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COASTAL CLASSIC 2013 RACE UPDATES


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Fun n Games are headed to Kawau

 

No idea whats happening with them?

 

Broken forestay.

 

A pity as we thought we'd done okay getting through Kawau, we liked where we were positioned and hoped that positive things were about to be bestowed upon us.

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From Strider

 

Was an interesting time. Ash went down at Rangitoto. Strider did well beating into the start I enjoyed skippering the boat however a bit stressful having 2 very very very sick and unable crew.

Without any self tailing winches and sailing short handed just myself sash and Cathy was a huge challenge and with all new setup things did not work all that well. Beating north we passed 3 boats so did well but with two crew on the leeward side we could not get balance and old old fashioned brass winched could not trim well it was impossible to really get any decent race motion.

Cathy and I did the race with no breaks at all me helming 99% of the way. I really enjoyed it and Cathy made it so much easier knowing all the passage plan. Amazing team however hard with no coffee breaks or dry clothing breaks..

Was a long wet ride but I did enjoy the challenge of a new boat not race ready and an unknown coast.

Well don't Cathy

And glad Ash and did not need hospital after all .. Off the boat and into the pub all good.

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Having done a little work for Ash, I was keen to watch their performance and giving a bit of ra ra by thought as they traveled along.

Ash told me she gets seasick, but I can't say I expected her to go down with it so early. Ash, maybe you need to get several days of sailing in before a race, so as to "acclimatise" to the sea a little more. Take plenty of seasick pills and as I said, the best thing to do is keep looking at the Horizon, although not easy to do at night, But don't ever put your head down and look at just the internals of the Cockpit or Cabin. And to lay on ones back looking straight up when in the Bunk. Won't stop you feeling like crap, but usually stops you from chucking. And dare I say it, but you may need to give up smoking, as I don't think that helps with the middle ear.

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Sounds like a huge effort from sash and Cathy. Sea sickness is a total bitch, I get struck very occasionally, its one of the reasons I have zero interest in Ocean racing. If Ashley is going to do some single handed ocean racing she's going to need to sort it out otherwise it's a very dangerous proposition.

 

I wonder if just living on board for a couple of days before a coastal/offshore race with the boat parked in a not-so-sheltered mooring might do the trick at acclimatizing ??? Otherwise find some drugs that actually work and don't make you go psycho...

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Ash has lots of time to figure out her seasickness. Even making it to the start line as a first time entrant on a new boat, is a mammoth effort. Next time it will be that much easier.

 

Stephen C, you did a great job here - well done and thanks to Crew.org.nz from the Coastal team!

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One of my many coastals was on CU with Chris Sayer, he was renound for being seasick. Sure enough by Tiri he was letting go, but he soldered on still being a very active part of the crew. So no burden at all, more of a comedian for Simon Warren and I. What was a surprise was when it got dark he was fine. so who knows?

 

It is hard on the rest of the crew when team members go down or become liabilities, so hats off to sarsh and cathy for an amazing job.

 

Ash will be able to try different methods/drugs to get her through, perhaps stopping smoking will do it, not drinking the night be for may also help with the inner ear fluids. head colds can play havoc on the toughest of people.

Another thing to try is actually stay up, do your let go over the side then see if you get through it.

Lying down prior because you feel a tad off can be the beginning of the end for a lot of people. when you put you head down and close your eyes your body kind of goes into automatic, so yes you may feel better.

then usually you won't be able to sleep so you open your eyes look around, suddenly you are fighting your bodies auto pilot buy throwing in a visual reference. typically you will feel more uncomfortable and move or turn over, this will normally tell your auto pilot to turn off as you have control. this is where it gets interesting, as you fight it and get hot and sweaty you body is chucking in heaps off adrenalin to fight it, to much and it's over and out.

 

best advise stay on deck till the crew suggest you go down, or you get laid down in the cockpit. If you feel sick 'be sick' early before the adrenalin takes over. Bad example of this is heavy drinking and having a purge.

 

always try and view what you feel. A good trick is imagine you are helming and trying to read the waves to steer the yacht through them. this way you are foreseeing the eminent movements and when your body feels what you have mentally told it, it will react correctly.

