Winter Series 2007

Race 11

WINNERS

Cold, Wet and fickle winds not to mention the pressure, I never thought I would be able to say this SINEWAVE Winner 2007 Winter Series point score. As one crew member said " we sailed with no mistakes ". The final two legs could have ended with anything and then to get in a tacking duel with Witchdoctor was the best. Thanks to everyone for the time effort and patients to achieve the goal, one which many long time members of the CYC have never achieved.

Race 10

What a race and finish, 30knots to start with fast dropping breeze and a win over Witchdoctor by 1 second. We worked as a crew and even managed to shock a few by putting up the spinnaker, a great race with a good result in first place 4 points ahead, next week will be the real deal.

Race 9

Old saying when things start badly they keep going, the halyard on the headsail breaks five minutes from start and we get to find out how much our boat speed relies on the main sail. The first leg was frustrating and we never really recovered, hopefully the handicapper will be nice to us for the final two races. We are in first place due to the drop system, so the final two races will be sailed on merit alone, lets hope for wind.

Race 8

Finally WIND got so excited I forgot about the rain, great work from everyone, cold wet and windy. The overall sailing was our best, we started with the right sail plan, tacks, hoists and gybes were perfect. Witchdoctor got us in the end but they had to work for it. Most importantly we are now equal first on the pointscore with three to go, Superfine hung in due to the drop system, but cannot afford any more loses to us to stay there. We now have to ensure we beat Superfine and Erika J in each of the remaining races and finish no more than one place behind Witchdoctor. This could be a close finish, so the pressure will be on to avoid protests (Have we all got our YA memberships). The weather looks promising for the remainder of June.

Race 7

Promising wind at the start then nothing!, are we ever going to get some decent wind, although I have to say we are getting better at the light air or maybe the conversations are more becoming more interesting. Again we had a good start and made some good decisions in the first three legs, then your skipper made a bad mistake on the final mark to go from 3rd to 5th (I'm going to the rules night tomorrow). We are still in second place and with the dropped races we are still two points behind Superfine and one point in front of Erica J. If we can keep them behind us again in the next point score race we can maybe get back in front.

Race 6

Arrgh, Can we have any less wind, of 159 starters 54 retired or failed to finish. Even with a good start it took two hours just get to Clarke Island. If Barb had not taken the Helm I think we would still be there. In summary good start, good decision with Spinnaker at the Island, brave but wrong decision on second leg, followed by excellent Helming by Barb to finish and not look that bad. We NEED WIND, Superfine is now on top by two point we are in second but need some results to keep ahead of the pack, including Erica J who is 1 point behind.

Race 5

Light air, A promising start playing catch and release with our arch rival Witchdoctor, only to be beaten on the final leg as the wind died, Attitude failed to finish as we ghosted over the line, the light weather boats did well. The good news is with another drop we remain in first place on the point score. Lets hope for wind next week.

Race 4

Basking in the Glory, although I think the handicapper may be less than kind (if we get less than 2 minutes it will be a bonus). Hull clean before the start (thanks Justin), everyone involved in tactical decisions, including the brilliant move at LB by gybing and leaving Windflyt in our wake, even Doug Sturrock was impressed. The tacks and sail sets just got better all day, other than one small detail (sorry fellows) foredeck got the job done with two excellent gybes and timed hoists and drops, all I do is helm the boat. The next few weeks may be a little tough although I thought this week would be, so lets keep up the spirit.

Race 3

Now I know why we do this what a magnificent day on the Harbour, the crew continued to make it happen. We had a great start against our rivals Attitude and although it was a close finish we were seriously shadowed by some big boats on the final leg, we made some great tactical decisions including tacking away from DANGER at Lady Bay (I still can't believe what we witnessed). On the two beats back to Clarke Island we lost a bit of ground, I can only think there was more pressure on the lee shore. We are now in first position leading by two points from Witchdoctor.

Race 2

Finally wind, well we held them off until the 2nd last leg which means we sailed in front for 7 legs of the race, to be honest I don't think we could have sailed better with the sail plan we had up. Everyone did there hardest, including Matt showing us before the start how to pole out a headsail with your foot. Tactically we some good calls what allowed Witchdoctor to get us was we were overpowered on the final legs and the round ups allowed him to get close then sail higher. It may be worthwhile if we think the wind is getting up to put the battens in the number three and have it ready if needed. Well done we are now (although very early days) in 2nd place on the pointscore, remember if you sail all 11 races you drop the worst three.

Race 1

Arrrg no wind, I hope this is not a repeat of last season. Having said that I thought 5th place in very light breeze was a good result for SineWave, everyone worked well together with very few problems and importantly we kept sailing. I think we could have possibly improved by one place due to two tactical errors your skipper made, we sailed too deep on the first round of the Garden Island Mark and lost a few places, on the first round of BH1 I should of held the third tack longer. When we did get a little breeze we made some good calls going to Lady Bay and back which allowed us to pickup a few places and get within striking distance of Witchdoctor.