Archived Race Reports
May to December 2008
After an epic road trip of some 5,500 kms Smackwater Jack has arrived at her new home port in Tanzania. Incredibly there is not single bit of damage. Not even a puncture!
The boat was towed to Durban by CVT rigging on Dec 26th when it left Cape Town and spent a few days in the boat park at Point Yacht Club. From Durban it was collected by two of Paul's friends. The original routing via Mozambique was changed at the eleventh hour due to flood damage and poor road conditions. Instead the rig was taken through Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and finally into Tanzania where it arrived on schedule.
Paul has promised a full account of the interesting situations they encountered at the various border control points.
I wish new owner, Paul Smithson, many happy hours on the helm.
Photo: Paul Smithson
THE FINAL JOURNEY
26th December, 2008
Smackwater Jack is sold. Her new owner is Paul Smithson and the boat will be sailed from Tanzania. From a blustery and wild Cape Town, she can now enjoy a life of gentle trade winds and warm tropical waters under the command of her 5th owner.
Greg and I did the final derigging and managed the unstepping of the mast and cranage onto her trailer in preparation for a marathon voyage by road of approximately 5400 kilometers.
It is with a certain wistful look that we bade her farewell. What a great boat she has been. For five years she has been caned by the Cape Doctor and an adventurous crew and never so much as murmured about any discomfort. We broached her more times than I can remember. Countless times we put the mast in the drink and the keel in the air. Through all those howling gales we never even burst a spinnaker.
She is a lucky boat.
I wish her a pleasant and safe journey to her new home.
Au revoir.....
TWILGHT RACING
3rd December, 2008
Leisure 42 - Ocean Cruiser
As the year winds down we have been playing around on some bigger boats. This week Greg, Charles and myself (the remnants of the Smackwater Jack team available after Nic, Simon and Phil absconded to various destinations around the globe) sailed on a 42 footer. This boat (a Leisure-42 called Ocean Cruiser) is entering the Cape to Bahia Trans-Atlantic Race next month and it is being prepared for that event where our bowman Nic, has agreed to serve - no doubt seeking other nubile attractions on the South American continent and not the sailing perse.
I digress. Let me get to the point. This boat is, shall we say, not quite race ready yet. Climbing off a J27 and onto a 42 footer is a serious adjustment in every way imaginable. Firstly, I could find a cabin all to myself to change my clothes and I could stand upright. Pretty cool, huh?
The cockpit is large and I immediately wondered if we did a Smackwater Jack style flat box broach, how far it is to fall from one side to the other. That would surely lead to injuries, but I needn't have worried, everything happens at a fairly sedate pace on a boat this size.
The boat we were on has not won much at all. It is under the custodianship of Harry Brehm, as he builds a team to tackle the Trans Atlantic Race. We were in casual mode and not hyped up about winning, but nontheless decided to give it our best shot with a mixed crew of 10.
We had a sail wardrobe of two sails to choose from. A main and a #1 genoa. It was blowing 35 knots, so I encouraged Harry to reef the main, which we went about doing and a very wise decision that turned out to be. All the other sails are still under construction at the sailmakers.
We put Charles on main trim, whilst Greg handled the genoa. I was left to stand behind the helmsman to call tactics and work the backstay.
Our start was OK - not perfect, but OK - as we built up a head of steam to get the big boat up to speed. The instruments weren't working, but we had a hand held Velocitek which gave us an idea of boat speed.
Up ahead the faster and newer Fast 42 Maestro, was pointing very high, so I asked Harry to steer low and wait for the lift further up the beat. As usual, the South easter did it's thing and we rounded in 4th place. Not bad for an old cruising boat with two sails.
The leg down to Milnerton was comfortable and saw us on a broad reach. I had to marvel at still being dry in a 35 knot gale!
A fairly solid gybe at Milnerton had the fleet on a fetch to the #2 buoy and once again I asked for a low angle to be sailed, whilst the opposition tried (in vain) to climb above us. We kept our position and were gaining on the 54 ft Picasso by the minute with some astute trimming. The final leg through to the finish saw some more gains being made.
We finished 3rd in a large fleet, having missed 2nd place by a scant 3 seconds.
Back in the harbour the engine wouldn't start, so we asked for a tow from Dale Kushner (Farr 38, Benba) who obliged and dropped us off at the first available mooring in the channel.
So what did I think of a 42 foot boat?
Well, for sure it is a very different ball game to a J27 and it was great being dry, but the reality is that small boats provide for much more excitement and I really miss the sensation of planing. Maximum speed on the 42 footer was 11 knots.
