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Sorry Tom and Vicky but there was a typo in the IRC result calc's where REVS finish time was used for you ! Anyway you did get a very close second (only about 14min in it !).

 

I can still recall a conversation with Tom at the end of the 2008 RNI prizegiving (where Sunstone cleaned up...) Tom commented on how Hard Labour featured on all the trophies Sunstone won from the 2005 edition of the RNI and how it would be great to race each other... Unfortunately it has taken until now but with a different boat and skipper before we finally raced each other in a two handed race. As the RNZ seems to take 22 years between editions I was pretty determined to make sure Kiwi's hang on to the trophies! But they still managed to steal the Leg 2 to Stewart Island PHRF trophy ! Well done !

 

Secondly I also had another interesting conversation with Tom before the race in regards to how it was scored. Tom was in favour of the overall winners being decided by total elapsed and total corrected times. SSANZ chose a points system as it kept more boats in contention for longer and reduced the chance of a weather window favouring one boat early in the race making it near impossible for any one else to win. A points system also gave boats the option to take seamanship decisions and seek shelter and still be in contention for overall honours...

 

I did say to Tom at the time "regardless of what system we chose I bet I will be wishing for the opposite afterwards !"

 

Is it too late to change now ? (I note Sunstone would also have done better under a combined times system... but I think the right decision was actually made for the event)

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Big congrats to eveyone who completed the race, nice work, that was a huge effort and from all accounts, it sounds like it's another entire level above the RNI2H.

 

I was so jealous watching the start outside the squady and wishing i was doing it, though i did have second thoughts during leg 2.

 

Once the yellowbrick got up and running properly after stewart island it was awesome being able to follow you all so closely.

 

when is the next one going to be held Cam?

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Just got a phone call from Kurt.

 

The wind gear jammed at 73knots, huge sea's from all directions breaking and rolling right over the supertanker 34. When they set off their Mayday call, the stern was underwater, cockpit lockers overflowing and 1 meter of water throughout the cabin. A quick call home to re-assure loved ones that they were doing everything they could and this x marks the spot. Then a new determination to survive kicks in and 2 frightened sailors with buckets with an over powering will to survive saved their lives. :clap:

 

more later

 

Kurt said they have a video log of the trip. He also said, "Looking out the cabin and seeing the stern of your yacht completely underwater gives you a holy-sh*t moment"

 

Any update on the video log?? :D

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I have the log still on the camera, havent even been to the boat to get it since we got home, also need to work out how to post, most of the real bad storm was over by the time the camera went out the hatch so really does not show how it was,

 

will post as soon as i can, back at work tomorrow and the wife wants the boat back for easter so need to do that first

 

Kurt

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Has anyone done results based on total elapsed time? I recall they had that as part of RNI but official results based on leg scoring.

Mark - you out there?

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Think I saw something on SW, however my quick and dirty calcs, boat, elapsed, crrected :

 

Surreal 15 23:13:06 13 19:29:01

Sunstone 19 04:23:42 14 04:41:32

Vingilot 18 12:43:56 14 06:26:37

Truxton 17 16:24:29 14 20:30:09

Danaide 20 19:55:28 16 05:56:27

Revs 17 23:03:38 16 10:25:13

Pelagian 22 22:14:23 16 23:10:38

Coppelia 21 04:33:00 17 01:22:57

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I was impressed by vingilots performance.

And yes well done cameron those 47ft 7 yr old farr boats are good performers when sailed well.

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As is a pesky Tiller 10.5 sailed by a crazy man who sends it as hard as possible downhill with no regard to the consequences !

 

Truxton had numerous outstanding performances and although in my prerace thoughts I thought you would be in the top 4 on PHRF I didn't think the boat was enough of an allrounder to win... But a very driven skipper/crew who maximised every opportunity for all it was worth made the difference.

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Thanks. Maybe I hadn't scrolled enough or it was added after. For those who haven't looked it probably reflects how well Vingilot did vs the favourites and confirms what we really know - that Tom and Vicky are pretty dialled in for long distance sailing shorthanded :D

 

Interesting Surreal got Sunstone by 8 hrs on both PHRF and IRC. Given their varied designs and sizes between the 2, and they both had good crews, it shows how the weather giveth and the weather taketh away

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As much as I have giant respect for all who competed in this race,Vingalot did exceptionally well I thought. She's one of the biggest boats but she's all cruiser.

