Summer 2008/09

Summer 2008/2009

Short Haul Passage

MHYC 7 Islands

RANSA Regatta

Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta

ShortHaul Passage Series PHS

One word WE WON, can I say that again WE WON. A hard fought series to beat Attitude by one point in spite of there two first placings in the final two races.

Race 5 Pittwater - Sydney

Four Crew, one dog and another southerly with swell, it doesn't seem to matter in this series which way the race goes, its always up hill. Time to find the answer after Newcastle, change the sail plan to heavily reefed main and the cruising no 2 headsail. The start was one of the strangest I have ever seen even Ron who is also a race official for the RPEYC commented on the lay of the line followed by a start without a start signal, we also like most other boats first had to find the start line which appeared under Barrenjoey head, not offshore as expected. Hats off to Attitude they went wide a sailed out and past the fleet for an lead that was never lost, this was going to be tough as they clearly must be in line for a series win unless we can get in the top 4 on handicap. After nearly being T-Boned by Integrity 5 miles offshore, yes open ocean and they almost hit us on a classic port and starboard.

The new sail plan seemed to be working as we sailed past Baltic Lady and Zephyr and came into Sydney Harbour as the wind died, ghosted over the line and waited for the results. Attitude 1st Sinewave 4th, pointscore Attitude 16 points Sinewave 15 yes we truly did snatch victory.

Race 4 Sydney - Pittwater

Four crew plus 1 dog, 15 - 20 knot southeaster going North in a 2 metre sea, can't say we had a lot of tactical decisions to make. Bit overcast but the beer was still nice, the fleet was reduced to 8 and the start was predictably simple, we decided to stay a little inshore to avoid the current and held course to Pittwater, Ron and Liz de wit kept the boat in trim and we rolled up the coast in 2 hours 50 minutes. The finish was interesting as with no committee boat on station we had to phone through our time (I think we were a little past the line when we called in unlike some others) No damage done with a nice 2nd place. Maybe we can get second place, Attitude had a good win which puts them in 1st place on the pointscore.

Race 3 Sydney - Botany Bay and back

Big seas, 20 - 25 knot southerly and rain, well if your ready to sail you might as well go, we had a crew of 5 featuring some of the crack crew form the 2007 winter series and off we went with a reduced fleet of 9 (bloody fair weather sailors). Have to say it was pretty darn unpleasant (I know Daphne will agree). We went offshore early looking for the current, didn't find much but clearly the current inshore was going North as we suddenly found ourselves well placed in the fleet, this combined with a couple of retirements gave us an edge, we did have a chuckle when Attitude called the CV to say they had finished only to be told the line was in Rushcutters Bay not Watsons Bay. Well guess what 1st place, we are back in the hunt for a podium place. I still think first may be a bit tough.

Race 2 Pittwater - Sydney

The return, forecast light Northeaster which at the start line was a 20 - 25 knot southerly. This was going to be rough with three crew, we took the inside track and beat all the boats that did the same, but the outside current had kicked in at 4 knots going south ouch. Needless to say we didn't beat the boats that took the offshore track and finished in 8th place. This is going to be a tough call to finish the series in the top 3, as with only one drop we are will have to carry an 8th place in the pointscore.

Race 1 Sydney - Pittwater

Three crew and one dog, Cam Pawsey headed North with us, after a call from attitude we had to backtrack along with another boat after rounding the red harbour channel marker to starboard, with the intention of supporting attitude in a protest of the rest of the fleet. Inexplicably Attutude registered a DNF and pulled out of the protest. Leaving us to take a closer look at the SI's. The CYC racing book had the Channel marker as a mark on the course but the green sheet sailing instructions didn't, it appears these take precedence to the SI's. It cost us dearly with a 10th place.

CYCA Newcastle

What a difference a year makes, last year sunshine with a balmy 15 knot easterly and an arrival in Newcastle at sunset and a win. This year no wind then a howling Nor Easter with lumpy seas and a finish at 01:30 am outside the race completion time..Ouch. The crew did everything to keep the boat moving and spirits up including passing around the "green ginger wine" (Thanks Cam). We misread the new plotter so always believed we could finish in time, as it turned out it was actually only 30 minutes out on the finish time but a full one and a half hours on the actual time. Needless to say next year is dependant on a nice south easter.

For those who took the train back the 8 hour spinnaker run home to Sydney was great (16 hours up to Newcastle)

Twilights 2008

Unlike previous years we are not doing a weekly report, however suffice to say unlike previous years we are generally in the top half of finishers and our promotion to Division 2 combined with the new handicap system it has been to date a very enjoyable series

Seven Islands

Our first big outing for a while, with the demise of Savels we decided not to go offshore and do the Harbour race, your skipper lost his way for a while over some spinnaker issues but the able crew kept sailing on regardless, we were last but I think identified areas for improvement, including the skippers attitude

RANSA Regatta

Better than Seven Islands but still needs a lot of work on the spinnaker we ended up with a fourth which was the same as last year....maybe next year we can get this one

Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta