I was lucky enough to have Craig and Tim on board for a leisurely Sunday arvo sail. We left the marina a little late and debated what sail plan to use knowing that we had to rig the boat for every wind angle and the forecast was still looking like 20knots and Southwester direction. We go for one reef in the main and No3 head sail. We started on 16mins and watched the fleet disappear in front of us. We were a little busy getting set up and missed the started time so Tim used his watch and we crossed the start line and went chasing boats. Entertainer feels nice and balanced and we are getting along nicely. Get to Kauri Point and Craig suggests shaking out the reef and then Tim and I change to No1 head sail. Sweet! we are off again and run some angles to Rhona for a nice rounding then bash back up to Chelsea. We were probably a bit over powered but the three of us balanced the sails and made some good numbers upwind. We made some good choices down wind and managed to pick up Nona and Satisfaction and then went about hunting Eye Spy. I didnt think we could catch the mighty Eye Spy as Trev was getting along well but the last rounding of Rhona set us up for a drag race home. We tacked out of Trevs dirty air and again made some good choices of where to put the boat. We got over Trev and pulled away on a tight reach for the finish line. Great to have Tim and Craig on the team and im really pleased that we could get Entertainer to sail to her potential - no doubt the wind angle and strength were well suited to her on the day. Nobody hit anyone either! Well, I hear Denise does not like windsurfers...   

Thanks Tim and Craig, thanks to the race committee and the good after match spread at the club

 

Got a text from Mark last night to say he was not going to be able to make it and JK is on the mend from having a virus. That means we have just Lisa and I on board. We had a pre-arranged time to meet at the club 1030hrs and Lisa was on time. The skipper was 15 minutes late so Lisa arrived to an empty club……….my bad. Thinking I was no longer racing she found another boat to race on. I was prepared to race on my own but Denise offered to have one of her crew jump ship so Bronnie came with me. Turned out the wind was a little more than the predicted 15knts so, I was very grateful for the extra set of hands.

The course was N0.4 Meola, Chelsea, Rhona, Chelsea, Rhona, Chelsea, Rhona then home. 

We chose full main and the No.2 headsail, being shorthanded the smaller headsail is easier to tack. As we are two handed our start is 9 minutes after the hour so we begin our run to the line and note that the other three boats are starting behind us. We are waiting for kites to pop up behind but that doesn’t happen. We hold our lead till after we round Rhona for the last time. Young Entertainer boosts passed beating towards Kauri point and Satisfaction passed us soon after Kauri. We stay ahead of Nona which puts us in third place.

It was near perfect sailing conditions and good company on board. Thanks Bronnie. 

It is a mark foy start with a course of Meola (P), Chelsea (S) then 3 rounding’s of Rhona and Chelsea then home. The crew today has the muscle of David and Theo who is over here from Sussex. We listen to now forecast and Bean Rock is 25 – 20 knots at 245 and low tide in half an hour. At the start line it is NNW. We hank on the No1 and get ready to start. Obviously the competitors are quality rather than quantity as there is ES, Satisfaction and Young Entertainer (YE). We start two minutes after ES who is sailing two handed and cross the start with a squall and wind shift to SW. The No1 is looking over achieving. 

Yep, it is a little brisk up to Kauri Point (up to 17 knots) we go around the corner and the wind eases – a little. Pass port of Meola and off the wind we straight line towards Chelsea with the rest of the fleet sailing the angles down to the sugar works.

The depth gauge sounds and it is 0.7 metres under the keel. Plenty of water. It sounds again and it is 0.4 – no sweat. The next alarm sounds and the crew ask “ What’s the depth now”. The skippers reply – “you don’t want to know”.  Over the shallow bit, inside Chelsea and we round Rhona behind ES with Satisfaction charging. We head out to Watchman’s Island then find that the sheet on the winch resembles a section of macramé’. Muscle wont untangle it so it is out with the knife, cut and tack and then retie the sheet.  This has cost us some time as we round Chelsea  then back to Rhona where Satisfaction rounds ahead and under us. 

Shortly after a cacophony of shouting from Satisfaction alerts us to a wind surfer who has decided to jump off his board on our course and under us so that we can’t see him. It is a crash tack with David suggesting to the windsurfer as we go past, that he learns to sail which, again costs us in time and laying to the mark. A tack is needed to get around as Satisfaction gets around ahead of us. The third leg is uneventful and we head for home with the wind around kauri Point to home 19+ knots. Again we are over canvassed. The middle section had been around 10 to 14 knots. We can’t catch anyone so settle on not hitting anything and finish behind 1 – Young Entertainer, 2 – Satisfaction, 3 – Eye Spy.

We did when sorting ourselves out once over the line watch a large tender pushing a large and flash launch over his anchor chain and into a moored boat, only stopping when we yelled at him. Money can’t buy common sense or experience.!

Thanks to the start tower crew, Sharon and Corrina on the BBQ and the ice cubes.

 

Nona.