The boathook sticking up in the rod holder all the way around NZ made me laugh.

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From the SSANZ site

 

Sunstone's RNZ Overview

 

 

 

The Challenges:

 

 

 

Physically a race like this is very demanding. Despite the stops, exhaustion is only a few hours away most of the time. It is impossible to get enough sleep if you are seriously trying to be competitive. We have a lot of experience pacing ourselves when cruising two-handed, when we have a very regular watch system, which ensures that we get enough rest except in seriously bad weather. For serious racing a watch system doesn't work for us. Mostly we were sleeping in spells of about an hour or less, with very occasional periods of one and a half hours. This isn't good for your body or your brain. Though we got enough food, we both lost weight and were just calorie stoking, quite often eating cold ravioli out of the tin. As we were by far the oldest crew at a combined age of 124, we did also have physical disadvantages to start with in terms of strength and pre-existing arthriticy aches. However, we may have had some advantages in stamina. By the end of the Race we were pretty shattered, though we were probably at our lowest in Napier after a disappointing leg. The other side of the physical challenge is that a boat like ours is actually quite heavy to work. We are well set up for two-handed sailing but the spins are big and the poles are heavy. On Leg 2 we used 10 different sails at various times. And anyway, who ever heard of a 65 year-old bow man!

 

 

 

Mental toughness is pretty essential for an event like this, especially when it turns out that there are not just odd spells of very difficult conditions, but long continous periods. In addition, in this Race the appearance of the weather 'bomb' was bound to cause some consternation. It did with us. When Tom saw the GRIB file predictions for that very rapidly deepening low he said to Vicky, 'this is a very dangerous system!' We seriously discussed heading to Tasman Bay, but eventually decided to go on, partly because we were unsure whether we could reach shelter before the winds turned strong easterly. Our decision to go on was partly because we were well placed and because we were possibly far enough south to avoid the worst of the weather. The decisions of the three boats to seek shelter were seaman-like, but were probably influenced, as our discussions were, by the extremely unpleasant conditions which we had already been experiencing for some time. It was tough out there.

 

 

 

Tactically the Race was more challenging than usual because there was so much windward work. When reaching or running it is rarely useful to stray far from the shortest route unless there are major weather factors or your rig dictates wide gybing angles. This is not the case with windard work, where working the shifts correctly is essential. Dealing with the tactical issues in heavier windward conditions is also challenging, when sail damage, handling difficulties and pure discomfort may inhibit perfect tactical thinking!

 

 

 

 

 

Our Race:

 

 

 

We knew a couple of days before the start that we would not be in the running for any overall prizes. As soon as it was clear that the first short leg would be in heavy running conditions we knew that Sunstone would be too disadvantaged to place well. Sunstone comes from an era of design which did not encourage the ability to surf and plane. You can carry as much sail as you like and only end up in a deeper hole, trailing quarter waves that are a surfer's delight. We had an exciting time with our heavy spin up for much of the leg, but still trailed far behind, despite shooting the 'gap' at the Cavallies.

 

 

 

The opportunities presented by the second leg were a compensation and by the middle of the leg, before the appearance of the 'bomb' we were well placed in heavy beating conditions which have always suited Sunstone. We were fortunate to be just far enough ahead to get south of Cape Foulwind (appropriately!) before the passage of the low, however, that did lead us further inshore than we would normally have preferred. Generally we avoid getting inshore unnecessarily on offshore races, believing that it pays only about one time in five and can be a disaster as often as 50% of the time. It nearly was for us when we ended up in the lee of Mt. Cook in a gradient NEly. Fortunately most other boats found the same hole at some point.

 

 

 

Once off Fiordland, a short-lived spin reach ended and we progressively reduced sail as the wind got up. For a while we ran with a poled No 3 alone, as this gave us the option of running significantly by the lee when necessary. When the wind got up to about 45kts+, we went to the storm jib only, still running fast in seas that were now quite large and breaking. When the wind was 55kts+ One of these seas caught the boat slightly too far off dead down wind and spun us into a broach. It was not a heavy knock-down, but far enough that water shot in the dorade vents and around the sides of the main hatch. It also broke both the air vane and parts of the connecting rod on our Monitor windvane steerer. However, damage was minor and nothing to prevent us continuing as before. Once around Puysegur, the seas began to moderate though the wind was still very strong for a time. Inevitably, by the time we got to the northern corner of Stewart Island we were struggling to keep way on in a very fickle breeze. Naturally we were delighted to finish second on line and first on both handicaps. It was our one moment of glory in the Race - not to be repeated!

