funlovincriminal
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Posts posted by funlovincriminal
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I was on Hotdogger 2-up and I can give you the scoop.
We started late because we were debating going to the third reef. I think the time we spent stooging about didn't help the top batten cars in their efforts to live a long and prosperous life.
We elected to start, and in the midst of sideways rain and a jib hank that had let go we didn't really look up and notice the issue.
After tacking at North Head we slid under Start me up (which was fully crewed but still a fellow small boat) we set off into the washing machine. 2 reefs and a #3 were still a bit too much sail for the over 30 puffs but comfortable in 25ish.
Once settled in I looked up to see why the leech was flapping and saw the head cars floating. We discussed our options (was the track in the carbon mast damaged or were the 'T' pieces ripped off the cars?)
We knew the wind was going to abate and go west so we pressed on, but in not too longer period of time our inability to control the leach meant a decent tear in the leech developed. We elected to head to gulf Harbour and try to effect repairs. We had a friend raid the spares cupboard of a fellow racer and meet us at Gulf Harbour.
Sarah from the Squaddy organized a berth for us in Gulf Harbour, we tacked right up to Frenchmans Cap and suspended racing pretty much at the entry poles. Dropped sails and motored in, tied up, removed main and the boys took it to Gulf Harbour Covers to sew up the mess and I took the time to remove the broken car pieces from the rig and run a long enough reefing line to reach the deepest reef (thinking ahead).
2 hrs after passing the poles we were back out with a full main and in a completely different wind/day to what we had left.
Racing resumed and we decided to just go for it. The breeze was more in a 930's comfort zone and although it never went aft enough to fly an extra we managed to keep it on the boil all afternoon, night and into the next morning. 2020 schedule had us roughly 13 miles behind the fleet so we knew we had gained.
We rounded Cape Brett with a full main and #2 before dawn to find ourselves hard on the wind again which duly built to high teens so tucked a reef in and pushed on. During the morning it built to a solid 19-21 with pretty lumpy/confused seas but we were still trucking so all good. CO skipper went down for his sleep and I sailed into a few squalls, breeze 26-30. Spume flying, crests getting blown off and boat on its ear but still doing high 5s to high 6's. Problem was the main was slatting as we popped up on the swells but had no wind in it in the troughs. We were about 50 miles short of North Cape at this point. Had some pilot whales broach in front of me which was cool (first time I've seen whales at sea), took the time to look around and realized I could see sunlight through the main above the first full batten. Not good. Looked harder and saw 2 more tears. Let Sin sleep a bit and woke him up for a discussion.
We knew the breeze and sea state were going to be shite north of the cape. We had 3 options:
1 was turn around and go home.
2 was drop the main and try to repair it (hard in that sea state).
3 was press on and hope. In the 30 or so mins since I'd noticed the main tear it had not got worse. But the big risk was, having the main part while upwind of either Cape Reinga or the 3 Kings in the pitch black and 5m swells whilst one of us was asleep. It's a distinct possibility wed be stuck with 75% of the sail on deck/in the water and 25% acting like a flag at the top of the rig without enough weight to bring ut down.
Lack of steerage and drive with a lee shore could mean loss of boat or worse.
Unbeknownst to us we were fully back in the game, I think if We had of known that and taking into account the mountain we had climbed to get back in touch with our fleet it might have made us take the wrong decision. In the end we checked our log, realized we had done enough miles since leaving Gulf Harbour to ensure we would exceed 250 miles non stop and therefore qualify for an RNI start if we could just nurse the main home and made the call to retire.
Bloody hard to do after the effort I can tell you. All the systems we have installed, the ideas implemented, and the boat itself performed perfectly.
The boat is rock solid in the big seas, if not a bit uncomfortable. The only liquid in the bilge after we got back was split roffee's (Rum Coffees) which I can tell you are hard to manufacture and pour at those kind of lean angles and bashing!
The stability and control of the boat were never an issue and I have no qualms in setting off around the island in 2026.
What let us down? Well you could say the mainsail but that would not be fair on the sailmaker. It has done nearly 7000 miles, most of them racing. We hadn't put the heavy battens in despite the forecast. (Just clean didn't think of them). We only have masthead runners and they were not preventing the rig from pumping at the forestay. We have never sailed the boat that deeply reefed and from what I can see the halyard is actually trying to pull the cars out of the mast at that point. So we have a few things to change, some massaging of systems and a lot more experience than we started with. All and all a worthwhile exercise I'd say?
We crossed the line at dawn on Sunday to a welcome bucket of rum and some hot pies. Once the main was down we realized we had a broken batten that had caused the big tear, and the gaff batten car had pulled its thread. I think that justified our decision.
Have to mention, 11/10 from the organiser of the race. Plenty of support and communication. And a great bunch of hardy competitors - a tip of the hat to all that finished!
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Long shot but our preparations for next week's 3 Kings race has revealed that the autopilot controller faceplate has face palmed. Buttons falling off and auto activating itself at inopportune moments... being only 2 handed means a functional autopilot would be nice!
It's a Seatalk NG one. Looks like replacement faceplates are discontinued... anyone have a dead one with good faceplate or even a no longer needed running unit?
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Did a trip to Fiji, cruised there then home via New Cal using only tablets with Navionics and Predictwind (with a back up laptop with Open CPN)
There was an Apple IPad and a Samsung tablet. Both worked really well, with the following caveats:
I found the Samsung easier to use but I have android phone so it was probably a familiarity thing than performance.
We had repeated headaches trying to download weather routing/gribs, using Iridium go and the Samsung. But the Apple unit just seemed to 'get along better' with the Iridium. It got so bad that a departing crew in Noumea left me his IPad to ensure I would have access to the downloads on my trip home.