TWILIGHT RACING
26th November, 2008
PACER 376/ DEHLER 38 TEST SAIL
Sailing Magazine commissioned me to do a boat review on the new Pacer 376. After many weeks of delays mainly due to bad weather, we finally got a team together to get the job done. I would have preferred doing the test in a non racing environment, but on the other hand, it immediately provides a good reference point on relative speed.
We mustered a crew of nine for the test sail which was supposed to have been sailed in a 12 knot southerly breeze. The test boat (prototype) named 'Cape Storm' immediately gives the impression of being a modern, fast boat without being radical. We had entered this untested boat in the Spinnaker Class with a ‘throw together” crew – quite a tall ask! Rick Nankin assumed the role of skipper which allowed me to concentrate on all the technical features of the boat.
Let’s start with the cockpit. It is open and wide with plenty of space for a big crew. Totally dominating the cockpit is the wheel. It is so big that it is recessed down into the hull. It does tend to cordon off the aft section of the cockpit somewhat and I immediately thought the ergonomics would be so much better with a tiller, but the European market demands a wheel on this size boat, so a wheel it is! On the test boat the wheel felt too springy, but on the production boats a whole new wheel system has been installed, which is much stiffer and about 10% smaller. The cockpit is nice and clean as is the deck layout. There are some interesting systems of which the mainsheet sheeting system is the best – the 'German' system using two independent winches and a separate traveler. The mainsheet system had a fair bit of friction and the backstay and traveler systems both required a good deal of muscle to work them. All of these issues have been changed on the production boats.
Down below the cabins are light and airy with a number of interior timber finishes available to clients specifications. The test boat featured a forecabin with a starboard entry door which was too narrow to pull a spinnaker through in a sailbag – also sorted out in the production boats. The heads are unusually situated on the port side of the forecabin. On the production version, entry to the heads is now through a single, wider door to the forecabin and then to the heads.
There is ample stowage and accommodation room with the nav station being nicely accessible on the starboard side of the main cabin. There is the standard galley layout in modern finishes, featuring a gas hob, freezer and basin.
Aesthetically this boat just looks good. Initially I thought it had a lot of freeboard, but one quickly gets to like that idea, as it makes for dry sailing (which is a serious plus!). We had the designer, Alex Simonis, onboard during the test sail, so the question/answer session was very convenient and pertinent.
Under motor the boat has perfect manners and handles just the way one would expect of a boat this size. The diesel was particularly quiet and easy to operate from the helmsmans position. Once we had the mainsail up, the power came on immediately. It is big sailplan and the cruising version of the mainsail set perfectly. Having new halyards on board, we found them to be a bit stretchy, but that is an easy problem to rectify. We opted for the No.1 headsail, but we would have been better off with a smaller one, as the breeze was up to 22 knots and we were pretty much on our ear.
The course set was not great for boat testing, as we had two fetches followed by a short beat. Nontheless, we were able to hold off the Mumm 36 as well as the IMX40 for most of the race and finish with a 2nd place under IRC – not bad considering how ill prepared the crew was. So clearly the boat has a lot of potential and can comfortably hold its own in the 40 foot and under size.
After racing I took the helm as we did an upwind leg in about 20 knots of breeze – still overpowered. Standing and helming at an acute angle of heel becomes tiring and I have established that the production boats come out with optional leveling units for both helmsman and main trimmer. That would make a big difference to comfort levels.
Up near Granger Bay, we turned the boat downwind and hoisted the very big masthead spinnaker which saw us broaching almost immediately, but the recovery was just as quick as got the boat on a steady heading downwind. Unfortunately the beeze started fading just as we were getting the boat up to speed. The helm and general feel of the boat was predictable and enjoyable to sail.
I paid a visit to the new Pacer yard in Cape Town and had a look at a production version, almost complete, and being readied for shipment to Germany. There are many improvements over the prototype and Pacer Yachts are certainly making a big effort at producing a quality product.
Conclusion: Pacer Yachts have a great medium sized boat on offer at a competitive price . Orders are coming in, mainly from Europe at this stage, where it is being marketed under the well known Dehler brand name and I feel this is a boat that will stand it’s ground amongst any of the international yachts in it’s class from both a performance and value for money aspect.
With a price tag of R 1.6m it’s easy to see why European buyers are placing orders.
Go get one!
VOLVO FLEET FAREWELL
15th November, 2008
Our friend, and sometimes foe, the Cape Doctor is not very complacent - EVER!
This past week the good Doc has been in a black mood, suddenly converting our idyllic summer days into a wet and wild wintry state.
Shame, the poor Volvo crews.....What could they have been thinking about Cape Town with a black south easter raging for four days with wind speeds peaking near 70 knots? (Other than "I'm bloody glad I'm not at sea in this lot!" Or Sidney Gavignet in his quiet way would have just said : "MERDE!")
Well, I had been looking forward with considerable anticipation to my sail on 'PUMA il mostro' only for the inevitable to happen - the wind was too strong, but at least I went on a tour of the boat. There's not much to see down there. A black carbon fibre cave with a half dozen pipe cots, a two burner gas plate, some navigation instruments, two spare daggerboards, sails and a marine head which looks uncomfortable at zero knots in flat water. The mind boggles having gyppo guts on that throne doing 30 knots in five meter seas. 'il mostro' is a pure racing machine and nothing else. There is not even a chair for the navigator to sit on. All that was on Thursday.
By Saturday, the doctor had taken the weekend off and left the Cape in splended weather - a light breeze tickling the bunting at the V&A with the Volvo fleet lined up in the reverse order to which they arrived. The V&A was packed to the rafters on shore and on the water. There was a great international vibe and an excellent show put on by the organisers. By noon the whole fleet had left for the start area off the Western breakwater, where the south easterly was steadily building to a 22 knot afternoon high.
I was on a power boat as a press person and soon realised the skipper of the boat did not really know much about sailing, so in my inimatible way, I worked my way to the bridge where I dispensed some practical advice to the captain, who was very happy to receive it.
He had planned on following "il mostro" down to the Blouberg mark. He seemed flabbergasted when I told him they would probably be sailing at 20 plus knots and his old steel power boat would be unlikely to keep up. I suggested he head directly to the Milnerton mark, where the leading boats would arrive just about a few minutes after we got there. The captain and I were at that stage becoming buddies and he happily followed instructions. I asked him to position his boat one hundred meters on the course side and fifty meters upwind of the rhunb line. And that turned out to be a spectacular vantage point as PUMA came surging right in front of us doing at least 20 knots, followed closely by Ericsson 4. This was reality sailing spectator heaven.
The entire fleet then abrubtly (almost comically) sailed into a hole in which they spent the next hour agonisingly trying to sail out of.
A great afternoon on the bay. Thanks to PUMA and Heineken for the ride and the beer. Good stuff!
Mmmmm...about that disco playing "house music" on the lower deck?........Nah. Forget it!
Click here for more pics of the Volvo start by Trevor Wilkins
AUDI SUMMER SERIES - RACE 4
5th November, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st (PHRF & IRC)
Position Overall: 2nd (PHRF) 1st IRC
Total Entries : 53
Ave Speed: 6.1 kts
Max Speed: 9.2 kts
Distance: 7.4 nm.
Elapsed Time: 00:57:01
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind Moderate NW Temp 24C
Weather Actual: Wind NE to SE 2 to 10 kts
Baro: 1007 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (P) – #Milnerton (P) - #4(P)- #10 (P)
Seas: Flattish.
Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .9 oz North Assymetric Spinnaker;
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Nic Baigrie (Mast), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 510 kg
Above: This is a race winning sail - our new assymetric, beautifully built by Rick Nankin at North Sails, Cape Town. My regret is only that I should have bought this sail three years ago. Three cheers for our sponsors, Regent Insurance!!!
Photo: Charles Crosby
It was destined not to be one of those wild planing rides in a 30 knot south easter, but a gentle sail in less than 10 knots of breeze. The idea was that this was to be a booze-cruise. The result was supposed to be irrelevant. I had managed to persuade Charles to risk a sail despite recovering from shoulder surgery and Nic to forsake swotting for a Maths exam the next day. Phill didn't need much persuading to find a baby sitter and come sailing. So we had our full original SWJ team on board. The moment we crossed the start line, the beers were forgotten as the whole crew focussed on boat speed. Incredibly, despite our lacksadaisycal approach, we still managed a 2nd overall and a 1st IRC.
The course was a triangular course with a fickle and switchy easterly making for some difficult tactical decisions. The two L34's went for a long port tack down to the beach hoping for a south easter. With a north westerly forecasted, we decided to stick to the seaward side. It didn't turn out too badly when we finally got into the south easterly, it freed enough for us to put up the new assymetric kite.
