1st Firsty 2nd Near & Farr 3rd Eye Spy 4th Satisfaction 5th Cloud 10 **Best start Cloud ten!!!!!!!!* Eye Spy Race report by Lisa The last of the summer series probably saw our largest fleet, which was Awesome!! With Cloud 10 and Near and Farr both coming out for their inaugural round the cans races… lets hope we see lots more of you guys!! With the dream team of Trev, Mark and Lisa on board Eye Spy was maybe a little light on crew, but we would be sweet (fingers crossed 😉 ). The wind was showing signs of being a little stronger than forecast, but still definitely No. 1 weather, and was swinging a little bit more westerly, so we canned the original idea of a spinnaker start and set up for a good reach down to Kauri point. Bronnie showed her pedigree as a dinghy sailor, and absolutely nailed the start (you go gal!!), and with Eye Spy as the smallest boat in the fleet, we were definitely going to have to work hard for this race. But we managed to get away with clear air and took an early lead… OK only for about 100m, when Firsty came charging past. But with Near and Farr, Cloud 10 and Satisfaction chomping at our transom, we weren’t going to give any places away easily. Near and Farr were coming up fast, and we held them out through the moorings, but with a freshening breeze, then stretched their legs and got passed us, and were now running Firsty down hard, and they were gaining!! But Firsty had spotted them so went for a high line to get the Big yellow out as early as possible. Eye Spy also headed for the high line, whilst Near and Farr, Satisfaction and Cloud 10 headed the more direct route to Kauri point as they weren’t flying spinnakers. The big yellow popped up, followed closely by the Eye Spy kite. Firsty quickly stretched her lead, but would we manage to get round Near and Farr? Despite, pushing hard Near and Farr was still ahead of us as we rounded Kauri Point, and our gains were only minimal, the 1020 is definitely a fast boat! With the wind building, and Satisfaction and cloud 10 coming up fast behind us, we opted to change down from the No. 1 to No. 2 whist we had had the chance. Holding the kite all the way through to Bayswater we had closed the gap on Near and Farr, but we were still lying in third. We opted for the early Kite drop, rather than the potential frantic stuff up at Bayswater, and managed to get it down and stowed perfectly. Near and Farr had been making some dodgy claims about pointing higher than Eye Spy, so now was the chance to prove them wrong, and also use a bit of Lisa’s downtown racing knowledge to get past them. We certainly proved that we could point higher, and by taking a big leg across the hardour we managed to clear the harbour bridge in 1 tack, rather then Near and Farr’s 3 tacks…so we were closing the gap, but could we get past? In the strengthening Breeze, Satisfaction was now in her element and catching fast, so we were now chasing down Near and Farr, and trying to keep Satisfaction at bay, you could get whiplash with all this boat watching! A good beat up to Kauri Point saw the 3 boats still in the same order, but much closer together. And bearing off on to the reach round Kauri, Near and Farr got onto the reach and just pulled away… darn… but would Satisfaction get past?? Luckily for us they had a bit of a knock inside Kauri point and had to tack out, giving us a bit of breathing space. But we still had to trim furiously all the way up to the finish if we were to hold her out…. But we made it!! A fantastic race everyone. Brilliant to see so many boats out, and look forward to many more battles with the new boats to the fleet of Cloud 10 and Near and Farr! Race report from Firsty The Thirsty Firsty team consisted of Tim, Lou, Dave and Craig. Nice breeze for a change. Nice start from Cloud 10, but we are about 3 boatlengths back from the line when the gun goes. We have good boatspeed though so soon hit the front. Thinking of running a gennaker for the first leg, but it proves too shy at around 60 deg apparent so we 2 sail reach to Taikata at which time we were able to bear away and hoist big yellow, the masthead kite. Looks like it will be a gybe to keep Chelsea to starboard then the wind backs and we find ourselves heading for Chelsea without needing to gybe. Rounding Bayswater we come on to the wind with a board out into the harbour to try to get some help form the last of the tide to the bridge. Despite the time saying that the tide has changed, there still appears to be some incoming tide in the middle of the harbour, so we keep to the middle up to Chelsea wharf. Nice breeze of around 17 or 18 knots and the boat is going well with the no2 headsail. Past Chelsea we put a board in to the southern side of the harbour and hug this side of the channel to Kauri Pt where we get a lay through, then ease sheets to the finish for a first on line and first on handicap. **************************************************** Race report from Eye Spy: So……….this is the last programmed “round the cans” race for the summer series. It was great to see a good turn out of entrants. I have Lisa and Mark on board today. Just enough to get the kite work achieved………nice. The fleet all start pretty well but Bronny was on the button! Eye Spy stays high and out of the tide and wasn’t long before we were up into second place behind Firsty. This wasn’t to last as Near n Farr charged past to give Firsty a challenge. Firsty and Eye Spy show there intent to hoist kites and sail high. Others appear to be taking the shortest route. The course is Chelsea stbd, Bayswater stbd, home. Once the kite was safely hoisted we set after Near and Farr. Some good