Visibility in sunlight was another issue, manouvering through tight reef systems in the middle of the day facilitated the manufacturing of a cardboard shroud to keep the sun off the screen. Mounted under eave of cockpit roof using Railblaza star port and adjustable tablet mount.
This was on a 50ft Cat so easy to keep them dry, not sure how they would go on a 30ish foot mono 🤔
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Watched a Webcam recording of the lead up and collision. Definitely was making some speed alright. Was a fair amount of traffic on bridge eight up to impact.
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Holy Heka
Sounds like Bridge had construction workers on it, imagine if it happened at peak traffic flow 😵
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When changing from A3 to Masthead Kite after Sail Rock I left front hatch open to ventilate the boat as it was champagne sailing. However; after several beers and another 10 or so kts of breeze it would appear it wasn't the best move!
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Had a blast racing to the Barrier on Saturday despite being 45 mins late for the start and extremely hung over. Apologies for Co skippers language and inability to keep a camera in one plane....
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I tend to just have a quick peek in the mirror, my handicaps are immediately evident
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We will give it a nudge. Was good fun last year, and staying right in town was a different experience for us River folk
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20 hours ago, ex Elly said:
I think this was originally a single handed event, but you can now do it 2 handed?
Westhaven, Marsden point, Great Barrier, Westhaven. Like doing a SSANZ series in one weekend! 😄
Correct.
2 divisions, single or double.
Not accounting for any amputees racing I guess you could say a 2 handed and a 4 handed class 😉
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When I had my SR it was Carey Gillies I believe.
No idea if he still owns her but if not he may have a lead.
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12 hours ago, B00B00 said:
Everyones getting sick of a certain Ross 930 beating them all?
We entered late!
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Haha not bad
"I'm going to stay on the Beach till I can talk to the Mayor"
2 paragraphs later...
"I tried to winch off this morning but it only moved a bit"
Might be a good spot for a deck chair and full chilly bin
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https://richmondyc.org.nz/gulftriangle/
Doing this next weekend on the 930, entries looking a bit bleak - is it a lack of promotion or an abundance of lethargy?
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19 minutes ago, eruptn said:
Just checking in on the current best practice for washboards . Currently have 2, looking to go to 3 as part of the process. Currently have ply, considering the acrylics for the new ones.
What’s the good, bad an ugly out there ?
+1 for Acrylic Creations, tinted ones keep a bit of privacy but let you see out. I'd make your lowest one the same height as your cockpit seats and split the remaining gap in 2.
Chuck a louver vent in the top one for air flow when on the mooring. 👌🏽
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Sorted thanks to Chalmers Marine in Dairy flat. Knowledgeable and helpful chap
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I'd be keen on the black backing to control knobs and a rack/tray out of it if you're breaking it up
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The Marina Shop, Whangarei
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9 hours ago, K4309 said:
In modern parlance, this would be a 'safety in design' issue.
It's not good to design or build something with an inherent risk of serious injury from normal use.
Soooo R930's are out then 🤣🤣🤣
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Bought my boat with no propeller, fitted a Gori 2 years ago and now the prop is sliding back and forth about 10mm on the shaft. Looking at parts diagram it appears that when previous owner lost the prop, a spacer went with it.
Boat going back in Friday, not rating my chances of getting a new one in 2 days 😅
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In the coastal this year I accidentally gybed the 930 after rounding the Brett. The wind was at 80 degrees apparent just forward of the port stays and we were on port.
We were too close in to the cliffs because we had a mare of a gennaker drop before rounding and lost our way whilst grinding the sail in over the pushpit with a cabin top winch it took 10 or so minutes and my co-skipper (who is a Diabetic) then had to go and lie down in the cabin for 20-30mins while he recovered from the effort.
So I'm tight reaching in about 15-18kts with a full main and #2 heavy up, jib is slatting away because my trimmer is asleep inside and suddenly the boom goes from leeward to windward. It's a carbon boom with a big square top so it happened quick. Boat rolled to windward and bore away for about 20 seconds while I was trying to figure out which way was up, then Bang! Back across to leeward and we were all good again.
It was a big katabatic gust I guess off the cliffs which went over us and cut back in. Had a few more as I tried to gain some separation from the cliffs but nothing as bad.
Boat has a spring vang so boom cut a level track and I was never in danger but I can't help but think what might have happened if my mate was still up and in the cockpit or worse still trying to sort the post kite drop mess out. It wasn't long after that that we heard the radio chat re: what had happened behind us. Goes to show that these bloody boats of ours have the capability of being lethal at all times, and no matter how experienced you are, people get tired and unforseen sh*t can happen quick. And often it's the combination of a few seemingly innocuous things which set you up without your alarm bells going off.
Scary eh
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Watch out for that guy
Seen him do indecent things to old wooden boats
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1 hour ago, K4309 said:
What do you guys use all this hot water for?
I've got a kettle. Goes on the stove. If we want instant hot water, we fill a thermos. If we want lots of hot water, we fill two thermos. Very handy if you want a cup of tea but can't be bothered turning the gas on etc. Always have hot water for washing the dishes. Zero faffing.
Can also ditch matches and rub sticks together for fire. Or better still eat your Sabre tooth Tiger raw?
Got a 25 litre Calorfier in the 1020. Heats up quick, since I repacked the insulation inside the case and lagged all the pipes it'll stay hot overnight. IMO if you have an engine driven fridge/freezer it's a no Brainer. Plus, the extra fresh cooling water capacity must make engine cooling circuit more efficient?
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It was pretty heinous at the Brett. We went through a couple of hours before the incident, and the sea state was all over the place. An accidental gybe would have been pretty easy to have happen. Breeze was anything from 20-30kts and shifty.
Really sad for crew and family, and also race organizers.
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Three Kings 2024
in RaceTalk
Posted