We were on a converging course with the L34 'Sensation', which was also carrying a kite, but sailing lower and slightly faster than us. As we got closer and closer, we started calling "WEATHER BOAT" but had no response from them. We closed more and more, knowing full well they were unable to hold our high heading as they had a conventional kite up. Nic put his hand up and touched their spinnaker when there was a half meter separating the two boats. We asked them to do a penalty turn, but their skipper shouted something about "Overtaking boat keep clear" and then essentially ignored us. Really poor sportmanship and a flagrant disregard for the sailing rules. Well, its Wednesday sailing, so protests are discouraged, so we just let it go. We were to get our revenge within a very short while - in the form of a straight trouncing on pure boat speed.
Our take down was smooth and we managed to squeeze in between Sensation and the mark, on their windward side. We headed high to gain some height in preparation for flying the asso again. Up it went and on came the speed. Seven to eight knots in only 10 knots of breeze. Lekker!
We steadily gained on Sensation, finally rolling them to windward after 10 minutes. We were rapidly gaining on Lapwing as well and virtually on their transom at the final turning mark. What a lovely sail to use and how sad that we have only just discovered what a potent sail it is - and one that I would recommend every serious J27 owner to invest in.
Excellent racing in benign weather. We spent an hour quaffing beer in the cockpit after racing; in the process missing prize giving. We also learned later that we were one of four boats which had been drawn to take on a crew member from the VOR70 Il Mostro the next Wednesday.
Till next week...
Above: Nic and Simon - the juniors on the team, posing on the foredeck.
Photo: Charles Crosby
VOLVO VILLAGE OPENING CEREMONY
SUNDAY 2nd November, 2008
After a pleasant two hour sail on a cool and rainy Table Bay, we (and a big fleet of local yachts) were ushered into the V&A for the opening of the Volvo Village. At that stage only Ericsson4 had crossed the line. Everyone was waiting for Puma il Mostro- due in towards evening. As usual Smackwater Jack got lucky. we were put onto the best possible berth available. We're lucky that way. Once moored up between two triple story luxury powerboats, we opened the beers and sat back to enjoy the fun, which included a local band, which was very loud, but i guess that's the price to be moored right in front of the stage!
Puma arrived around 8 pm to a fireworks display and a happy and jubilant crowd, who remained on the quayside despite the rain.
The whole affair was professional and well managed. Thumbs up to Volvo for organising a truly great international event.
Next week I get to sail on il Mostro. I wonder if it can possibly more fun than a J27? (tongue in cheek comment - not be taken seriously)
AUDI SUMMER SERIES - RACE 3
29th October, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 2nd (PHRF & IRC)
Position Overall: 6th (PHRF)
Total Entries : 56
Ave Speed: 5.4 kts
Max Speed: 7.4 kts
Distance: 9.42 nm.
Elapsed Time: 01:45:37
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind Moderate NW Temp 20C
Weather Actual: Wind NW to W 5 to 10 kts
Baro: 1019 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (S) – #2(S)Paarden Island (S) - #8(S)- Paarden Island (S) - #10 (S)
Seas: Flattish.
Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .75 oz North MTN Spinnaker; .5oz North Spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Doug Harrowsmith (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Gordon Burchell (Mast), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 490 kg
Neptunes Law of Marine Equality
Nothing fancy - just a little theory of mine. Its about the sea having a way of levelling things out amongst men. Last night's race was one of those occassions. Alan Taylor in the J27 'Pure Magic' was incorrectly called OCS in favour of ourselves, who were the more likely culprits and then he went on to reel us in from behind, overtake us, and beat us by just under a minute. Now cool is that?! And do see what I mean?
We had great conditions for J27's - flat seas and a light north westerly breeze to keep us moving. All three J27s were out for this race. Our start was pretty good and quite aggressive as we muscled for position amongst the big boats. Just ahead of us we had an L26. We were right on the line and had just enough space to clear a quick tack onto port ahead of the J27 'Hillbilly', but our timing had to be perfect.
I tacked with one second to go, working on the theory that it would take at least one second for the sound to travel from the bridge to us. There was a second hooter with the L26 and 'Pure Magic' recalled OCS. Allan's radio protests to the bridge that he had not even crossed the line yet, were in vain.
Our start was great and we were able to stay right up with the Class 1 boats at the weather mark. We rounded comfortably in first place out of the Class 2 boats and ahead of some of the Class 1 boats.
