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candela

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Marshall LAw

 

Conservative start, downwind and down tide so didn't want to be early.

Quiet doddle till just past Browns, then the big hole.

Flopped around of the end of Motuihe for what seemed ages, thought we were dying but I think everyone else was too (the little guys all roared up then parked in the same spot).

Then the breeze filled in and we had a great gennaker ride to the bottom, going around more or less alongside Pretty Boy Floyd, Coppelia, a J120, Kiwi just ahead, at this point thinking we were doing OK.

Couple of very scrappy gybes (end of boom jammed between runners and checkstays - still not sure how that happened) and threw the gennaler in the water on the drop, luckily got it aboard before it stopped skimming the surface.

We had switched from light to heavy #1 before the drop, then found as we headed to Motuihe it was just too much and we sagged sideways and drifted back, discovered teh boat is way faster standing on its feet than leaning over.

Considered a change to something smaller but inertia kicked in, the last bit of the race the breeze died enough that we had the right sail and then realized how much better we could have gone with the right gear early on.

 

All in all a great days sail (thanks to SSANZ) and we continue up the learning curve, more time on the boat will undoubtedly push the performance up (one reason we shied from the #2 is we haven't had it out of the bag yet and don't know what it looks like)

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Charlatan's Simrad 1 Report:

Had a significant change from normal race prep and didn't look at a forecast all week. The boat was in super light condition though (took a few un-needed deck fitings off, oh and the deck, mast, toe rails etc). Where a bit late for the start, infact missed it all together.

 

This was mainly because Charlatan is in the shed getting a good refit :?

 

Wouldn't want that to stop us enjoying the first Sirmad of the season though, so after a brief discussion with the owner we went for the big Metabo Orbital sander with a 40 grit for the first run up the port side of the cockpit. Had a really fast peel from the old sanding disc to a new one at the companionway hatch and pushed on down the starbourd side.

 

Meanwhile the owner was doing some stunning work on the fordeck with the little Black & Decker buzz sander getting right into the tight spots with the special 'pointy end' fitting.

 

All in all a good day, got the cockpit and almost all of the side decks prep-ed for the glassing :D

 

Didn't beat anyone on the water, but fairly sure we will re-launch before JH's mini.

Hay Squid, any chance of a consolidatery bottle of rum for having to sand while you guys had a cracking days racing?

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From Energy E7.4, a great day of sailing, thanks SSANZ.

 

A bit slow off the start with the fractional gennaker to Browns, change down to the #1, up with the masthead bag ex Black Fun at Navy Bouy Browns, both of us knew the spinnaker well as both of us had owned BF at sometime or another, its a great sail and pretty big. Sailed along the breeze line and diagonally through the 'big' parkup with a few anxious moments, there was a brief discussion around 'lets hope that kite doesnt set just right now' as we faced a wall of transoms and not a lot of room to go anywhere. Out the other side, nice gybe and we were off doing 11's through to where the breeze came in through the Motohuie Channel overtaking quite a few boats. At this point PE came screaming up on our port side looking really fast and we cranked it up a notch hiting 14's on the GPS and had quite a bit on with our masthead gear up in some pretty decent puffs. Steve did a great job on helm and it was a pretty physical ride for me trimming.

 

PE is really impressivley quick on that angle and looked awesome, wish I had had time to take some shots but it was all on for us.

 

Clean drop bar the jib clip getting pressed into the beak of the pole and didnt loose much speed as we hardened up to Haystack dumping main all over the place. Round the corner and into the upwind slog back to Rangi which wasnt too bad but not our prefered point of sail for a 7.4m trailer yacht and we lost time against the D28s, Lotus 9.2s which loved the conditions.

 

Cracked sheets at Rangi, to Bean Rock, tack, tack and finish. Highlight was the ride up the back of Motutapu/Rakino good speeds but lots of load - got to loose the jandle, new foils sometime sooon. The hum goes out at about 13.5kts though.

 

Lots of fun :)

 

EE

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Energy you guys sure looked good coming past us on the way to Haystack! A great day's racing, we weren't expecting the light conditions at the start and wondered if it would be a repeat of last year (and we wondered if our one muesli bar each was going to cut it!). Quite tricky to work through the Long and Shorthaul boats off Motuihe, but managed to do a tight gybe and duck some sterns to get across to southern shore, we did a few gybes along there to stay in a breeze line that seemed to be sticking close to the beach and got through Seargent Ch just behind Phocena and Bays Flyer. A great ride across to Haystack with the kite, a tad tight so we were on our toes all the way across and had to drop slightly earlier than we would have liked. Interesting slog home, glad we had changed to no.2 on the reach down, and worked the Rakino and Motutapu shore to stay out of tide and find smaller waves. The 727s wore us down and looked really comfortable and fast in those conditions. A tight tussle just behind us between the next Trackers Aquaholic, Novamech and Comfortably Numb, places decided on the line by the sounds of it.

