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PIC INSURANCE BROKERS COASTAL ENTRIES CLOSING SOON!


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Hi Scottie   thanks for putting together the handicaps for the multi's. I must do my best to put you right on a wrong though.

Superbirds handicap should be significantly  lower than Pulse and Taboo- We are only 8.8mtr and at 2.5 tons a heavy cruiser .

We aren't a modified 8.5 nor a GBE . We have never beaten Pulse in any race and have never raced against Taboo but she is 

a lighter and has be modified from her origonal 8.5mtr length. 

In fairness we should be racing with taboo's handicap , just ask the Multi guys in the know- Thats all I ask.

 

Cheers

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Hi Graeme,  yeh I raised that with the h/capper when I saw these but haven't heard back.  I'm just the messenger so I suggest you contact the club's race committee today at

 

Commodore@CoastalClassic.co.nz
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A quick check to see where everyone is.

 

Hmmmm.........

 

Div 3 is just off Smith Island in the Andaman Islands in the Bengal Sea.

Div 2 rounding Jaco Island off the eastern most tip of Timor

Div 1B by Wild Duck Island off the Nth/East coast of Aussie

Div 5 is a little ways north of Lord Howe Island

Fineline leads Fineline by about 2 miles

why is Miss Scarlett doing aerobatics over SW Whangarei either that or someone's got a hell big bag of P

just what was Urban Cowboy doing in Hikurangi

and what the hell is a boat doing in the suburbs of Hamburg in Germany.

 

A few glitches but still way better than the Housewenches of Kawau Island.

 

Have you tried turning it off and tuning it back on?

 

Or perhaps you shouldn't try getting your internet via an old set of bunnie ears on top of the computer.

 

Loving the tracking, much better than waiting for scheds.

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Not a good race for me, but great conditions. Here is Island Time's story.

 

Island Time is a 1988 model Farr Phase 4. Now an aging cruiser. Sail wardrobe is limited to an old main, furling no2 headsail, A2 gennaker, and a large spinnaker. Plus storm sails.

 

I elected to do the new solo class this year, so sailing alone.

 

The forecast was for SW 13-18 knots depending on which forecast model you looked at.

 

The morning of the start dawned pretty much as expected, but with a bit stronger wind and a bit more southerly than SW. I did a short interview for the TV before leaving the dock for the start.

 

Once out, put on the mainsail only, as being solo and with so many other boats (approx 150) in the race I wanted a clear view forwards. This was to be a downwind start, which is unusual in local racing. Anyway, pretty much flat off for the start.

 

There were 7 boats in the solo division, only 5 of which I had any chance of beating on the water - the other two being one much bigger and more modern, and one purpose built race boat the same size, but also much more modern.

 

So, the start was ok, all the solo boats being conservative. I had wanted to start under gennaker, but it was marginal for wind strength and way too deep. I figured that it was not worth trying the spinnaker, as it was a short leg to North Head and Rangitoto channel, and it was over the max wind speed for it anyway. Also, at this point I'm concerned about the space available in the likely event of a mistake and possible broach while setting under autopilot. So I ran down the first leg under main and genoa, then gybed across for what should have been a broad reach out to the end of Whangaparaoa peninsula. It wasn't. Wind came more south, so I had about 160, 165 deg - off the port side. Not much good for the gennaker, too deep. Winds also over 20 apparent in the puffs, with about 8-9 knots boat speed.

 

After trying to get the genoa to set, and the fleet spacing out a bit, plus loosing a bit of distance on the other solo boats, I set the genoa poled out to weather with fore and aft guys. Much better, started to reel the other solo boats back in - or at least the ones I could see in the fleet.

 

I ran like that to Whangaparaoa, passing Ocean Express, and feeling better about how I was going.

 

I could really use a smaller spinnaker though, the boats under them were flying along. Oh for a bigger bank balance!

 

In the Tiri channel, I was surprised to see JJ, (The big solo Elliot) not to far ahead. She had a bit of an issue with her jennaker, but now that the wind had come around towards the W a little, she got it set and took off. I considered this for a while, and once off the back of Kawau, the wind had also dropped a bit. I knew the angles were marginal for my gennaker, but decided to give it a go. I could see Ocean Express about a mile behind me, and I knew I'd loose some distance setting the gennaker - it's not a high speed thing to do solo! However, I figured that once set, I'd gain more. So, I hoisted the gennaker, but as I'd feared it was right on its max angle, so I did not get the speed I'd hoped for. Remember this is not a boat that planes easily, and coming up to a hotter angle was not an option as it was still too strong a breeze to hold it. Bugger. I then made a decision that was to cost me any chance of a good placing in the race. :-( While I was setting and playing around with the gennaker, Ocean Express had set her spinnaker, and was now gaining fast. Despite my misgivings on my spinnaker being too large for the conditions, I decided to give it a go.

 

I took off the gennaker, and got the spinnaker ready. Both these sails are in a sock when I'm solo. I got the pole set, hoisted the spinnaker sock, set the brace and sheet, and raised the sock. There was a twist in the centre of the sail. How that got there while inside the sock is another topic, but it was the classic hour glass. I tried all the normal stuff to get it out, and while doing this the top part set with an almighty bang, and blew up the block on the mast crane at the masthead. Unfortunately when it did that, it then proceeded to wrap itself, and the halyard, around the furled headsail. So, I had a half raised kite, could not move it up or down, nor could I furl or unfurl the genoa as the furler was jammed by the kite halyard. :-(.