We opted for a gybe set, but Simon had not heard teh call for the half ounce kite, so we put the heavy kite up. Greg did his best trying to fly it in the light wind. The whole bay seemed to be going lighter and up along the right hand shore it looked ominously flat. We had to decidfe whether to gybe offshore or stay with the fleet. That was mistake number two of three. We gybed - and went off to the left all on our own. It would either be a huge success or a dismal failure. After 10 minutes we chickened out and gybed back, but it soon became obvious that we had lost that good lead we had enjoyed earlier. the two L34's were closing and gaining on us, but Pure magic came from the right hand side and neatly intersected with the group of boats we were in - all converging on the leeward mark. Pure Magic were coming in on port, whilst the rest of us were on starboard. That caused Alan a few gray hairs and a very near miss with us.
The next leg up to #8 buoy had Pure magic on our hip and pointing higher than us. We were getting dirties from the L34 'Lapwing' so were forvced to foot off to dive through their lee, but it cost us plenty of height. We went for the port layline to #8 mark, but soon found ourselves headered, whilst Pure Magic had gone right up to the wall. Once they tacked they picked up a nice lift and laid the #8 mark on one tack, leaving us with another two tacks to clear. We paid dearly; falling back about 25 boat lengths.
We hoped to be able to blanket the opposition on the following downwind leg with the half ounce kite now flying a lot better than the heavy one, but they were all out of reach.
Alan sailed the final beat conservatively, keeping us neatly covered and beating us by about 50 seconds. So - we were a little disappointed with a 6th place but that does sort of prove my opening theory!
Great sailing in good conditions. If only Cape Town could offer more of that.
Its the Volvo fleet coming into focus at the club this week and Saturday will see the launch function at the V&A with lots of razzamatazz to welcome the Volvo crews to the Tavern of the Seas.
What's more is I am going for a spin on PUMA Il Mostro next Thursday. Rest assured, I will report in detail.
1st SA 3502 Aladdin Bjorn Geiger Farr 40
2nd SA 3600 Bally Hoo II Iain Park-Ross Mumm 36 (mod)
3rd SA 190 Pure Magic Alan Taylor J 27
4th SA 3800 PUMA Unleashed Hylton Hale Pacer 42
5th SA 2700 Lobelia Gordon Kling IMX 40
6th SA204 Smack Water Jack Trygve Roberts J 27
7th 44 Hors D'Oeuvre Peter Bam L26
8th 010 Lapwing Burger/Keen L 34
9th 005 Sensation Ryan Avery L34
10th 045 Warlock Ian Slatem L26
11th SA 3141 Always Well Ralph Thomas First 7.5
12th GER 5497 Venetia
13th SA 410 Harken Racing Harry Brehm Melges 24
AUDI SUMMER SERIES - RACE 2
22nd October, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st (PHRF & IRC)
Position Overall: 5th (PHRF) & 2nd IRC
Total Entries : 49
Ave Speed: 7.2 kts
Max Speed: 13.4 kts
Distance: 7.33 nm.
Elapsed Time: 0.49.53
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind Fresh Southerly. Temp 18C
Weather Actual: Wind SSW 22-36 knots. Very gusty
Baro: 1016 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (P) – Paarden Island (P) - #8(P)- Paarden Island (P) - #8 (P) - #10 (P)
Seas: Choppy.
Sails: Reefed Main, No. 3 Genoa, .75 oz North MTN Spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Doug Harrowsmith (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 420 kg
Typically young student, Nic sent me an SMS late Tuesday to say had to study and couldnt make the race. Its a real problem trying to find crew at such short notice, so I resigned myself to sailing 5 up and that in itself is not such a bad idea, except it was blowing really hard on the bay and we would be at a disadvantage being underweight.
Near the start line the wind was very gusty, so I thought it prudent to stick a reef in the main - something we rarely do. We had plenty of time and the guys did a good job of it.
Our start was spot on, but the Pacer 42 "Unleashed' was recalled. Our main opposition "Alladin" (Farr 40) also went back as they thought they might also be over. To their credit, both these boats finished 1st and 2nd - that takes some doing!
Our reefed main was working well and despite the reef, we were still taking some heavy knockdowns in the gusts, but we were fairing better than the other J27 'Pure Magic' carrying a full main. We rounded just behind the two L34's and after going high for a short while to improve our downwind angle, popped the MTN spinnaker. The boat didn't feel great, despite several forays into the planing zone over 11 knots. We had to keep sailing deeper to stay under control, which meant an early strike and a two sail beam reach to lay the downwind mark. We probably would have benefitted from a full main, but I doubt we could have carried a kite and full main in 30 knots at 100 degrees apparent. 'Pure Magic' did the reach without spinnaker and didn't appear to be that far behind us at the bottom mark. But when we turned upwind into that pumping southerly, we were still under control and very grateful we had a reef in. At that point Pure Magic decided they would also put in a reef. Of course the time taken to do that, saw them falling well back - a deficit they were unable to make up.
