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Last Single Handed Race For The Season


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This Saturday is the Devonport Yacht Clubs single handed race. Starts at 9.00 on Saturday morning. Course is Rangi, Motutapu and Motuihi to starboard finishing at Devonport. Anyone on the forum doing it?

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This Saturday is the Devonport Yacht Clubs single handed race. Starts at 9.00 on Saturday morning. Course is Rangi, Motutapu and Motuihi to starboard finishing at Devonport. Anyone on the forum doing it?

 

Yepp.

 

Or at least a very likely yepp. Would we have to carry liferafts? The NOR seems to have changed from earlier in the season.

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Not entirely seeing the logic in the requirement for a liferaft or dinghy on board Round Rangi, Motutapu and Motuhui but ok, can do.

 

Pretty sure that would put a lot of people off, most don't have a life-raft and who wants to tow a dinghy or have one on the foredeck while racing?

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who wants to tow a dinghy or have one on the foredeck while racing?

 

Sounds unsafe to have a dingy on the foredeck on a 7.4! :wink:

 

Not so bad if you have a tramp to pull it up on. :silent:

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Not entirely seeing the logic in the requirement for a liferaft or dinghy on board Round Rangi, Motutapu and Motuhui but ok, can do.

 

Pretty sure that would put a lot of people off, most don't have a life-raft and who wants to tow a dinghy or have one on the foredeck while racing?

 

I've got a 2.7m RIB that I'd be happy to lend to anyone to tow :)

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EE - comments re dinghy understood [and I'm not sure I really disagree myself] however the requirement is for the full S/H series that includes 2-up around Waiheke and also the Gulf Rally [in particular the leg from Te Kouma to Kawau].

Always a tough balance between encouraging participation, safety, consistency & convenience.

This is one that always bounces around a bit and I'll raise it again next sailing committee meeting.

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Thanks for the response RC - appreciate it. All it needs is a few words put together around which races require the dinghy/liferaft and its sorted. Like SSANZ do with the 100 miler - its only required for that race and thats specified up front.

 

Carrying one for a race where you are never more than a nm off the coast is a little over the top :)

 

Found a liferaft so sorted, cant access the foredeck with the inflatable up there, I'm only 7.4 LOA.....

 

EE

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Saturday was a great day for a yacht with plenty of boats on the harbour would have been good if a few more had been in the Devonport race. Only six boats on the line. Maybe a sign of the predicted weather, or just a sign of the times? However the size of the fleet rarely detracts from the enthusiasm of the competitors and it was great to see three keen competitors get kites up almost off the line. Elliott Energy was back a little for the start, finding that there are some shallows inside the moorings area in Westhaven. Revolution Blues was quick out of the blocks but didn’t go for a kite until after North Head. I’m still a little nervous of the runners so stayed away from the gennie until Cheltenham. Hoisted in a building breeze and had a great ride passed Rangi light, unfortunately Revolution had the deeper run and got past the light just ahead. Setting up for a gibe always takes time but finally got up the courage and pulled one off without a big round-up, runners and all. Breeze continued to build giving some short bursts up to 9 knots. Revolution Blues pulled off a perfect gibe, with his kite, and continued to lead to the top of Motutapu. However all good things must come to an end and it was time to drop the gennie. Autohelm on, main out, barber hauler off, tack-line clear, halyard - one wrap on the winch and clear. Step to leeward, grab sheet, tap the autohelm down 10 degrees and blow tack-line. Gust comes through, autohelm over loaded, big round-up. Grab like hell before the genny blows out the back. Horror of horrors – the autohelm packed a sad and sent the boat in a full circle – main jammed against the runner and gennie now against the rig. I let the halyard clutch go and pulled for all I was worth. Gennie finally in the cock pit as the main crashed back across – on the original course!! Luckily I couldn’t see much because the sail was blanketing me. Finally I plucked up enough courage to try the autohelm again. It gave me a brief respite so I could get tidied up for the tight reach across to Motuihe. In the mayhem of the gennie drop Revolution had made a tidy break and then got higher than I could achieve across to Motuihe. Tide was going to be important as we all headed back up towards the finish. Nice steady breeze all the way home with Revolution Blues maintaining his handy lead all the way to the finish. Couldn’t help but wonder why this years single handed fleets have been smaller than other years and why most choose to single hand without extras. There is something truly exhilarating about a fast gennie or kite ride on your own. Roll on next year’s calendar. Hopefully KM will be back out on the track.

