Trev May said Hobby needed us so after a "quick" swim to clean the bottom, there we were, Georgina, George and I loins girded to do battle with the mighty Clearwater Cove.  As it was, only 4 boats turned out for them. They might have been their brightest and best but it was going to be a tough task.

Starting off 16 mins gives you plenty of time to watch most of the fleet start and in some cases restart.  It's a big gap to overcome and so it was to prove but Satisfaction's restart meant we had someone to race right from the beginning and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

They were quicker on a reach, we were quicker on the wind and both of us much the same dead down wind and that combination meant we could  pass them on the short leg to Kauri Point, be a nuisance on the leg to Meola and try to stay in touch on the leg back to the line.

There was plenty of shouting, a bit of luffing and lots of quoting of the rules which was done with authority and conviction and a complete lack of knowledge each time we met and Phil  from Satisfaction was right into it as he  fought to get past us each round.

George was working so hard on the main sheet, I thought we might have to call an ambulance and Ginny was doing all the hard work on the genoa leaving me to offer lots of unneeded advice on the helm.  Every tack was getting slicker, each gybe less fraught  and the mark roundings tighter  but there was no denying the superior boat speed of Satisfaction and no amount of luffing them could stop the inevitable which was to watch as they cruised to line for the last time comfortably in front. We were left to trail home in last place, wondering if the morning swim was worth it.

Nine other boats were racing ahead of us and the final result was a bit of a walk over for Hobsonville  but we only found that out after a prolonged wait to get in our berth at low tide. We got to within half a boat length thanks to the pulling power of  Samantha but there was no going on from there till the tide came in.

A relaxed tidy up of the boat and a late lunch augmented by brownies from Samantha helped kill the time until there was enough water to let us berth finally closing one gap for the day!

Big thanks to George and Ginny for all their hard work and to Clearwater Cove for a great series.

It’s the big one!!!! A must win.

David Meek and I motor up to the start area and observe a rather windy and choppy start line. Number two it is. The gun goes and we are behind Satisfaction and Blue Beat. Another couple of horns and we are all early. Practice does make perfect so they tell me. Second time around and we are starting with Mirage and Eye Spy/ Mindbender not too far away. Hard on the wind we squeak past Kauri Point, ease sheets for Meola. Mirage is close and at the rounding I have a thought (very fleeting) of coming inside of them then caution comes into play as it would have been a tight fit and two people is not a good number to deal with things turning to custard. So instead we try to stay close behind as possible. Down to the ODM almost having to gull wing and Eye Spy is around and passing Appalosa  who is have difficulties with setting their number one. The crewman is 12 years old and was doing a remarkable job in the conditions. Their difficulties also allowed us to get past and we head up the shore line then tack out to get around the Point. Coming to Meola and Urban Cowboy is charging through the water ( an awesome site) so I drop down and give them plenty of passing room. Back down to the ODM, around and try up the shore line again until the depth is 0.9 – Ok  we’re outer here. We are still trying to stay in touch with Mirage but content ourselves with staying in front of Appalosa and Satisfaction. Over the line and it is a gentle sail under the main down to Hobbie.

A great day as the wind and sea conditions eased , no rain, plenty of boats and the odd shouting remark.

Thanks to Wild Horses who acted as the start boat, John for the results, the social committee for the burgers and those who came out to sail on the mighty Upper Waitemata.

Crew Mike, Duncan and I; unfortunately  Cristin could not make it.

Mike said he would race as long as I baked some brownies ... so friday afternoon I slaved over a hot oven ;-)

Our water line was given a quick scrub by Trevor Higgins - I would like someone to name another commodore of a yacht club that would do this for his members!!!  And off we went for a practice before other crew had even got to their boats.  Full main and No1 ..... slightly overpowered but we thought this would be fine as the course would be a short beat and lots of reaching.  No 1 down and pootled around for the fleet join us.

Course ended up being course  #6 Start – Meola Buoy – start mark – Meola Buoy – start mark – Meola Buoy - Finish (All Stbd)(9.3 NM).  Ok No 1 not such a good plan for the breeze, so No 1 packed away and No 2 up on deck!

Bill started at -5 and at we were next to start.  Once again Duncan nailed the start... awesome job.  Off we sailed in pursuit of Bill .... who we could not even see when we started..... hmmmm!!

It took until the second lap for the youngs to catch up with us... we waved Mindbender through to go around the start mark infront of us.  We did awesome mark roundings and also demonstrated how close we could get to Kauri point... very very close it seems.

The fleet slowly over took us... we helped by pushing Mirage up before Meola... but they finally got past us... but we were still up amongst it (so luckily for Duncan and Mikes ears I did not start wailing my song ..."ALLLLL by ourselveeeeeeeeees"!)  By the last rounding of Melola we still had Satisfaction, Escape, Appalosa, Nona  behind us... "high five team"!  We desperately wanted to stay infront of Nona but could not compete with the Y88's enormous main and she sailed past us. 

We still had Satisfaction, Escape and Appaloosa behind us past Kauri point, but we were going to have to work hard to keep our lead on Appaloosa.  Lots of trimming trimming, goose wing and a human pole we just managed to beat her over the line.

Well done the Justice sails down and time for a refreshing beverage to celebrate a great race on the Justice!

Nigel called on the radio "which boat won"  I replied "the Justice!!".... apparently he was talking about who won the race not who won the start... ha ha!!

Back at the dock we recalled how after Golden Rivet Trevor Higgins had been waiting at the end of our berth to helps us in.... time for us to return the favour!  They looked a little stuck due to the low tide, we threw them the midline and I a managed to pull them 2/3 into their berth.... which was enough for them to be secure while they packed up and waited for the tide to come a bit more.  

Mike generously agreed that I could share the brownies... so off I went to share the chocolaty goodness with Escape and gave the last two to Jos and Steve McCabe who had been out on the water taking photos of the action.

Great race and great to feel part of the action for a change.   And well done to all the HYC boats that raced... great team effort!

Thank you to CCYC for the start boat and crew,  Steve and Jos for the photographs and also to the HYC house committee for feeding the hungry crews.

And of course a huge thank you to Mike Rolston for crewing on the Justice!!!!

 

Well………the do or die race for the Golden Rivet trophy is here. The two clubs are one each and all to play for!

We have managed to front quite a formidable team this time. Rovals crew opted to sail on Eye Spy as three on Roval would have been quite the handful.

On board Eye Spy is JK, Louise, Duncan, Lisa and I.

As we get to the start line I see the numbers are stacked against CCYC. Stacked……..yes but, never take CCYC lightly as they have proven in the past that they are particularly good in heavy winds. The wind was peaking at 23knts at bean rock so we decided on the No.2 headsail and full main. The start was mark foy so we started on 11 minutes. Most boats were in front so we started picking them off one by one. We thought about hoisting the kite each time we got to Kauri point but as it was a short leg and very little positional gain we gave up on the idea. The only boat of concern as far as the opposition went was Mirage. Mirage was slowly closing the gap and I was getting a little nervous towards the closing stages of the race. Nervous enough in fact that I called for the kite on the last leg to the finish line. The response to this was “  you are X%#!!* kidding me”!! Such an expressive girl Lisa!

To give Lisa her dues tho……..the hatch opened and the kite started to appear. A timely gust of wind saw Eye Spy cross the line just in front of Blue Beat and comfortably in front of Mirage. Kite not required.

Thanks to all the HYC team. The Golden Rivet trophy is back in our cabinet and will remain there till we do battle again.