We maintained a high average speed all the way up the beat, having chosen our tacking position very well. The log was steady on 6,3 knots.
Another gybe set followed at the weather mark, taking our time to hoist, as we tried to gain height to windward. The breeze had increased a few knots but was still very gusty - the kind of gusts that take rigs down - so we were careful and nursed the boat through the waves peaking out at 13,4 knots under one of our old spinnakers. This leg was better and we were able to get much closer to the downwind mark using the kite nearly all the way.
The short leg to the finish saw us tacking away early to clear dirties from the Beneteau 7.5, which had overtaken us on the downwind leg.
The results were a bit of a disappointment, as we only scored a 5th. Was it due to us having put in a reef? Or was it just the big boat conditions? Well, we generally don't look for excuses, but we will try harder next week.
Hats off to Bjorn and his team on Alladin. They are smoking!
1st SA 3502 Aladdin Bjorn Geiger Farr 40
2nd SA 3800 PUMA Unleashed Hylton Hale Pacer 42
3rd SA 18881 Hi Fidelity Welborn 46
4th 005 Sensation Ryan Avery L34
5th SA204 Smack Water Jack Trygve Roberts J 27
6th 44 Hors D'Oeuvre Peter Bam L26
7th SA 2700 Lobelia Gordon Kling IMX 40
8th SA 3141 Always Well Ralph Thomas First 7.5
9th SA 190 Pure Magic Alan Taylor J 27
10th 078 JML Michael Ovenstone L 26
11th SA 3444 Maestro Roux/van Ass Fast 42
12th Overproof Gerrie Hegie Jnr Open 30
13th 010 Lapwing Burger/Keen L 34
14th 003 Welsh Witch Dave Garrard L 26
SANLAM INTER PROFESSIONS RACE
18th October, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st (PHRF)
Position Overall: 2nd (PHRF)
Total Entries : 24
Ave Speed: 5.9 kts
Max Speed: 8.8 kts
Distance: 14.1 nm.
Elapsed Time: 02.23.00
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind Moderate SE / Temp 29C
Weather Actual: Wind WNW 10 knots.
Baro: 1010 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (P) – #2 (P) - Milnerton (P) - #2 (S) - #10 (P) -Paarden Island (S) - No.8 (P) – Container Mark (S) - Finish No. 10 (S)
Seas: Flat.
Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .5 oz North White Spinnaker; .75 oz Assymetric North Spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Doug Harrowsmith (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Wy-Marie Esterhuizen from Regent (Guest), Tyran Kerford (Bow) Total: 505 kg
Cape Town is a place of extremes - and more so when it comes to sailing. Summer winds are usually SE 25 to 35 knots or flat calm. But on Saturday we had one of those days that can only be described as 'perfection' - Steady, moderate breeze, warm air, shorts and T shirts, ice cold beer,.....What more can I say?
Regent Insurance, our sponsors - ably represented by Wy-Marie Esterhuizen (Marketing Manager) were at the dockside to officially hand over our three new spinnakers. Not wanting to miss a chance of going to sea, she joined us for the afternoon's race, a little unsure of what to expect, especially considering she grew up in the Free State and now resides in Northcliff, Gauteng! Trevor Wilkins, marine photographer of note, was there do capture the moment.
Above: Handing over of the new spinnakers by Regent Insurance Company.
L-R: Greg Harrowsmith, Trygve Roberts, Phillip Rentschler, Nic Baigrie and Wy-Marie Esterhuizen from Regent.
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
This event is all about team racing and has been won by the Engineers team for many years. Last year we sailed for the Engineers (we have two crew who are engineers so it was justifiable) and we won overall as well as the 1st team prize. By the time I entered this year, there were no less than three teams of Engineers and all were full, so I was allocated to the Medical team - consisting of two J27's, an L26 and the 55ft Diel, the latter which did not sail. Since the results of the top 3 boats in each team are taken, it meant the three little boats would have to perform very well to win the team event.
We loaned our bowman (Nic Baigrie) to 'Pure Magic' for the afternoon and set off to the start zone. We tried out the new assymetric spinnaker before the start and got it right after a few adjustments. The boat felt great with the new kite up and we were able to hold her on 60 degrees apparent, without too much effort in the light breeze.