 

It took a while to sort out this mess, including running off for 45 mins or more while I went up the mast with a new block, removing the kite wrap, and generally not racing. This is not how I had envisioned this race going! I guess I wasted maybe an hour and a half, considering distance lost running off had to be regained- although of course I was not looking at the clock while trying to sort it.

 

Once I finally had it all sorted and reset the course back where I should have been going, I could not even see my opponents. I think I likely was dead last.

 

By this time, the wind was up more - gusts in the high 20's perhaps more. Oh, I forgot to mention that my old (15 yrs) through hull speed transducer has also decided to become intermittent, even though showing no signs of problems before the race. This means I did not have accurate true wind speeds etc. Another thing on the replacement list. The wind, however, now became more abeam, and then a bit forward of that as I passed sail rock and the Hen and Chicks. So no issue with flying sails now, and boat speeds up to 9 odd knots. I slowly reeled in a few boats, but could not see Ocean Express before dark.

 

The wind moderated after dark as it often does, and also got tighter until about 45 apparent just before Cape Brett. Approaching Cape Brett I heard Ocean Express make her compulsory radio call to say she was around. I had 30-40 mins to go to get there then.

 

Since sorting out the kite shambles, I had passed a few boats, and gained a bit on other boats I could see ahead, then I passed a couple more who went around the outside when I went through the gap.

 

Once inside the cape, it was a beat in to Russell. There was one boat I'd been trying to catch 1/2 a mile in front, and now I figured I had a chance to catch him on the wind. I got set up, and as close to the wind as I could get (about 26-27 deg apparent) I could only lay about sail rock. I hand steered to get the most I could, and she tacked across towards Russell a bit early I thought. Once I tacked across I followed the shifts up, and the other boat tacked twice, a little nearer each time. She was 75 meters ahead rounding the Tapeka point light, now in very light wind, and I ghosted past her to the finish about 3:30am, 2 mins behind Ocean Breeze. Last on handicap for solo division.

 

I let myself and Island Time down in this race, not getting the best out of her. There are many boats in this race with great sails, and suitable wardrobes for these conditions. It was REALLY necessary to fly a spinnaker in the 1st third of the race to do well. I'd like to get a small, heavy one. Next time I'll take both the gennaker and spinnaker out of their socks to check for twists before the start. I'm still not sure how it got twisted in the sock, but I think if I put Velcro straps for the clews on the bottom of the sock it should prevent this happening again.

 

I better do this race again next year, and try to avoid the @&$)( ups!

 

It was a well run event in good conditions. Pity I was not up to it on the day.

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Thanks for sharing Matt.  Enjoyed the read, awesome up the mast solo episode is of course not for the faint of heart.  I think you may be being a bit hard on yourself, you finished and finished well, without mishap and demonstrated good seamanship looking after the ship to the finish line.

 

Well done.

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Agree with Sparky, well done Matt.  Do not envy you having to go up the mast while solo with the kite stuck up.  Saw JJ having trouble getting his Gennaker down at one stage too so you weren't the only single hander with a bit on!

 

Tazzy Devil had a good sail, really enjoyable conditions all the way to Brett.  Managed to use most of the wardrobe at various times and had some good surfs, particularly just after the hen and chicks when a squall of 30ish came through with fractional spinnaker up hitting 15s.  Lack of time on the boat meant we struggled to get her going really well on the wind in the dark into the BOI and being at the back of our div meant that the dying breeze at the finish hurt us results wise, but we had a great time and were happy that things went to plan.  

 

Thanks to the organisers for a great event once again!

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Sundreamer's Coastal

 

Had a few misgivings about matching our great performance last year in ideal Sundreamer conditions with a lighter downwind forecast predicting the lightweights would give us a hiding

 

Got a great start at pace but fluffed the 1st gybe getting a wineglass and me letting the main halyard go. Quickly recovered and luckily the only error of the race. We held on downwind to be right amongst the 52's and only one 8.5 in front at the first corner but he broke at Kawau. In front was Vodafone, Taeping and Slime as predicted and we thought one other. The reach across Bream Bay let us stretch our legs to clear out a little but going lighter in patches up the Tut's coast kept us on our toes with gains from the 52's and Voom who was going great. Luckily pressure at the right times saw us extend. I don't know how many sail changes we did from Gennaker to Code0 to Genoa and back but it was more than we have ever done. Thank god for 7 strong crew.

 

7 miles from Cape Brett we got becalmed sitting dead still and thought it was all over like in 99. But a light northerly zephyr filled in and unlike all our opposition we tacked in to shore, while they all went offshore. It was still blowing SW at the Bay so we figured the shore was the way to go. We tacked up to the gap at never less than 6 knots and a big southerly puff hit us in the last 100 metres to see us pop out of there like a cork. Sadly still with the #1 up into 25 knots on the nose. The change took a little time but we settled in fine but soaked. The boat we thought was in front wasn't there so we looked forward to another 4th but the huge carbon Kotuku powered past us on the wind. Similar speed but way higher. The challenge from the Nacra, the older 60, and the leaners never really happened although if Attitude had not broke she would have taken some catching.

 

So 5th and damn pleased with that. The park-up ruined our handicap chances but it was great to see the cruisers get in the prizes.

 

A great race and fantastic organisation. The sail back was tough and took 20 hours, twice the trip up.

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