels so inclined - let me know beforehand. Sometime in January we will head to the Bay of Islands for Bay Week (last week of Jan), with the Balokovic Cup on Feb 19th as the next 'must do' on the Calendar. I will try and involve Cowboy in as many HYCNZ events as I can in the new year - with all the availability caveats etc applied. As previously reported away races do cause us some logistical problems, but we do have a mothership. I will also post this newsletter to www.facebook.com/urbancowboyracing - feel free to have a look, there is reference to the mothership, and a video or two that will serve as an indication of what can happen after the sailing is over when the boys are on tour. What a day it was on Saturday, everyone had a ball. Race report from Eye Spy: We are looking forward to this one………clean hull and the perfect wind. I have JK, Mark and Gill with me and all are raring to go. We see a few white caps down at Kauri point so reach for the No.2 headsail and hank it on the way to the start line at Taikata. The course of Meola, Chelsea, Meola, Chelsea and home seemed straight forward but when you throw “keep north of pile buoy” in the mix things can get interesting. Our start was not what could be called inspiring. We started about 50 seconds after our allotted start time………don’t we just love a challenge!! Now for the chase…………Eye Spy and crew were excelling in these conditions so managed to pass all those starting ahead of us. We have clear air and good boat speed so we were able to truck on and did not need to play interference. Geeez, I love sailing this boat when she’s clean! The crew did a great job with the windward leeward course. Kite work, jibes, hard on the wind and smiles on our faces. What a great day. Thanks to all the HYC team…….we did it again. Well done to Urban Cowboy for slipping by us to take first place. 4 seconds………close huh. |
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