white island race

[Justuts 0]

We had it tough on Escapology, but mainly on Saturday night when the rest of the fleet was tucked up in bed...

 

We had spent quite a bit of time before the start contemplating whether to reef off the line or not knowing, after the coastal, that we couldn't put a reef in without dropping the kite. We decided that we would take the pain early and set out with our fractional assym and the first reef in the main. We were looking forward to the stability that the a-sail would have and knew we could hold it without any problems in 30-35 while two handed. It wasn't long after the start that the pressure came in and we were comfortably powered up with this sail plan.

 

We ended up getting very close to Navenka across Issy bay, them trying to sail deeper than us with a poled out head sail. As we were a bit square we had some flogging of the kite which eventually led to the lazy sheet coming unclipped (new snapshackles following the same issue on the coastal). This ended up under the boat so we dropped the kite to sort it out and carried on bare-headed while I re-packed and removed the snapshackles from the sheets. We gybed before re-hoisting, and shortly afterward went back onto starboard since we were a bit close to Motutapu. We were rolling along at 9-10kn and noticed how far everybody seemed to be heading to the right of the rhumb line. We were not convinced that was the best way to go, expecting a funnelling effect dragging air into the Colville channel from the west, so gybed at the d'urvilles and started tracking more to the north. We had to sail a bit high to get around these rocks and it was here that we got our first taste of what the prod has done to the boat. We lept out of the front of a wave and went from 9 to 13 kn and just held without any pressure on the helm. Good stuff.

 

As we got further north we started to head and ended up coming down to about 5 deg off layline as the pressure built. We were confident we had made back most of our losses from the kite sheet and as the sea state built we were sitting on constant 12s with regular bursts into the 13s (boat speed record prior to this race was 13.4 I think). Still really comfortable on the helm although we were conscious of the fact that the pressure was building and the nowcasting at channel was suggesting it was going to keep going. We also had a gybe to do at some stage. As the speed bursts got higher and higher, whilst we were whooping and giggling, we were also thinking that we should probably do the conservative thing and get it down before it got too chaotic. As we were discussing the drop we had a couple of big waves that got us up and going to max speed of 15.5, great fun but the breeze was getting solid now and we decided to get the drop done asap. Maybe the weekend would have been different if we had hung on, but I guess it had to come down sooner or later.

 

Unfortunately it wasn't the best drop in the world. I didn't get enough of a hold on it and we ended up with it in the water aft of the boat, luckily still floating flat on the surface. Managed to get the clew to the rail and went to start collecting the foot before it caught the water, Tim having to concentrate fully on navigating the waves. I went to lock the sheet off on a winch and as fast as I could blink, it was running again, still not full of water, but no longer sitting next to the gunwhale. One of the more disconcerting moments of my sailing days struck me next when I noticed that my hand was pretty firmly pressed onto the winch by a loop of the sheet. eeerm, issue. I was now locked onto the cabin top winch with the kite trying to take my hand off. Pretty quickly assessing that it was a case of him or me, I put japanese steel to the sheet. I was bloody fortunate to escape with a minor rope burn, through my gloves, and some bruising. After a short religious ceremony we started to consider how to get the kite back which was now flying to leeward, a halyard length from the boat. In hindsight we may have been able to grind it back in by the remaining, windward, sheet (the tack line had let go at some point) but made the call to let the halyard run. It then took both of us on the foredeck with the boat hove to in order to retrieve the kite. We should have used Glen and Bob's trick at that stage and had a cup of tea.

 

After catching our breath we decided we would go to the next reef and the no 3 genoa. This was the first time we had used this reef as it was an addition we have made since the coastal to give us an intermediate gear between the first and deepest (40%). That all went reasonably well and after spending probably 40 min since deciding to drop the kite, we were off again and heading to Cuvier in 35-40 and back to doing 12kn, although way behind the fleet. It wasn't long though until we noticed a spreader tip poking through the sail. Not ideal. We had not put patches on for the new reef point and with all the breeze had let the main press too hard on the shrouds. We made the call to go to the third reef to protect the main, but this meant running the first reef line on a mouse up to the third reef point, as well as flaking up the foot to keep it out of the water. Given it was going to take some time, we decided we would drop the genoa so we didn't flog it to bits. As I went forward to do so I noticed it had started to come free from the luff foil and I didn't quite get it down before it decided to peel. Unable to keep it under wraps, we again ended up with the boat hove to and both of us on the foredeck retrieving a sail. By the time we got that under control, and put our reef in (the mouse line trick worked surprisingly well in the conditions), it was starting to turn into a hard day at the office. We pointed the boat at Cuvier, bare headed with 3 reefs in the main, and took a breather. Given the now casting at channel (still abeam) we didn't rush to put up a head sail. Instead taking the time to discuss options.

 

The situation as we saw it was that we were going to have to limp around the track with 3 reefs in to ensure we didn't make the hole in the main any worse. Given we were so far back by this stage, our race essentially over, and faced with a deteriorating forecast with 30-40 through the night, we reluctantly made the call to head for shelter in Fitzroy rather than risk further damage and having a hard night's work of it. Our intention was of waiting out the night there and heading back to Auckland in the morning. We found a good bay and were at anchor with dinner on by dark. Still loads of breeze around and we would hear big puffs roaring through the hills all night. We didn't have any grog, books or cards on board so it is good we enjoy each other's company, even after all this short handed sailing we do. The next day the forecast hadn't gotten any better and we didn't really want to have to bash back into the sea state we had had. We kept a 3 hrly watch on the nowcasting, waiting for things to ease, thinking we would get away between midnight and 4 am on Sunday and back before it died completely. Luckily (depending on how you look at it) we had plenty of freeze dried on board from various races so at least we were well stocked for food.

 

Through Saturday night the wind actually built, and swung around a bit so that it was coming around the corner and into our bay. It was a pretty sleepless night, both of us ready to move the boat from the narrow bay in the dark if we had to. At around 2am we re-stowed all the gear and sails that we had put aft for the trip out up into the forward cabin to try and move the CG forward and stop us swinging around on the anchor so much. As it turned out we needn't have worried, the anchor was in so good that we had to leave a horse shoe on it and pick it up from an angle to get it out.

 

We got away quite early in the morning, setting out in 15kn of SW. We were hearing a westerly or even NW forecast for later in the day so were hoping that we could hook into that and have a pleasant trip back. Unfortunately that didn't happen and off little barrier we were down to 6kn of breeze so started motor sailing. We were able give our new tiller pilot, Biggles, the helm for most of the trip home. We hadn't trusted it to drive down waves with the kite up in 30 kn on its first outing. We were back in on dark on Sun, a bit sore, but relatively well rested and the boat in one piece aside from a sheet, the main, and a halyard that needs to be re-run. Given the stories above, we are pretty happy to have kept the damage to that, and reckon we made the right call to pull out, but are obviously gutted that we didn't get around the track. Thanks to RAYC for running the race, Coastguard for their watch, and well done to everybody else that finished a race that will no doubt be talked about for a while.

 

Stu