Thanks SSANZ, impressive speed in getting results and photos up. Here's a couple I took in the early quiet moments when I should have been concentrating on steering.

Jim Beam & Tioga Iti 1.jpg

Comfortably Numb.jpg

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Started in unexpected weather, Ahgggg.....2010 R1 flashbacks happening. Had fun drifting down past Cape Park-up on Motohei. Interesting question was asked by newbie co-driver "Why are we passing boats with kites up?', which we did a fair bit. A question some could ask themselves - Is the hoo haa of pulling up kites and then down again a few minutes later actually faster then holding off waiting for a more solid 'something' wind wise than knot playing with your kite? Many times the answer did appear to be No, holding out a tad longer with headsail was faster often. Anyway had lots of fun wiggling thru the assorted fleets ad listening to some of the comments, more than a few 'If we get a breeze now which transom will we be sailing into?'. Twas very cosy there at times.

 

Nice kite run into Passage. Oh crap, DDF well parked up. Rounded nearish the front. Bang slam bang slam bang slam as 12 88's sailed past us in quick smart fashion on the way back up to Moto green, the last 2 finally getting passed off Cape Park-up. Only 3 boats of all the SH Divs combined behind us by then. Passed a few 88's and others in Rakino Channel while watching The V Team kite wrangling, the kite won that one, quite convincingly as well. Newbie packs our kite... Oh crap The V Teams issue is contagious, a knot made from a kite brought down and sent to the naught step to contemplate it's behaviour. Cooked up some spectacular Bacon and Veggie soup to have with the mini B&E pies and chicken satay.

 

Come out of Rakino Channel, Bang slam bang slam bang slam as all we had passed and a couple of others sail passed again. Go in for a very very close look at Gardner's Gap. Flat water, what bliss, 6.9-7.1kts hard on, knot to shabby for a 1st time yacht driver, personally I prefer to think it was the sail trimmer.

 

Round Rangi and shake reef out. Nice bimble into the finish and up the harbour after. DFL or close as probably but very surprised to see some speeders had only just finished also. All in all and excluding the bash back up which very much resembled sitting on a beach ball in a washing machine, a OK day even if knot a quick one. 1st time yacht driver did damn good and only spun out 1/2 as many times as I did, he's rapped. Boat held together bar 2 more blocks that fell to bits and 2 VHF's who both didn't seem to be transmitting, one we knew was on and off but other was working fine last weekend, frecking electronics.

 

On that a note to safety organisations and people who may need to get rung in a hurry or by people in possibly knot easy phone using situations - Do knot list your phone number as 0508 SOMEWORD. You ever tried to sit there and work out what numbers those letters are on a Ross boat jumping around like a crazy woman on Meth? Came within a second of a 'f*ck this, don't bother' but then noticed a handy *500 number, which was great. List the fecking numbers, knot all of us a 40,000mph thumb speed 16yo pimply teenagers.

 

Now did the boat I pick win our Div or did I lose a bottle of rum? Better go suss I suppose.

 

Oh yeah, and don't forget to run reeflines before you pull up the sail.... damn hard once it's up and you need them, bugger bugger bugger!!!

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The Ugly:

 

Four consecutive round-ups somewhere near the Rakino Channel with the spinnaker sheet over the boom and 25 knots, mainly 'cuz I neglected to release the last 4 feet of mainsheet.

 

Beating past rough rock, sensing a drop in windspeed but while looking a large, dark cloud in the face and yet still called for a change up to the #1, leading to more broaching during the inevitable squall and getting passed by some boats we spent the previous 3/4 of the upwind getting ahead of

 

Entering the parkup off Motuihe near the front of the smallboats, leaving at the back. Hmmmm.

 

The Bad:

 

Late to the start, again

 

A few broken bits.

 

Missed a few shifts.

 

Inability to work out in head if 30 deg apparent at 5 kn is worse than 35 deg at 6 knots.