pressure at times down by the harbour bridge had us catch Near and Farr. We dropped the kite early and all goes well. Eye Spy settles in for the long beat back to Kauri point. We appear to be pointing a little higher than Near and Farr and at times gain a little distance. The bigger boats suited todays conditions so we enjoy the sailing and keep very wary of the fast charging Satisfaction. He catches up a lot on the broad reach to the finish line but we cross a couple of minutes ahead. It turned out to be one of those memorable days where the conditions are perfect, the crew work was flawless and no breakages on board. Many thanks to my crew and the tower team. It wouldn’t be a race without my fellow competitors so thanks for making the effort supporting our much loved HYC. **************************************************** Race Report from Cloud Ten I decided to put my big girl pants on and give racing a go in Cloud 10. We popped down to the club on Friday night and were lucky enough to score Spike as crew, yay! We started making our run for the line, watching how fast we were going against the land I suspected we may have jumped the gun. Scotty then pointed out a fizz boat coming straight towards us, I gave them a few moments to adjust their course and get out of our way. They didn’t do anything so we decided to gybe around and avoid them, even with that manoeuvre we were still to early and had to do another circle back away from the line. By this time Satisfaction was making her run and I didn’t want to get entangled with them so committed to going for it knowing we could have stuffed it up. The hooter sounded and we were off, I waited for the second hooter and it didn’t come, there were big smiles all round, we weren’t over. We didn’t have the momentum like the rest of the fleet though and they all successfully sailed over the top of us, bugger. We kept in touch will everyone on the first reach but on the downwind leg without a spinnaker and a very dirty bum we lost the rest of the fleet and were very much last. That was okay as Scotty and Spike seem to be enjoying themselves anyway. Spike was educating us on all things nautical on the way around the course and we changed they way the headsail sheets were rigged too. We weren’t pointing as high as I thought we perhaps should but that will have to be investigated next time. Tacking all the way up the harbour was another learning curve, we weren’t used to having three in the cockpit and were tripping up on each other but after a few tacks we had it sorted. The last reach home was a blast and very enjoyable Cloud 10s boat speed was sitting at a steady 7 ½ knots which we were pretty happy with. Just before the finish line Scotty really wanted to call the Nigel and ask if we could buzz the tower but I discouraged it, although it would have been pretty funny. Winning the start was an awesome debut for Cloud 10. Thank-you Spike for coming with us it was much appreciated. ***************************************************** Race report from Near & Farr Me on friday night... "duncan I am not being cajoled into racing on sunday... we have so much to do at home". Saturday morning ... duncan "we are going racing on Sunday and I have already asked Mike, and he has agreed to crew for us!!" Me.... "hmmmmm ok I will only do it if I can have a tuna mayonnaise subway..." Sunday morning arrived and off we went to subway... I placed my usual order jalapeno with tuna mayonnaise...yum. Ok pan pan..... no tuna "what the f!!" duncan suggested seafood delight with jalapenos... me ok... I need to try these "kiwi things". Anyway armed with lunch we headed off to the boat. Mike as always arrived promptly and we were the first boat to leave the marina. Only being three handed we decided that it was a white sail day... that and the fact that we are still learning to use her and would need another three crew to fly the spinnaker. Our start was not bad, but not perfect. Cloud ten had an awesome start. Off we went and we are in pursuit of the mighty Firsty. We did well against Firsty until they launched their spinnaker... and I then became a human pole. It seem to take quite a while to get to chelsea... and the bayswater. I was rather concerned that "big mike" was rather quiet. I checked that he was ok, he replied that he was "in the zone!!" He then mentioned that he had to let the big blue boat know that he could not crew via text...apparently his text read something like this..... "phil really sorry I am not going to be satisfied this sunday, however I will not be Farr away!!!"""" legend !!! Around bayswater and a beat back to the club... our leech line on the heady went... and I could not undo the knitting to tighten it. Noisy, and eye spy who were pointing higher than us were catching up.... hmmm. It was quite a slog back to the club with many obstacles in the way... ie fishing boats. We did not even see Firsty finish! However maintained our distance on Eye Spy and it was quite a relief to be able to crack off the heady... the leech cord or lack of it was driving us nutty. A nice hoot from the tower and we finished... phew.... now time for a beer. We headed back to the marina, tidied our boat up and then helped Cloud ten back into their berth (we recall Escape doing the same for us when we raced on the Justice and recalled how nice it was to have a helping had). Great day on the water, great result for us... we still have lots to learn. thank you to Nigel for his tower duties. Ps never ever ever have the seafood delight from subway.... ewwwww... although the jalapenos did manage to mask the sugary taste of the wierdness |
Race Reports >