The results..... 1st Firsty 2nd Pretty Woman 3rd Eye Spy 4th Escape 5th Cloud 10 It was a lovely day on the water, apart from the squall which caused issues not just for Cloud 10, but also a number of the CCYC boats. However we all know that "a bad a day on the water is far better than a good day in the office"!!!!! Pretty Woman Race Report We only 4 hardy souls onboard for today’s race, the promise of sun a gentle 15kn breeze obviously wasn’t that appealing to most of the crew. Starting on -26 gave us the opportunity watch how the front runners were getting down the track before needing to gybe. A nice dark front looked to be approaching from the west we took the safe option of a reaching start with a headsail and pop a chute when around Kauri which proved to be the right choice as we saw a good 25kn TWS when the squall came through. Around Kauri we went with the new A2 Big Red as it would be easier to handle with 4 crew. We had a good run down to Baywater and up with the J3 had us on the wind and passing a couple of CYC boats before the bridge. Champosa looked to have something flapping on the forestay behind us and possibly went bareheaded for a time. The beat up to Meola was challenging with many big knocks some +20deg we were happy to get to the mark where it was a bit congested with 2 CYC boats there at the same time. Around we went and it was up with the kite once more and down to Chelsea. A tight rounding at Chelsea had us sneak above Satisfaction. Escape, Eye Spy and Firsty now ahead, the final chase was on. Near the Whau channel we had rights on Escape and slid past. The final tack for the finish had Firsty and Eye Spy a long way in front, not much chance of catching them. A few lengths from the line we were planning on sailing over Eye Spy, Trev took us up, on his hip ,the big ease and under had us over the line in second place. Thanks for a fun day out all. Cloud 10's Race report With Bronny just home from the UK she had decided to sit on the bench again for this race. Not paying any attention to the weather report I opted for the “wait for the txt” method, which gladly never came. So the crew consisted of John “been there done that”, Spike “the sails got a clean”, Dave “my knee can’t take any more of this” & Scott “thank god Bronny’s not here”. We headed to the line, hoisted the main and where quite happy ( at this stage ) with course and wind direction. With a 7 minute Handicap we got to the line about 20 seconds after the hooter. Rounding Kauri Point we hoisted the Spinnaker heading for Bayswater, easy as mate. In front we could see Bill + Wild Horses & Satisfaction and we seemed to have a good amount of breeze, maybe 10 to 15 knots. To our starboard there was a Y88 sailing singlehanded, we had started on the same time and we were moving away from him under kite. At this point it was mentioned that there may be a shower coming so I went below to find a jacket, I am thinking it was about here where things got real. This is only the second time we had the kite up and the downhaul was a test rig that I may have forgotten to give the correct respect and attention too, my bad. So the rain hits us and the wind speed jumps up to maybe 20knots, the end result being that the downhaul let go. I went forward to try and retrieve the situation but we were committed to an epic broach. I can’t comment for the crew but I was close to going in the drink, everyman for himself, we had the pole up the mast, sheets + kite flapping around above the mast. Not sure what boats passed us but I think we gave them a good show. We had righted at this stage and Spike brought us slightly up into the wind so we could retrieve our pole + kite & sheets, we turned down and carried on without the kite. The boys looked amused and I am gutted now that I never re-rigged the downhaul to give her another go. It is mentioned I had a beer at this point. Everything else was very uneventful, nice breeze back up the harbour, we caught Bill before Kauri Point and were not far from Wild Horses at the finishing line. We are after a wind speed indicator for sure now as the old one that never worked is now dangling off the mast. Great day out. Race report from Eye Spy: Eye Spy has a full crew of 5………. JK, Lisa, Mark, Nicol and me the skipper. We note it is course # 8 which is Bayswater, Meola, Chelsea and home . Eye Spy starts on 12 minutes and this means not many start after us. Those that do start after us are mostly HYC boats. Our start was pretty good and it wasn’t long before we get amongst the “traffic”. The wind is building and I do question my decision to hoist the kite. We get around Kauri point and go for a jibe. Mark reaches for the wrong sheet and we nearly get a wrap around the forestay. Escape is doing the angles and clocking some good speeds. I see a shower approaching and wonder if there is any extra wind with it. We hang in there as true wind speed increases to around 25knts. In front of us is Cloud 10 but we are slowly catching them……….OK that’s an interesting way to fly a kite! We scoot past as they try to retrieve their now large flag at the top of the mast. We hold the kite till just prior to Bayswater and manage to hold of Firsty till then. Upwind with the No.1 headsail mmmmmmmm maybe a little too much rag? As long as the wind doesn’t increase we should be OK. Tacking up to Meola the crew were doing great. Clean fast tacks saw us edge ahead and we see the Pretty Woman on the charge. Around Meola and we decide to gull wing instead of re-hoisting the kite. Firsty gets a kite wrap and we get alongside. Once they get it clear they surge ahead of us but we are not losing much ground to them. We round Chelsea to port with Firsty not far in front of us. Tacking back to the finish and we were in second place but could we hold off Pretty Woman? They try to sail over the top of us approaching the line. Trev’s not having a bar of that! However they quickly ease off and pass beneath us to take second place…………..nice work. Eye Spy is still on the podium and have enjoyed a jolly good race. Thanks to my crew once again………a clean, fast race. *********more race reports coming soon******* |
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