 

 

 

The third leg was a trial for us. Despite the longer stop in Oban, we were still very tired at the start of Leg 3, while their apparently poor showing had certainly motivated the three crews who had sought shelter on Leg 2. Somehow we made bad call after bad call, from tactics to sail changes. In the latter case often doing two changes in half an hour because the first had been a mistake. To top it all, Tom had caught a cold at Oban and was not fully fit physically or mentally. Nevertheless, we were not totally out of touch until well over half-way to Napier, to the east of Cook Strait. At this point we stopped thinking altogether and went the wrong way for several hours. This not only put us on the long outside of a lift, but also cost time that proved vital at the end when the wind died in Hawke Bay and we took six hours to get from Cape Kidnappers to the finish 13 miles away. It was a very disappointing leg.

 

 

 

Despite the prospect of very unpleasant weather we may have been better motivated for the last leg. Tactically we made the right decisions with only one exception and that was that we didn't go quite far enough north to meet the predicted new wind. However, even at her best Sunstone was not fast enough to make the tidal gate at East Cape, which the faster boats did and we were never likely to make any distance into the Hauraki Gulf before the strong SW change came through, forcing us to beat home while the faster boats reached. That's offshore racing. We still felt satisfied with our performance on the last leg.

 

 

 

Damage, Repairs & Spares

 

 

 

One aspect of our race of which we were particularly proud was the way we dealt with damage and repairs. Despite the knock-down we actually had relatively little damage:

 

 

 

bent stanchion

 

broken snatch block

 

damaged monitor windvane steerer

 

1 lost batten and torn batten pocket on NO 3

 

torn tabling on No 4

 

smashed steaming light

 

broken third reef pennant

 

smashed up pram hood

 

 

 

We repaired or replaced all of these from spares on board. The only assistance we had was when Roger repaired our torn No 3 batten pocket in Napier, though we provided the replacement batten and could have repaired the pocket from spares on board. Even the stanchion was replaced by a spare on board and the Monitor was repaired entirely from on-board spares. We made temporary repairs to the No 4, but confess that we were glad not to have them tested! It is worth saying that we spent a lot of time in Oban doing some of these repairs and were glad of the extra time there for that reason if no other.

 

 

 

SSANZ

 

 

 

The club is a remarkable organisation, which runs some of the most ambitious and challenging racing in New Zealand on a shoe-string through the enthusiastic support of its committee, its members and supporters. We are most grateful to them all, but particularly to Steve Ashley, the Race Officer. He worked tirelessly to make the event a memorable one for the competitors. His enthusiasm was contagious and he made every crew feel that they were heroes even when they came in last at three in the morning. Brian Murray and his wife Erica were also stalwarts in their support and enthusiasm. Every member of the committee made some essential contribution and we are very grateful to them all.

 

 

 

Why Do It?

 

 

 

Sailing is the most complex and challenging sport there is- that's why we do it - and offshore racing is it's most challenging version. Charles, the skipper of Vingilot said to us after the Race, 'This was the toughest challenge of my life.' Having heard his stories of other challenges he has faced, that is saying something, but it was probably true for most of us in the race. For everyone there was a very big investment of time and money. However, those were only secondary to the personal investment. Talking to the other crews it was clear that they, as we, felt that they had learned important things about themselves, both strengths and weaknesses during the Race. Without getting too mystical about it, that's what setting and facing challenges like this race do for you and why they are worth the price you pay to do them. Of course, alternatively we could all sit around watching golf on TV.

 

 

 

Tom and Vic

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Great update Team Sunstone!

 

As you guys consistently plugged on South, off Golden Bay I suddenly found myself on the S & S Brokerage site looking at yachts in appreciation of Sunstones sea-keeping ability.

 

Top effort, if I could emulate anything close to similar in a few years I would be very happy with that!

 

Cheers

 

Peter

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Be interesting to hear a bit more from some of the others in particular how they dealt with the big blow on the west coast. Especially the cause of Pelgian's leak and how they fixed it.

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