It certainly was perfect conditions for our Y88 with light breezes and a flat sea for Golden Rivet race 2. HYC's team was made up of the four Y88s and the marauder. Every HYC crew member was aware of the importance of this race - we needed to win it to have a chance of retaining the Golden Rivet trophy..... and we won!!!! Well done HYC team!!!! So now the results after two races: HYC 1 - CCYC 1 ..... race 3 on Saturday 11th February will determine who wins the trophy!!!! Results: 1st Mindbender 2nd Blue Beat 3rd Eye Spy 6th Nona Best start Nona. Fastest around the course - Mindbender!!! Race Report from Six Gun Justice Preparation for race two of the golden rivet involved baking a cake to keep our crew happy and duncan shaving his beard off so that there was less windage on the boat - I considered asking mike to shave his arms and legs... but thought that might be going a bit too far! We woke on Saturday morning to a crystal day. As we drove to the marina we past Whenaupai air base and I obsevered the the wind socks were very flaccid.... hmmmm not a breath of wind! (however the bonus being that I get to use one of my favourite words in our race report!). We had a crew tactic talk ..... with light airs it was going to be a great day for our Y88's.... hmmm we are heavier than them and have less sail area.. we will be slower ... but we would able to help block some of the CCYC boats.. OK what are our aims for the race... no 1 not come last, no.2 put up our spinnaker, no 3 have fun (very important) Off we motor out to the start, we motored around ...still no wind. Right engine off as it was five minutes before our start. Hmmmm the tide was going out and pushing us towards to the start. Our start was not the best .... we ended up drifting onto the start boat - sorry John ... luckily no damage to his boat... we apologized profusely and said that we would do our 360 penalty turn when we actually got some momentum. By kauri point we finally had enough momentum to do our 360 - it was beautifully done! There was nothing to really note as we slowly sailed towards chelsea....well apart from all the boats catching up and overtaking us... hey ho....Shekina and also a big blue boat which we could play with (a chance to give him a taste of his own medicine!!) We did manage to call starboard on Satisfaction... which was very Satisfying !!!!! We did get a spinnaker up on the final down wind leg.... it was a thing of beauty ... however the only boat to witness it was Satisfaction - who acknowledged it and also mentioned that they nearly radioed us to let us know that our bag was over the side........ Just before the mark - headsail up, spinnaker down... our team work was amazing. Around the mark we went ..... I began singing my song as I packed our spinnaker into a rather moist bag!! (not great letting your bag go over the side of the boat - but it was tied on... however it gave me the opportunity to use my second favourite word in my race report!!!). We had a crew talk... we are dfl... should we retire and motor back.... hmmmmm Mike needs to pick up his daughter from Parnell and drive to Ruakaka .... hmmmmm. We carried on sailing and Mike made a couple of calls... we shall NOT retire ... we SHALL make the committee boat wait for us to finish. We were rewarded for this decision as not long afterwards - Leonard the lepoard seal popped up next to us and gave us an encouraging wave (ok maybe he did not wave but he did pop up next to us!). It seemed to take forever for us to get to the finish..... we congratulated Mindbender on their superb race as the motored past us back to westhaven. We finally finished and got a toot from the committtee boat! We packed the boat up in a record time and had a refreshing beverage and some lemon cake. As we motored into the marina we were discussing the fact that the prize giving would have probably already happened as no one would want to wait for us. Then as if by magic i saw a vision of Trevor Higgins.... I rubbed my eyes and looked again... no my eyes were not tricking me.... standing at the end of our berth was our commodore Trevor Higgins ....just recalling this makes my eyes go moist..... it was a truly gentlemanly gesture to wait for us and made our decision to finish the race and not retiring worth it. Thank you Trevor! So prize giving did not happen without us... as you need to have the HYC commodore present to do so. Well done to the Y88's it certainly was your day. Thank you to the John Wicks and Nigel on the committee boat (and sorry about our start). And as always thank you to our amazing crew of Cristin and Mike. Mindbender Race Report The first weekend of summer turned on a stunning day for heading to the beach, not so sure about how the sailing was going to be. 4 different forecasts all giving differing views of wind strength and direction was to make for an interesting day on the water. I informed Trev on Friday that we had been unable to muster the troops for the golden rivet, and was convinced to get the boat on the line 2 handed and take the 3 minute advantage. After drifting around the start area for 30 minutes or so, our 5 min warning sounded and up with the genoa, fruitless as it was with the wind offering no drive against the tide. We were scheduled to start on minute 9 however, we were still trying to sail against the tide to get back above the line to start the race. Doing about .6 Kn we crossed, turned, and we were off just ahead of the boats starting on 11 minutes proper. Ruth on the helm again today we made a heading for Kauri with Nona, Six Gun, Mistress and Wild Horses up in the distance. With a nice right