 

The good:

 

The parkup allowed time for some nice chatter, impromptu deal-working, boat gawking, etc.

 

The run from Motuihe to Haystack was the stuff of sailing dreams. Climbed from back in the pack to near the front, reached 14 knots, averaged over ten. It was full on and fantastic. The sense of fullfillment you get when your boat picks up on the surf and surges from fast to really fast and you can't help but look back at the streaming wake behind is incredible.

 

Sailing about the Gulf with a good buddy on a fine day, in a well-run race. Thanks SSANZ.

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quarter pint. Easy start. Annoying ghost down to Browns. Challenging park up. gybed to head at Haystack and thought its too late to plug in the #3 so waited till it was windy as f**k and did a bare headed kite drop/headsail change while still doing about 10 knots with the water level next to me up around my shoulders sitting in a trough. Concurred that the kite is a bag of s**t. Hardened up and set about trying to catch some boats. bash bash bash. Match racing with Overdraft and Quick Nik from Haystack. Round Rangi light and discussed changing to #1. nah. Good call as we got rained on and cold when that squall went through. picked off Revolution Blues, the elliott 7.4s but not the boat we really wanted to beat. Then saw wal laughing his arse off at me as we finished.

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Had a good day on Revolution.

We left the dock in good time, but I was busy below doing some stuff, and didn't notice the breeze dying as we went down to the start. When I popped my head up and we gybed towards the line it was a case of #%$&@^#^% - ooops. However in a funky breeze like that it is where you are when it fills in that matters. Anyway we had a big restart at Motuhuie and settled down with a snadwich as we gradered our way to the Haystack. Saw a few awesome broaches, and the Chinese from Smokey. We changed down to the blade prior to Haystack, and rounded 4th in our division, and behind most of the Hanses. Quickly got sorted and were high out of the corner. Quck dig into Rakino and then a long port. We had lots of oscillations so the compass was our friend. One good puff came through and the leading Hanse and the Moody popped in reefs. Saw Ken in Vivo park up and have a chat to the Moody in a tight Port Stbd. Managed to sneak past the Club Fed and kept our seaparation on them. Cheap Transport went to Gulf Harbour for lunch and then stormed back fromthe right. The tide turned on our beat and we got the elevator to the Lighthouse. Then a southerly rain squall came at the finish in time to get the sails wet again. 6th on line counting the Hanses. 1st line and 2nd hcp our division.

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Now did the boat I pick win our Div or did I lose a bottle of rum? Better go suss I suppose.
Oh yeah, another bot to me, thanks Pepe. Must have been that pep talk we gave them just after the start :thumbup:
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We had a good ride on the little OD taking the double in the quarter ton div. which I am stoked about! Great battle with Quick Nik, Quarter Pint and Dire Straights - Plus Smokey and Infiltrator. Great blast reach down to Haystack - front seat view of Woodstock destroying their kite behind us! We were stonking upwind also managing to hold the Piedys at bay and catch and pass the elliott 7.4s. Very happy with the result and looking forward to the next.

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I was wondering how Toles went.................. then saw the photo :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

We gave the fleet 2 photo ops of us but it appears we were that far back no one got them on film, so of course they never happened ;)

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Marshall Law race report card: Must try harder..

 

Two lazy bastards unwilling to leave the nice warm cockpit to change #1 to #2 or #3.. We lost so much ground.. Got absolutely SMOKED by Coppelia with a blade up. Dumb dumb dumb.. Especially after our fantastic gennaker ride down to Kauri point where we caught up heaps and even passed Pretty Boy Floyd at one stage, but after Kauri point it all went bad, mainly to the two lazy boys slouching at the back of the boat.. Won't happen again!

 

Embarrassing moments were few and could have been worse:

-Trawled the MH Genniker on the drop but cool work by Squid got it back before it turned into a real anchor. (Like KM says, I must have dreamed this as thyere were no photos)..

-Big bump by the mid channel mark near Pakatoa (No charts here and forget the mark name). Bit of a surprise as we were at least 2 boat lengths away from the mark but still touched..

-Crap start, probably 30s late..

 

Learnt a lot though! :D :D :D

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I saw about 5 yachts run for the hills during your handbrake slide off Rock Bay
Damn, we was spotted. Yeah had issues for a few minutes there, the bitch just wouldn't come back and play nice.

 

I must put my hand up for that one/two/three or more one longer never seem to end one. When we got close to other boats I took the tiller back of newbie... just in case. In hindsight I should have left it with him, I was the one spinning out here there and most other places :?

