Results: 2nd Six Gun Justice 3rd Young Entertainer Race Report from Six Gun Justice All set with the no 1 on deck we motored along the channel.. we wondered if there was a prize for even beating the start boat out of the marina.. maybe not! Saills hoisted - phew and a couple of practice gybes just to get a glow on before the start. All ready to go, hmmm wind dyed for our start and we slowly drifted past the start boat. Hey ho it is going to be a long race. We got comfortable and goose winged our sails (aka Gull winged) and off we went. As we watched the rest of the fleet go into the distance we admired the sheer volumes of their mains ... never mind we were happily sailing along and reckoned we would not have gybe unlike the others. The Justice was going well and we averaged 7.2knotts for the race.. not bad. Such a lovely sail only disturbed by my singing / wailing "all by ourselvessssss" as the others sped off. The forecast was for the wind to pick up - we were hoping that since we were at the back of the fleet we would get it first and speed past everyone.. however unfortunately for us this did not happen. On we went heading steadily towards Owhanake - we could not see anyone from the fleet.. then my singing / wailing started again " alll by ourselvesssss". We finally crossed the line (to duncan's ears relief) and as were motored in were pleased to know that we were not that far behind everyone else. Eye Spy came first, we can second and The Entertainer came third after handicaps! Great day on the water and awesome weekend. Great bbq on the beach for Gary's birthday. Also thank you to Stan from Marilyn for having us on his boat after the bbq on the beach... I am sure he could fit the Justice into his cockpit locker!  Race report from Young Entertainer We where running a bit late for the start line but we made it. We had some nice wind for once and a good start! We jostled for position with Shekina at Kauri Point and they where very kind to let us through with out to much bother - nice one guys! We had to catch Eye Spy and Marilyn who where steaming off down the harbour heading for the bridge. The entire fleet was all 'gull winged' and it made for some sweet down wind sailing. The wind got up to about 24 knots heading halfway across Rangi which increased our boat speed to 10.5 knots. We needed to gibe but Entertainer was way powered up and we kinda got it wrong. 'Snap' went my sweet carbon pole - the one i use to pole out the head sail. Bugger. Lucky for us the wind went forward so we where straight onto a broad reach. Nice. Straight back to good speed. We looked behind and Eye Spy was gaining hard but they happened upon the same wind shift which took a few minutes for them to set new sail for the wind. Lucky for us. We had no chance to catch the lead boat 'Marilyn'. Their crew looked like they where on a nice Sunday drive and wondered what all the fuss was about. The big red boat was now doing battle with Eye Spy - thankfully - and we crossed the line in first place for HYC and second boat across the line in the fleet. We were stuffed after the race. It was fast and exciting but took a bit of work to keep Entertainer under control - being only two handed and all. Cristin did an awesome job on the helm. Great anchorage overnight in Oneroa and great to see all on the beach to celebrate Garys 68th....  Wayward 3 race report from Eye Spy A bright and early start from HYC at 0900 hours saw the trusty trio of Gill, Mark and Trevor taking a heavily laden dinghy out to Eye Spy ready to race from the CCYC line at 1000. The boys got the boat going while I disposed of all the food and drink in lockers and freezer. I like to know where all the food is as I don't operate on an empty stomach! The breeze was building nicely and we only encountered a minor problem getting stuck in irons before we hoisted the genoa. Sorted and speeding off on port we did a few runs to find the optimum place to start on the line. The plan worked and we got the best start; on the line and moving fast in the right direction! A great dead run down down towards the bridge, saw us gybing to keep in the best tide and clear wind from all the bigger boats trying to hunt us down. Mark got the pole dance down to a fine art on every gybe, with Eye Spy never losing speed. It took Marilyn and Young Entertainer all the way to the Harbour Bridge to get past us. Passing the city and Sky Tower each boat took a separate line to avoid quiet spots and then out from North Head a new breeze filled in with a bit more grunt and we started to fly, playing the waves and reaching double figures once or twice. All the time we kept an eye on the three bigger boats just behind us, with Montego Bay gradually catching us up, only creeping through to leeward as we closed Waiheke Island. The other two, Satisfaction and ??????? didn't gain much and we then had the delight of gybing for the finish and overtaking Montego Bay to cross third over the line between the headlands, just over two hours after starting! We dropped the pick in the bay and waited for everyone to finish, had a bite of lunch, then moved round to the more sheltered anchorage in Oneroa Bay. A social afternoon followed involving food, cups of tea and a little alcohol. We all met up on the beach for a cosy prize giving cos the beach got smaller a smaller as the tide came in. Eye Spy won the race with Six Gun Justice and Young Entertainer second and third. Everyone was invited aboard Marilyn for a party, and fun was had by all. Back to Eye Spy quite early and I dive into my bunk for an early night. Yeah right..........!!Trevor and Mark have boy talk time with loud music and putting the world to rights. Luckily I am skilled at sleeping/resting through most things. Up with the sun next day and do a few Pilates exercises to get the creaky body going and brew tea for them that wants one. Imagine my disappointment when Mark seems reluctant to cook breakfast. Find a couple of frying pans, which look dubious, so I wash them before cooking a yummy fry up. We eat and then a real coffee to finish ...... perfection! With the forecast of the wind dying to less than 5 knots it is decided to can the race back, and just cruise to Motuihe Island for a picnic lunch and walk. The tide is against us until after 1400 hours so no rush to get the motor on for the long drag home. We set off about 1430 and soon watch all the other boats disappear as we chug along with Eye Spy's motor valiantly trying it's best to keep up. It takes us 4 and a half hours steady motoring to reach Hobby, cleaning the boat and packing gear etc on the way. I really enjoyed my first Wayward with HYC, and look forward to more. Gybo, Gill  |
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