New Plymouth -- Auckland Race Winner

[Guest Brucey]

And the winner is Andar,

 

On the back of a truck, Now can anyone shed any light on the dock talk that G Elliot was called when the boat arrived in NP and told there was something wrong with the keel.

 

By the time he drove there the keel was off and the boat on a truck, with questions about what if anything was in fact wrong with it?

 

And the fleet, by sounds there have been injurys and some broken bits, but with half the fleet not making it half way, there are some questions and I would hope YNZ inspectors should also be interested to understand why, for future reference.

 

Can someone with knowledge outline the issues experienced.

Are the boats to small

Boats to weak

Crews to inexperienced

Or conditions so atroucous 50% retirement is expected?

[w44vi 17]

Boats doing RNI should be able to handle most weather, I don't think the conditions con be blamed

[otto 31]

Boats doing RNI should be able to handle most weather, I don't think the conditions con be blamed

 

Agree, one that withdrew has not surprised me though and surprised it went.

[Tiller 2]

gerald and I have just sailed truxton from new plymouth to auckland and any one contemplating RNZ should look at installing crash bulkheads.We sailed passed many logs and other floatsam. The west coast of South Island could be worse.

[w44vi 17]

gerald and I have just sailed truxton from new plymouth to auckland and any one contemplating RNZ should look at installing crash bulkheads.We sailed passed many logs and other floatsam. The west coast of South Island could be worse.

 

Thank goodness the log disappear at night!

[Guest]

The RNI was particulary Tough - for every one. It is fair to say that all the boats were well prepared. We all knew that we would get snotted somewhere along the course. Open Country had more than its fair share - and we elected to run and hide as well!

We were very lucky not loose our rig off the brothers in a wild broach - Others have stories of things that went pear shaped and they got away with it- Others were not so lucky!

Injuries are real and Skinner is the luckest guy out there - thank goodnes he had a really strong tether!- and guts to survive!

So- what would we do differently? Not much - changed down all the gears till we had none left - keeping the boat safe became our priority- Running for cover - meant we through away the division win - but that doesnt mater- we stayed up right intact and we finished the race!

What was interesting- was the way that people handled their individual emergancies and the way they conducted themselves during their "Pan" No panic - just really professional seamanship!

[TimW 1]

gerald and I have just sailed truxton from new plymouth to auckland and any one contemplating RNZ should look at installing crash bulkheads.We sailed passed many logs and other floatsam. The west coast of South Island could be worse.

 

As in Gerald Pastor?

 

If so wouldn't that make you the two oldest Sunburst sailors to do that ?

 

I remember you too old buzzards the day Pops took OKC for her first sail at Otahuhu Sailing Club, And Someone hit a Log (Oh that's right it was us!)

[Tiller 2]

gerald and I did the RNI in 1996 and we were called vetrans then !!

[TimW 1]

111 Gannet!

[PeteG 13]

From my point of view the conditions that we experienced on the Young 99 Nonstop from Egmont onwards were unpleasant rather than extreme. We saw SE only up to about 35 knots generally.

It was the sea state that was our main issue- being about 3m fast breaking seas, many without backs. To us this is typical of the area due to shallow depth and a lot of current/tide flow.

 

Some boats carried on, some took shelter in various places. May I state right now- every skipper and crew made great decisions- being the one that was right for them at the time, especially given they were tired and beaten up already after a few tough days. WELL DONE.

 

I share our strategy hoping it may help others in the future.

 

Firstly we knew some shitty weather was coming- so we made sure we had eaten well and had drunk plenty of fluid during the afternoon, so we were in as good a condition as possible. We were as rested as we could be too, given we had just spent the last couple of days bashing upwind.

 

Our philosophy in rough or stormy conditions is always to keep actively sailing given we have a fin keeler of modern shape. Our Young 99 seems to handle rough seas well, and because we have experience in a few dodgy situations (always during deliveries!) both upwind and downwind (more dangerous?)- we are confident in our boats sea keeping ability and being able to slide down the backs of waves or wherever we need to go.

 

We had changed down to our #4 on the furler a few hours earlier in daylight (able to roll some away if needed if it got too windy), and 2 reefs in the main. This gave us plenty of power to get up the bigger waves when needed.

 

Key for us was to look after the boat and ourselves- broken boat or hurt us equals game over. We chose to free off a bit to about 170 degrees magnetic which was still our making board to the top of the Sounds-as trying to point too high (155-160) just resulted in launching off the backs of waves. We also made sure we kept boat speed down a bit to prevent the above.

 

We came down through the middle of the oil rigs (bit close, but sorry you move –we have a bit on!).

We tended to stuff the nose up into the breaking waves, then a really hard pull of to slide down the back. Then it was the next wave that was always the bad one- steep and backless. Here same concept with the really hard pull away to prevent launching out the back of it. Of course you miss the odd one and have a big hard crash- ouch!

 

Though it is sometimes nicer driving (although wet). Down below is a relief to be out of the wind and waves for a while- but in a foam core boat it is very noisy and each wave sounds like the boat will break in half. It is here that we are just so careful to avoid getting hurt. Ideally we just wedge into a quarterberth surrounded by kites, but if we do move around it is often on hands and knees and hanging on. In this weather food equals if you can grab it and get a wrapper off it, it must be good.

 

In summary, having prior experience helps (I was shitting myself the first time I was in similar conditions- same place too!), be well fed and watered and prepared, concentrate bloody hard as one mistake could be pretty serious, button off to look after the boat (our liferaft as Mark called it at the time) and DO NOT get hurt.

Neither Mark or I get seasick which helps a hell of a lot I guess. We do not enjoy those conditions but it is certainly a challenge to get through in one piece, although at the time it makes cruising in the Sounds seem a lot better idea!

 

Finally the kite ride we got from Kapiti down the coast in the sunshine, with Pepe chasing us hard made it all worthwhile!

I will do a report on SSANZ site of our half a race in due course- well done to all those who finished the RNI.

Cheers Pete

[Guest]

Yes there were a few lessons learnt but Brucey's suggestion that YNZ inspectors should somehow need to do something different next time seems a little cockeyed. Nobody died. The system worked beautifully. They should actually be pretty happy with the result. There are 36 odd sailors probably not too happy with the result but they're all alive and now even more experienced. Every one of the 18 boats that pulled out has a different story, there can't be one answer to get them all around next time.