 

I've seen a great example on the blue boats that do the cook strait crossing. In the kids play area the have a clear tube with coloured balls it that goes across the boat. as the ferry lists the balls roll, so the kids get a visual reference to the motion.

 

I went to a very good lecture by a retired air force doctor, motion sickness in aviation can have a lot more tricks then sailing, especially for the troops in the back with no visuals at all.

 

I learnt a lot that night, and have never even been close to being sick since. Not that is was really a problem that wasn't self induced in the past

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Other tricks I have learned (or more mistakes I have made) over the years especially in relation to the Coastal:

 

- stress/tiredness - extremely easy to do given that everyone has to fit their work into a four-day week and even more so if you are doing those final jobs on the boat

 

- alcohol - having finally completed all of the above, a couple of beers to mark the achievement

 

- lack sleep - for the reasons above

 

- dehydration - tempting to have one or two extra coffees on the way to the start

 

- breakfast - again quite tempting to have breakfast out with the rest of the crew.

 

The combination of all of the above means it is really easy to turn up on the start line having put a whole bunch of abnormal effects into the body, leaving it wide open for a lumpy sea to put the finishing touches on.

 

It takes a bit of discipline to turn down those beers the night before and opt for muesli or porridge when everyone else is having bacon and eggs but I am always grateful when I get out there and can actually participate in the race rather than turning myself inside out all the way up the coast. :thumbup:

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Hmmm... I think I ticked all of those boxes this weekend, and paid a hefty price. The thing that surprises me is that some people can feel sick, throw up, and carry on... others get smacked down hard! I'm in the latter category.

Worst day(s) of my life was Russell-to-AKL on War Machine (Y88) last year. It took me literally weeks to stop feeling ill. I'm planning a coconut milk run, so finding a way to avoid being destroyed by seasickness is pretty important.

I've got some other issues that make my stomach a total pansy - even on land.

 

For me...

Scopoderm (behind ear patch) never stays stuck down - probably because I've left it too late, and my skin is hot / salty / sweaty / etc... I fixed this by wrapping myself in duct tape coming home from :cry: . and wow, is it expensive!

 

Ginger - just comes up with everything else

 

Watch the horizon - never really seemed to help me, and i like being in places with no horizon. I do, however, like this whole 'watch the waves' idea... it feels a lot more natural.

 

Sea legs - seemed ok in the pacific recently, but im dubious, and dont think they give me more than a few hours grace.

 

Pahia Bombs - wasn't much of a test, but tried 'em coming home in pretty benign conditions this weekend, and they felt pretty good. I like the fact that you take 'em once every 24hrs.

 

 

One lesson I keep on learning... Don't try and be a 'man' and hold out as long as you can. If you know there's a chance (eg. doing coastal / pacific delivery / etc), just take your medicine of choice, and give it a fair chance of actually helping you! I'm still trying to drum this one in 'cause I really wannabe the salty seadog guy who knows nothing of the ills that ail me.

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It was a crappy sea which didn't help either. We had one go down late afternoon. After a sleep he woke up at Brett and was active for the trip in.

No Worries race report. We took it a bit more conservatively this year to ensure we got past Tiri. We took the high road where possible. Our first reef went in before Rough Rock, then out at Tiri, in at Leigh, etc. Kept standard jib on. When the 2 big puffs came through at Sail Rock we went bareheaded while things settled down. Wild Oats made big ground at this time banking on the SW lifting them up and over the Hen. It worked for them for a long time. When the breeze settled we 2 sail reached down and over them. No frac gennaker ride as we thought the sea was too messy. Instead when the breeze died we went to the Code 0 for the reach up the Coast and then also for the light beat in. We tried to play the big shifts in with average success but enough to pass a couple (Shrek?) and get in on the last of the land breeze. Pretty happy with our finish position with only 1 Div 3 boat beating us home, and also great to win Div 4. Also well done RnB and Wild Oats in the breeze, and also Heaven n Hell who had a blinder out of the blocks and through until the SW procession kicked in.

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Wild Oats Race

Started conservatively with small jib and didn't bother running extras to North Head as we were inevitably over-run by division 2 boats but we got around in good shape. We had to put a very short tack in clear Rangi light but once around figured we were in the lead with fellow 930's No Worries, Pepe and Drop Dead Fred along with Y88 Heaven and Hell all slightly astern. We laid through to Kawau quite easily, boat felt good if a bit wet. NW seemed to have slight legs on us and eventually crept through to windward. H&H seemed joined to us at the hip, but we were creeping away from Pepe and DDF. Approaching Kawau a few Division 3 boats passed us, some Y11's, Prawn Broker and Shreks House. Then all of a sudden it went on the nose and lightened and we realised just how rough it was, very hard to keep moving as we passed Flat Rock but we stuck with the plan of keeping inshore and by the time we got to Rodney and the breeze went left enough to lay Sail Rock we were still very close to NW and H&H. Quite a few boats that went offshore looked to have drawn the short straw big time and it only got worse for them as we went into Bream Bay.

 

We changed up to the #1 Genoa at Cape Rodney and had good pace across to Sail Rock. Once again NW and H&H were beside us to windward at similar speed but Pepe and DDF were sagging off and slower to leeward. In the distance behind we could make out the rest of the Div4 fleet and a lot of faster divisions not making much progress catching us.

 

At Sail Rock the wind increased, we had 43 knots across the deck with full main and #1. NW dropped their jib altogether and sailed on reefed main. We pinched up for a while with the whole boat shaking (discussed sail changes, dropping etc) then I just went for it bearing away. We sat on 13 knots on a reach slightly below course across and passed the Hen. We opened up quite a lead on NW who was still proceeding with reefed main only. Couldn't see many others.

 

Shreks House came blasting through again along with a few Div3 boats that had passed us at Kawau (no idea where they had been)

 

No Worries got going again and passed us as we set about moving towards the shore hoping to get an extra on but we never did. By Tutukaka it was dark, we were inshore proceeding nicely, No Worries a fair way out alongside but having an edge as it lightened. Then Pepe came roaring passed us with gennaker set. Damn! never saw that coming, curses. The course tightens up 10 degrees at Tuts and they must have dropped it shortly after. I started following the fleet on the tracker and figured Pepe were maintaing the same speed just ahead. NW didn't have their tracker turned on, bugger. Rest of the fleet were safely astern and not making progress on us.

 

Pepe went outside Piercy and we shot the gap but parked up next to a seal for a while. We emerged relevant to each other and proceed to have a slow crawl to Russell. They were using a masthead code0. No Worries despite a similar call in time at Cape Brett seemed to have gone. They finished 3 hours in front of us. The cut off was that abrupt.

 

We kept ourselves in the wind heading in to Tapeka while a lot of boats ahead seemed to take the edges and they ran into holes. We passed a few of Div3 boats Y11's again just by keeping moving. From Tapeka to to the finish we drifted with the tide. Pepe just ahead seemed to take forever to cross and as they had to beat us by 45 minutes lost their position. Boats behind us were running down with kites on a new northerly breeze but we crossed the line just in time at 9:30 am

 

3rd on line and 2nd on handicap in Div4 Division Four - Young 88, Ross 930, Stewart 34 Monohull PHRF Between .7500 and .7649 Moral double win for us .760 as No Worries .795 and Pepe .785 are highly turbo'd and we're pretty standard, with a full cruising interior, fully stocked fridge and 130kg of inboard/sail drive.

Had a great team on board, 4 guys, 3 girls. Little bit of sea sickness, small tear in the #1 and one strand pinged off a lower….. No issues.

 

Beautiful time in Russell, played a fun gig with the band and an awesome sail home on Sunday. A bucket of water out of the toilet bilge on Monday thanks to a leaking dorade and we are all set for a Rum Race Friday or picnic Saturday.

 

Just the best weekend :-)

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Re Seasickness....

 

I had done myself in before the start. I was utterly exhausted, had not been eating properly and most of all not hydrating myself. I was well dehydrated before the start of the race, did not eat breakfast (nor dinner) and was drinking a monster to keep me up for the start. I did make sure I didnt eat heavy fatty foods nor drink alcohol few days before the race. Nor did I smoke the entire race. I was not sick at Rangi, I just went down to try and get some sleep so I would be in a better condition come night fall. It was later on I started to feel sick. 3 out of 4 crew got sick, but we were each at different levels. Sash has learned to cope with herself being sick and can still steer the boat at the same time as chucking, Dom had her first ever experience of being seasick so was not a great first experience for her and she just did not know how to handle it. I was feeling awful waiting for it to come up and it wouldn't, then I tried forcing it but it wouldn't and then my body just shut down. Completely numb/tingling from head to toe, my hands cramped up shut and could not open them, my insides were completely turning around and getting themselves into a knot. I was barely able to get myself back inside the boat, but finally forced myself and made it in to not be a hazard on deck. Finally down below I had a few sessions, but my mind was always focused and listening, just my body was incapacitated. It does suck and I have always had motion sickness since a kid, not just on boats but in cars too. I don't think I am as bad as I used to be though, although this time has been the worst I have ever felt in my life. At least next time around the boat will obviously already be prepared and I wont have the same stress and I can focus more on taking care of myself, although lesson really learned so regardless I will be making sure I take more care of myself before any outing again. As per meds...I have tried them all...none seem to really work... I just have to accept I get sick and learn to cope with it! Not much else one can do. Only thing I can think of is not sail, but the sure is not going to happen!!! :lol:

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Try Stugeron - it works, but you have to get someone to get it in the UK

 

I also agree Sturgeron is a good product.

 

I suffer from sea sickness from time to time and have spent a fair amount of time trying different things. I had read about Sturgeron in a number of cruising forums so I ordered some from the following UK supplier.

 

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/stugeron ... .html#2061

 

 

They ship directly to NZ and it was here 2 - 3 week after ordering.

 

I was also weary that like many of these products they can have adverse affects so I tried it several times on short harbour races when the conditions were very rough to make sure I didn't have any problems.

 

There are now 3 of us on our crew that regularly use it on longer trips and all of us have noticed a big difference. I spent a few hours below off watch on the coastal without any problems whilst a couple of others who are normally very good on the boat did not feel well at all.

 

For me this product works very well and it was well worth the $5 - $6 a packet to try it.

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here a short story on how a 13 year old saw the latest edition of the Coastal Classic

 

Coastal Classic 2013 on board Kia Kaha

We left the dock at around 9. We hosted the main sail and took of down the harbour towards the start line. The start plan was to hoist the gennaker and come up around North Head, but not everything always goes to plan. We got over the start line first and put up the gennaker, about 2 meters from the top the grinder popped out, and the winch stopped turning. Reece was calling for trim, but nothing happened. Big Cam was a bit too strong, and after a look we found the belt on the grinder had snapped . After retrieving it from mid-air, we came around North Head close to shore ( possibly a little to close after just missing a sand bank). After laying Rangitoto light house and Tiri we had to tack up the side of Kawau Island, we made it from the 4th 50 footer to the 2nd . We got to the Hen and Chicks and got sucked into one of the Chicks and had to tack out. The front came through half way between Ocean Beach and Tutukaka. We were sailing in and out of the southwesterly, until it was well and truly with us. The wind picked up from 15 knots to 30 knots within minutes. With the swell still coming from the other direction, we were jumping off the waves. After the wind and swell settled back down we put up the masthead A0 gennaker and went of flying towards Cape Brett and made it there within a few hours. We got stuck under Percy Island in a hole but made it through well. We had to tack so we could clear whale rock and had a beat up the harbour towards Russell. We finished at around 11:12PM.

Rebecca :)

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Was a very interesting race on strider with 'skipper' Ash and crew Dom down from Rangitoto to Cape Brett.

Me at the helm over 24 hrs straight with a fee toilet break relieved by an amazing navigator Cathy who was my trust 1st mate the whole way!

Yes we never shut up but considering we needed to keep ourselves motivated for and full 30 hours of sailing strider with no breaks or back up, no coffee or real meal until Russell

Stressing about 2 very sick ladies and a boat not set up for short handed sailing I think it was understandable.. That we jabbered non stop.

