The Satisfied Sista's The Satisfied Sista’s were doing it for themselves once again, unfortunately the wind died late in the day as we lined up for the final race. No worries!...we had a great day, a fantastic prize giving and a big thanks to Hobsonville Chandlry and all the organisers. Can’t wait to do it all again next year!  Race report from HYC Photographer/camera star - Jos Ford Sunshine, Cameras, Action. The stage was set, there were prizes (thanks Westpark Chandlery), teams organised and the draw completed. Morning Glory commandeered for the day with Trev and the team ready to take control, Raynor and Eric persuaded to umpire (they were promised there would be no shouting), Denis and Jonathan set to transfer teams. Wild Card & Eye Spy A.K.A. Craig T and Trevor M both with clean bums and matching sails. A good turn out for the briefing and so far no sign of the forecast wind change or showers. The bar's open and food's for sale. What more do we need, let’s go racing… The round robin gave each team 3 races in consistent breeze. The transfers were quickly done and mostly successful, it’s really difficult to sink an inflatable Pants Down tried and failed. I had cameras on the bow of Eye Spy... great for foredeck crew butt shots, on the stern of Wild Card… great for butt shots of the after guard and during the day I was told to butt out once or twice (I’m sensing a theme). Several sausages and rums later we had finalists. Team Eye Spy versus Urban Cowboy for the Trophy and Pants Down up against Far Canal for third and fourth, we also had a failing breeze. AP and wait was followed by an abandoned race due to a 90 degree wind shift then a quick course re-lay. The short track was to prove to much (or not enough) for Eye Spy with Urban Cowboy winning the start, Eye Spy had a good go but couldn’t get past. The second final was raced with Far Canal taking out third over Pants Down (something about too much rum, but when has that ever been an excuse at HYC?). The videos of the day’s proceedings will be on Facebook, until then bribes will be accepted to avoid the bum shots. Great day people. Race report from Eye Spy: The long awaited Match Race was here......heard through the "grape vine" that Craig from the chandlery at WestPark had gotn a whole lot of support from his suppliers and beefed up the prize pool. This was true enough for all to see at the club The prizes were substantial and plentiful.........nice work Craig and Tania. Got to the club early to ensure the dingy was ready and we had time to get to Eye Spy ready for the days racing. Eye Spy had been cleaned on Wednesday which would account for Samantha's comment when I saw her "at least you've got a clean bum". My mind was obviously elsewhere and was a little taken back till I had checked my shorts for what must have been a large split. No split........crisis avoided. Crew for the day was Greg, Gill, Pete and Eric. The wind was very light so the extra weight was used cleverly and did not appear to disadvantage us from the other teams. I have a habit of out-clevering myself through many of my sailing exploits but in this case was out-clevered by a slick crew from Urban Cowboy. The day went without a hitch..........hang on.........that was the call from distraught people on the transfer cat as it was going down. That and "no.....my smokes!!!"........and we laughed and laughed........fittingly it was the "Pants off" crew being transferred.! The Eye Spy team got through to the final after two teams had managed three wins each. Team "Eye Spy" and team "Urban Cowboy"lined up in no wind. We placed second and would like to congratulate all who took part on what would have been unfamiliar boats and fickle airs. Hats off to Trev Higgins and the start crew for completing the days event. It would have been easy to not get a result. A great day had by all. Thanks to Jos we will have a lasting memory of the event through a video or two. We look forward to the next one. The Morning After Report - from Coling Rickett of Team Urban Cowboy Sunday, 6.30am, slowly and painfully I open one eye. Holy mother, there are two eyes looking straight back at me - its the (expletive deleted) dog, needs to be let out. Slowly, painfully ease out of bed, go down stairs, note that the ute is not outside where I normally leave it ... strange ... ah well ... it'll be somewhere. Let the dog out, give it eat, go back to bed. Later (but still Sunday), slowly and painfully open one eye. Its daylight and it hurts. My feet are hot. Holy mother, its the (expletive deleted) dog - in dreamland in its post breakfast snooze, happily lying on my feet - (expletive deleted) dog. Ease out of bed, go down stairs (truck has not turned up yet), go into the kitchen, search for evidence. A McDonalds bag .... hmmm, 2 six packs of Sapporo partially drunk, a Sapporo beer mug ... hmmm, car keys, an empty wallet and everywhere there are things with Engel written on them - hats, beer holders, a chilly-bag, a portable fridge .... what the (expletive deleted). Slowly the memories reassemble themselves and the fog begins to clear. The truck is still at the yacht club. No 2 daughter collected Jackson and I from the yacht club at some hour of lateness. By the time we were leaving Hobsonville Point we needed a beer (after all, we hadn't had one for (expletive deleted) minutes - know what I mean) so we stopped at bottle store by Brighams Creek and what do you know, they were giving away a free beer mug with every six-pack of Sapporo. There were two of us and so I bought two. After all, we needed to look classy if spotted knocking back japanese beer in the back seat of the Vitz. Off to Kingsland, drop Jackson off and then back to West Harbour, stopping only at some dimly lit car park at Western Springs so that I can sneak into the bushes and offload some Sapporo. "Jeez dad, you are lucky I'm not mum, she'd be horrified". "Jeez daughter, you are lucky I'm not boring, like all your other daddies". A quick detour to Macs at Westgate was the prime contributor to a large lime milkshake being dropped wrong way up on to the handbrake of the Vitz. This resulted in all the compartments in the console turing into little green swimming pools that slopped over their sides, accompanied by the sound of empty Sapporo bottles clinking against each other on the floor in the back, as went around every corner. So let me see, that explains the missing truck, the Sapporo, the beer mug (I guess Jackson has the other one) and the Macs bag ... and I guess partially, at least, explains why this morning I am not quite at one with the world. But what about the Engel stuff, there was even a beer holder in the gutter outside the house this morning - I guess, like me, it fell out of the Vitz. Ah yes, of course, it was the sailing, the match racing, the annual event - I remember that we carried the day and I should feel better than I do. After all not even Russel Coutts can include a win at Hobsonville on his CV, but I dont feel that good at all. Maybe I need a Sapporo - or maybe I need a fry up. Yep, fry up wins and so now I write this to the sound of eggs, sausages and bacon all a-poppin' on the bbq. I can feel a sleep coming on and at some point I need to get the truck back. I have also, as I write, become aware of the root cause of my malaise - I remember now, it has come back to me. In between our Race 2 and Race 3 our Race 3 opposition (Samantha) attempted to distract us with the demon drink - it nearly worked. One little tasty morsel that appeared under my nose was a shot of Mount Gay Rum on the rocks - I had not realised how nice it is when taken that way and so immediately I was on the slippery slope. After our last race I shouted the boys a round of beers accompanied by a double mount gay on the rocks - and there you have it, absolute proof that the incline does not need to be steep if the slope is slippery enough. This, I think, explains the final item - the empty wallet - and why I feel the way I do. On a serious note, I am well aware that a lot of organisation goes into events like yesterday and I would like to thank each and everyone who played a part. I would also like to thank you all for making my young team feel absolutley welcome for the day. Hopefully it will not be the last we see of them. I will make great sport out of Craig 'firing' me last Thursday for some time to come - this is, of course, a slight distortion of the truth - it was the easiest way we could think of to get the eighth team that Blair wanted. But truth is never an essential component of a story and I am sure that, given time and enough 'sparkling malt water' it will turn into a late night fist fight on E-Pier which, if it had happened, I would surely have won. Eggs are ready .... got to go. |
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