With a light westerly blowing, our starting strategy was to be on starboard fairly close to the pin, but there were several other boats with the same idea. One of them was the L34, 'Sensation', who managed to get themselves into an uncomfortable position right behind the pin mark, with us close to leeward in the perfect spot and another boat to weather of them, which was intent on barging. Two large yachts simply ploughed across both our bows with absolutely no regard to our rights. (It's time to open the Hall of Shame page again!)
We got off to a fairly good start, and tacked quickly onto port, but found ourselves being outpointed by most of the big boats. I noticed that Alladin was pointing 10 degrees higher than us. It wasn't a problem as the breeze lifted us progressively as we approached the first mark, allowing us to lay it on one tack. We were the fifth boat around the weather mark, right on the heels of the L34, 'Lapwing'
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
We had planned to do a gybe set and rigged the boat accordingly with the new .5oz kite. With Regent Insurance's press boat hovering close by for those perfect spinnaker pics, we went for what was supposed to have been, a really slick hoist. There was a small problem. The snap shackle had come off the head of the kite and went singing it's way all the way up to the sheave box, whilst the kite remained in it's bag. Oops!
I decided the best thing for me to do was to steer for maximum speed and I desperately wanted to gybe onto port. Between Greg and Tyran they hastily made plans. First we got hold of the spare genoa halyard, clipped it onto the spinnaker head and hoisted. Finally, some horsepower! Then we took the Genoa down and gybed over to port. Next we got Tyran into a Bosun's Chair and hoisted him up to the hounds very quickly, using the first genoa halyard. Once up, he connected the spinnaker halyard to the head and disconnected the 2nd Genoa halyard, which he brought down with him as we lowered him to the deck. The entire drama was sorted out in less than four minutes. Meanwhile, we had a much hotter angle to reach with towards the Milnerton mark and we appeared to be gaining on the opposition. We rounded the Milnerton mark right on Lapwing's stern.
The long beat up to the #2 buoy presented many opportunities to make gains as there were many wind switches to work with. Sensation closed the gap on us. We rounded about a minute behind Sensation and half a minute behind Lapwing.
The course required us to sail through the start finish line, which meant a fairly tight angle to #10 mark. Neither of the L34's put spinnakers up, but we had planned this leg to be sailed with the new assymetric kite.
It went up flawlessly and the moment it filled, we cranked up a knot or two and easily powered over both the L34's. The sail is a pleasure to use and I had very little weather helm.
Once at #10, the angle was DDW (dead down wind) which meant, we had to go back to a conventional spinnaker. Again Greg and Tyran did their thing and we executed an excellent peel change. We held our own with the two L34's all the way to the Paarden Island buoy, where we split tacks.
We had noticed the leading boats went offshore and decided to follow suite. It was a mistake as both the L34's gained on us as we tacked up towards the #8 mark, leaving us a few minutes behind.
For the final run down the container mark, we again used the .5 oz conventional spinnaker and made up some ground on the bigger boats. The last short beat up to the finish was fairly painless.
We finished 2nd overall (all classes) having been beaten by the Farr 40 Alladin. Bjorn Geiger and his crew have been improving steadily since 2007 and are now giving us a really hard time for overall wins. His winning margin was around two and a half minutes. Quite impressive! And very well deserved too.
So eager is Bjorn in his quest for speed, that he has finally removed that huge "wing" at the back of his boat. I never quite understood it's function, other than being uniquely ugly.
The Engineers won AGAIN!
Above: Guess which one is not a Capetonian!