It certainly was educational and Cathy and I ( Sasha) are very confident to do it 2 up next time.

Beside the stress of managing sick crew all piled up on the inside leeward bench it was a worthwhile sail just to experience this very sweet and fun New Zealand coast.

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Not such a good race by the Nosaka team this year – we had a great start but kind of knew we would struggle once we got on the wind around North Head. Still, we were pretty happy with where we were at off Kawau, and crossed close behind Notorious although Frenzy and Mr Roosevelt seemed to have slipped away. We made one last dig out into the better breeze offshore, and that was our race right there – the boats that stuck to their gameplans by sticking to the coast were soon dialed right up on port tack and we were left floundering in their wake. The breeze filled in strongly and we struggled to find enough height to join the inside track. Worse was to come as we then found ourselves flopping about in no wind, and an outside course around the Hen became the path of least resistance, but it was definitely not the original plan. The outside track was ok later on as the breeze lightened, but wasn’t good enough to allow us to make any real inroads on all the boats ahead.

 

It is interesting reading the various comments about seasickness – I got caught out by early afternoon despite my usual meticulous (and paranoid!) preparation, along the lines recommended by others here, which is usually good enough for a typical SW race. My good intentions of keeping Stephen updated on progress went by the wayside as I found myself inspecting the leeward rail on a number of occasions and I became less than interested in looking at my phone – but the upside is that I can honestly say this year that I left everything out on the racecourse.

 

Well done to the placegetters in Division B – the boat that really impressed me in that top bunch was Spitfire – they perhaps didn’t start so well but sailed fast and high along a nice inside track, flying full main and what looked like a furling no.1. They dealt to sistership Mr R before Tiri and then did the same to almost everyone else.

 

Couple of photos attached – one of Savante heading inshore somewhere off Leigh (like we should have been), and Georgia which came by looking fantastic as we were passing Kawau on the way home.

Savante.jpg

Georgian Sunset.jpg

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Coastal Classic 2013 on Pulse.

 

We were on track for a reasonable start when Vodafone sailed fast under us, with Team Australia over the top, doing a big wheelie in a gust just after the gun.

The fleet to windward sucked the breeze away, but we were soon up to pace on the beat across to Rangitoto. Small jib and full main was the call awaiting the building breeze. Two tacks and we could lay across to Tiri channel. The breeze got lighter and swung right at Kawau. Beating into it now with full sail. Lots of onboard discussions about tactics with my crew Matt and Ben, with the outcome we headed right towards Takatu Point. A big westerly shift had us on the right side of the local fleet, but with far too much sail up. So a change down again to the staysail, and head across Bream Bay.

Again lots of discussion as to whether to go below the Hen and Chicks, and then more discussion on going hard left. In the end we rum lined it. The wind went very light just before sail rock, so up went the screacher. Then it went really light, so we had it sheeted upwind, then tacked It as the breeze swung again.

Then it was all on again as the best part of 40 knots from the West built. One reef wasn’t enough, so down to two. Every time someone went to leeward the lee bow went down, and the cockpit drains have never had to work so hard! The screens took a hammering. Lumpy left over seas from the North made a very difficult ride. We had a GBE going hard with full sail above us, and the 14m trimaran Impreza below, to add to the pressure!

Slowly it dropped, and we were back to full sail, for an easy reach to the Brett. In hindsight we should have had more sail on.

A nice night-time beat in from the Brett was punctuated by some large keelers going past in the night

We finished at 3.06, 42nd boat overall, and won Division 7 multihulls (under 10.6m) on handicap.

A great race, and grand effort by my crew, thanks you. Also happy to finish with nothing broken, other than our bodies!

Roll on next years Coastal…

 

A great trip back down the Coast with Ben, great gennaker ride from Brett to Tutukaka, where we stopped for the night for beer and pizza. Next day an easy reach to Kawau, then a beat home to Sandspit.

 

Tim Clissold

TC 10m cat Pulse.

Pulse 2013 CC.jpg

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