 

-Crap start, probably 30s late..
Oui, for some Ross owners that's a legend start :lol:
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Great race, with various winds to make for an interesting and enjoyable day

We had a good run till about 2 nm from Rangi, but more of that later

PE seems to love the light (especially when the wind works with us) as at one time around Motuihe we had more Multis behind us than in front.

When the wind came in it was a great reach in flat waters and led Hyper in past Passage rock by about 2 boatlengths.

Worked our way up the Waiheke channel and enjoyed the spectacle of boats doing very impressive wipeouts all around us. (Yep, Watched Marshall Law having a blinder up the Eastern side of the Channel all the way to Pakatoa.)

By Kauri Point we had managed to just get ahead of all the Div 1 and 2 Boats that were with us (4 or 5 had gotten away, virtually out of sight)

As we went hard on the wind we were doing about 8.5 knots, but the seas were hard on us and we struggled to point at the gap at Rakino. What to do, tack or or stay on port.

We carried on, and noticed Hyper were 3 to 400 metres behind us but pointing higher.

As we came up to Rakino, the wind went further Easterly, and we were able to make the gap without tacking, but Hyper passed us and and we followed her into the gap 5 mins later. (in the flatter water near Rakino we were getting between 9.5 and 10 knots hard on )

We carried on on port till we felt we could clear Rangi light, then onto starboard and up to 8.5 knots again.

Then the speed started dropping, and the boat ceased to light up on the gusts. The Leeward ama also seemed to become lower and lower in the water. When we opened the hatch we were staggered to see the water level was lapping over the edge.

(Luckily it has bouyancy compartments or the boat would have just Flopped over)

We started pumping it out, but as we were sailing very inefficiently we needed to tack, but

the boat wouldn't go round. We had to keep pumping, then when we could back round, I had to keep the jib backed till the Ama was light enough again to start sailing properly.

We crossed the line 36 mins behind Hyper worried about where the water came from. I don't know how much time we lost, but missed out winning by 10 mins. One consolation though is it would have been a hollow victory, as the type of race was going to suit the lower handicapped boats anyway.

We did however beat all the other monos, I think, that we were at Kauri point with.

I think the water came from the hatch not being sealed. It has two closing points (as they do) one sealed and one slightly cracked for air movement.

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On Voom we had a fun race. First race on a multi for the crew (Dad), and only his second sail on the boat. First was in 5 knots for about 30 mins...

 

A bit late for the start, so about mid fleet start. Was wary of forecast of increasing breeze, so had #2 jib on, and big kite up. wind dropped off pretty quickly, so soon we were on #1 jib around browns, and trying to stay high for clear air and to be first to get the wind when/if it filled in. Discussed kite up/kite down plenty, but stayed on the #1 and watched everyone else go screecher/kite/jib/kite/screecher (or was that just TWU?). Wind finally kicked in a little from the westish, so we went for the flat reaching kite and smoked away, feeling pretty good with only akatea in front of us. Of course, the wind filled across the course, and we were too high, so had to change to the big kite again. Some excellent close racing down the channel, trading places with rental/borderline etc. Till we sailed too close in toward man o war and got becalmed.

 

Had a close call with wired at kauri point, trying to sail over them as they were setting up to drop, and on autopilot with both crew on the bow. We got a puff and had to bear away, they decided it would be a good time to broach. A few seconds of heart in mouth stuff till they cleared our stern and we then hoisted the #2 and dropped the kite.

 

Stayed high up the back , and managed to run down rental and akarana express, and keep borderline astern. As we headed up the back of Motutapu we left our dig in too late and rental got us, but we managed to sneak out from under them. From there on we kept a loose cover on them, but screwed up the finish by tacking too early, not laying and letting them through. Stupid mistake, but made for some excitement. Great having such close racing for such a distance. 6 seconds in it!

 

In all, a very fun race, very close racing, not too bad a time given we went nowhere for first couple of hours. Crew was awesome, especially with regards to his local knowledge and ability to concentrate in the light. he steered probably half the race, and is coming back for the 100 in September.

 

Analysis of my track says our average speed around the course was 8knots, not bad given the light start. No breakages, which was not bad, given I was up at 6am on Saturday to finish bolting bits on after nearly 2 months out of the water!

 

A big thanks to SSANZ and the committee, and good to see the safety checks happening after the race.

Simrad 1.jpg

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