hand shift we threw in the first tack to head to shallower water and try a different tactic to those in front. The thinking was to have the wind drive the boat rather than the current drag us low with less control. This decision had the boys on Blue Beat calling for a port starboard on us but we had 5 kn of boat speed and cleared a few lengths ahead. After rounding Kauri we tried to stay high and in what looked like pressure, as variable as it was proved to be the right choice as most of the boats ahead were deep in the channel and outgoing tide. The first mark rounding saw Mistress, Blue Beat, Wild Horses then the Mindbender all in quick succession. Again the winds played good we got the boat hard on the wind and were able to point high and fast on a heading to Meola. Soaking down near the mark saw us take the lead while covering Mistress and needing to put in a couple of quick tacks to round the mark and head back for what turned out to be our only downwind leg. Running no extras saw our speeds drop considerably as we were unable to keep the genoa full, we were thankful for the outgoing tide at this stage. Around Chelsea for the final time and to home we started, which proved to be no walk in the park. Plenty of wind shifts, holes and tide to content with had us grateful for the role of our team doing their best to cover the CCYC boats and allow us to sail to the line for the win. Thanks to John and Nigel on the start boat, fellow HYC crews in getting the job done for the club, and the lovely shore crew for the BBQ burgers. Bring on Race three, let it be Y88 weather once again. Race Report from Nona The day dawns on the “must win” encounter with CCYC. Nona is going two handed with David as my trusty winch grinder, tactician and after the rules night my rule book. The start line at Taikata is congested with boats – 10, as the wind, SW is pitiful. We start in 2.9 knots and at the pin end as Blue Boat was anchored in our way. Just as well that we took a broom out to the mooring and gave the boat an impromptu scrub. It is slow going and we are not going to make it around Kauri Pt so tack and head for some breeze further out. The course of Chelsea, Meola, Chelsea and finish on an outgoing tide is looking optimistic. Around the point the fleet behind is spread across the ocean all searching for that private breeze. Our course is putting us below the mark, with Bluebeat, Mindbender and Wild Horses coming up with a better line. We start to come up across the tide, and round the mark behind those mentioned. Tighten the sails and its back to Meola on the “wind”. We head towards the shore so that we can tack level with the buoy as we notice two CCYC boats trying to round the mark several times and calling Starboard on each other – teamwork. We get around the buoy and alternate between two sailing and gull wing as the wind is fluctuating in its direction. Around Rhona with Mindbender in front, followed by Taathra, Mistress, BB, Wildhorses(WH), ES and it is tacking back to Kauri Pt. By Meola, BB is clear behind Mindbender, ES is in a tacking duel with Wild horse in an attempt to keep them at bay and we are using the lifts along the shore, trying to cover Mistress and Taathra behind. Around the Point and we have to tack out as it is a little quiet and there seems to be a little breeze further out on the course. ES is still ahead of WH. We manage to catch Taathra on starboard but we don’t take full advantage. You learn something every race. Eventually Taathra powers past us as the softening breeze sends us lower on the course with the need to tack to cross the finish line 6th. We sail back towards Hobbie and the breeze kicks in at around 12knts – where were you half an hour ago. We have placings 1,2,3, 6 – it is now down to Six Gun to finish. We squeak ahead in points so it is one race all. It is now all down to the third race to decide who will lift the Golden Rivet Trophy -Sat 11 February. Let’s see some more boats out there HYC. Thank you to the start boat crew, John for the results and the Social Committee for the much needed food after a trying day. Nona Race report from Eye Spy: Well……….a must win race today! The conditions are very light and this might just suit the HYC team. The 4 x 88s and Six Gun Justice make up our team. We head to the start line towards Taikata and have set up for the light conditions with the No.1 and full main. We have the No.1 kite ready just in case. Crew today is Mark, JK, and Tim. The hull is fairly clean as we visited “Sharpie” 3 weeks ago. I have a new start watch so no excuses there either. I find myself on the wrong side of the committee boat and struggling to stem the tide. We end up starting 3 minutes late along with most of the fleet. You’d have to say the start was a bit of a cluster. Anyway, as we started pretty much last we had some work to do. The kite was hoisted just after Kauri point but the wing was shifting back and forward of the beam. We dropped as we neared Chelsea and two sail reached to the mark. A good rounding saw us gain a few places. We acknowledge Six Gun calling starboard on the opposition. Way to go team!! Not many kites on the down wind legs saw us move through the fleet to second behind Mindbender. We thought we may be able to assist getting Nona and BlueBeat up and extra position so we made some moves on Wild Horses. Bluebeat gets through and we give chase. Fun battle with Wild Horses puts us 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks to all boats supporting HYC. You all did your bit……great result. Bring on “Golden Rivet # 3”. |
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