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(Parenthetically-enhanced) Race report from Revolution Blues:

 

Got to the start box somewhen in the sequence, caught the P-flag frop and toodled at the start line - decision to get a prompt, clean starboard start (OK, I was late and did not really have another option) was a good one as I was about 10s late after the start but the rest of the fleet was all well above and behind, ready for the spinnaker hoist I suppose. Had decent speed but lost some ground to the rest, gybed with the wind at North Head and got the kite up. Was a lovely but deep run to before the lighthouse and I watched Cool Change half the distance under gennaker and out of the tide as I struggled through it (6 knots+ of speed over water but length of conversations I had with the anchored fishies told otherwise for SOG). Wind increased and shifted a bit and I just laid the lighthouse and bore away, put in the gybe, changed to the #2 for the upwind, set the autopilot and got out lunch. Just humming along and loving life when the gusts started coming through. A roundup or two later I got the boat back under control and headed up for some surfing in the building seas and gusts, lunch-pie discarded sloppily in the rope bag! Missed watching the drama on Cool Change but was keenly aware of his presence starting the upwind to Motuihe. Tunes now a-pumping (no crew to cuss at, err "with"!), I stayed high and got the speed going (seems to take forever while singlehanded) to just sneak in under the reef mark, one tack to lay the shallows S of Motuihe (a bit tight, would have been close at low tide!) and cracked off to Browns' Island Beacon, back on the wind through the Townsen Nationals (fortunately on break when I passed), one tack at N Leading to get up out of the changed tide, and tacked back at Bean's LH to just lay the finish with a lift from NH. Gun! (Woohoo! that's a rarity!)

 

I was super-chuffed to stay ahead of the big-bad-brother Ross 850 and the boat behind (did not see who this was, sorry) that was gaining on the upwind half. Another fantastic result in the DYC shorthanded series - I think they might be getting the wrong impression about my sailing abilities!

 

Would have loved to see more boats but not to detract from the race - thanks to DYC for putting it on. I'm planning to come to the prizegiving on Friday. (Will I be the only one again?)

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Pretty good, third home and not far off the back of Rev Blues & CC.

All three suprised the finishers with the speed around the circuit.

Energy pulled out with autohelm issues which compounded to shoulder isues I believe, nothing serious we hope.

Am awaiting full results, should be ready for posting soon.

 

Thanks to the visitors again this year. A bit of a disappointing show from the Club side - there are a couple of boats out with Nationals at hand, but should still have been a better fleet.

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Had hoped to be on the start line but didn't get the work finished in time......

 

As a DYC member I'd love to do more of their short handed races, but I really struggle with needing to tow a dinghy. We spent the first hour of the last DYC Around Waiheke race trying to sort the dinghy as it kept capsizing (was pretty windy) & eventually was able to pull it half onto the transom. Not ideal on a small boat & really puts me off the series.

 

Hopefully this can be reviewed for next year?

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Given the close proximity of land on these courses compulsary wearing of buoyancy aids would seem more appropriate. Owning your own life raft is a larger one-off expense but servicing costs about the same as hire over a three year periodo I figure the real cost will be the difference between the cost and what I get for it when I finally put it on TM. The service lasts for three years now which is more manageable. Dinghy's are a real curse although RB seemed to have his sorted across the stern without too much bother. Thing about a liferaft is that when you need it nothing else will be as good - I hope.

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I saw the way RB had his dinghy mounted when you both motored back into Westhaven, it looked well sorted. I was surprised at how early you got back.

 

Totally agree about compulsory life jacket instead of a dinghy, makes much more sense given the nature of the courses. I'll mention it to one of the DYC race officers & hopefully they can consider it.

 

Buying a liferaft would be great, I need one for 3 - 4 races per year not including the DYC races. Would love one of the light weight ones from Safety at Sea, but a bit pricey for me at the moment......

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I saw the way RB had his dinghy mounted when you both motored back into Westhaven, it looked well sorted. I was surprised at how early you got back.

 

A mini-davits - a tubular stainless upside-down "U" that bolts onto one of the pushpits with a pulley at the top, works well - would be happy to show it off for those needing a good smallboat solution for a light dinghy.

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Nice day for it but had a shocker start to finish, it wasnt meant to be.

 

Put Energy on X pier for the night on Fri knowing it was an 0700 low tide Sat. and an 0900 start so didn't want issues launching off the ramp. Turned up Sat and motored away south off the end of x and hung a left into the channel and bottomed out... couldn't back off even with me on the boom healing her in full reverse. The thru bolts were through the board so couldnt remove them to jack up the keel....got a tow backwards from a charter cat, thank you. At least I didnt hook up on any old mooring blocks/chain or similar which was a bonus.

 

Motored out with Revolution Blues on auto-pilot, no dramas, hoist squaretop, no issues, little bit late over the line, no sweat going to be a long day, set Ray(marine) on auto again and think about getting Code O hooked up. Ray pulls a right 180deg, he is inconsolable and throws his toys. After that he was shot, he would hold a course for about 5 seconds then spin out into random roll tack mode port, or starboard.

 

Tried a few jury rigged bits of string but she was all over the place so steering all the time and no code 0. Cruised out past Rangi Light, gybed and had a nice angle for Billy Goat Point with good boat-speed. With no auto pilot and a pre-existing shoulder injury that was playing up big time doing either helm or main on a full time basis.... the uphill bit to come with lots of tacks was looking ugly. So pulled the pin and headed up to Northern Rangi shore where I dropped the squaretop main (which was a handful in itself without the autohelm).

 

Motored quietly back to Westhaven steering with the good arm and the other feeling pretty sore. I suspect the battery is poked which tripped Ray out - it struggled to take charge on Thursday/Fri so I'll look into that. The shoulder is also a bit poked but that's not unusual.

 

Thanks DYC for organizing it, shame I had a shocker, it was a nice day for a sail.

 

EE

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