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
1st SA 3502 Farr 40 Aladdin Bjorn Geiger 15h39.39
2nd SA 204 J27 Smack Water Jack Trygve Roberts 15h50.53
3rd 005 L34 Sensation Ryan Avery 15h48.50
4th SA 630 Farr 38 AL Johan van Rooyen 15h41.55
5th 010 L34 Lapwing Alan Keen 15h49.35
6th SA 2700 IMX 40 Lobelia Gordon Kling 15h37.21
7th 33 L26 Welsh Witch Dave Garrard 15h58.27
8th SA 198 J27 Hill Billy Peter Hill 15h53.47
9th 044 L26 Hors de Oevres Peter Bam 15h58.49
10th SA 190 J27 Pure Magic Alan Taylor 15h54.40
11th SA 3455 Bavaria 36 Mafuta Mathys Lourens 16h0.16
12th SA 978 Atlantic 49 Aurora Mel Hawtrey 15h51.48
13th 045 L26 Warlock Ian Slatem 16h6.2
14th 034 L34 Amberloui Nick Christadoulo 15h59.40
15th SA 898 Farr 38 Me2Me Derek Shuttleworth 15h54.28
16th SA 130 Miura Apricot Bat Tromp 16h12.31
17th SA 765 Farr 40 Majimoto II Lindsay Birch 15h52.18
18th SA 2360 Atlantis 36 Saoirse Tony Blackwell 16h13.58
19th SA 2018 Stadt 34 Cabaray Ray Matthews 16h17.24
20th SA 1326 Sovereign 54 Picasso Ray Alexander 15h50.36
21st SA 1333 Simonis 35 Miss Isle Hennie McLaghlan 16h.51
TEAM RESULTS:
1st Engineers (Alladin, Al, Lapwing,) 1, 4, 5, = 10 points
2nd Medical (Smackwater Jack, Pure Magic. Warlock) 2, 10, 13 = 25
3rd Legal (Sensation, Mafuta, Miss Isle) 3,11,21 = 35
4th Accountants (Welsh Witch, Aurora, Cabaret) 7,12,19 = 38
5th Architects (Lobelia, me2me, Picasso) 6,15,20 = 41
6th Construction (Ambeloui, Majimoto, Saorsi) 14,17,18 = 49
6th Engineers 2 (Hillbilly, Apricot)
AUDI SUMMER SERIES - RACE 1
15th October, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st (PHRF and IRC)
Position Overall: 3rd (PHRF) 2nd IRC
Total Entries : 14
Ave Speed: 8.2 kts
Max Speed: 13.1 kts
Distance: 9.34 nm.
Elapsed Time: 00.47.56
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind Strong SE
Weather Actual: SE 22 to 32 knots.
Baro: 1012 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (P) – Paarden Island (P) – No.8 (P) – Paarden island (P) - No.8 (P) – Finish No. 10 (P)
Seas: Flat. 0.7m chop
Sails: Full Main, No. 3 Genoa, .75 oz North Mamba Spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Doug Harrowsmith (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Simon Penso(Pit), Nicola Harrowsmith (Guest), Nic Baigrie (Bow) Total: 470 kg
Finally, the summer has arrived and with it the south easterlies. This was the first race of the Audi Summer series which saw a pretty solid turnout of around 45 boats pitch for racing. The courses are short in the early stages of the season due to the early sunset, but the breeze was a respectable 22 knots at the start - although patchy and with a lot of south in the mean direction. That meant a gybe set at the top mark.
We were short of a crew member, but we had a guest on board, in the petite form of Greg's wife, Nicola, who could at least help on the rail. There were the usual signs of ring rust amongst the crew after a long lay-off. The outboard being slow to start and the gear lever a little stiff; the main luff jambing in the track - little things like that.
We had a fair start about 7 lengths to windward of Pure Magic (J27) with the Farr 40 'Alladin' to windward. We footed off for speed, got our nose ahead of Pure Magic and soon pulled ahead, rounding the top mark well up with the big boats. What was surprising was seeing the little Beneteau 7.5 'Always Well' round ahead of us. Normally they struggle upwind in the strong breeze. They went for a bearaway set (being a sprit boat with asso), whereas the rest of us all went for a gybe set. Two minutes later, the race was over for 'Always Well' as they broached badly and put the mast in the drink.
We did a good hoist and got things settled down for a nice fast reach down to #8 mark, but the wind angle was at 100 degrees apparent and we had too much power to hold our rhumb line course, so we soaked down a few degrees, but kept the speedo sitting on 11 knots. We had to strike early and two sail reach the last bit over to the mark to regain lost angle.
The next beat was weird and not the usual SE windward leg we know so well, but we read the conditions acceptably and were gradually lifted up to the mark, making good upwind speed of 6.5 knots steady. Pure Magic had not put their kite up, so we were well ahead of them at the next weather mark rounding.
There had been drama aplenty right at the start, as Rick Nankin - skippering the IMX40 'Lobelia' - lost two crew members overboard due to a broken lifeline. The good sailor he is, he had them both back onbaord in no time, but it took them more than half the race to close our lead down. We seemed to doing a good job and I figured us for a probable handicap win, but it was not to be.
For the next downwind leg, we reached up high after the gybe to get a better angle to the next mark, but the breeze had cranked up to a solid 32 knots and we had our hands full sailing with the big spinnaker, right on the edge of control. The log sat happily on 12 to 13 knots for most of the leg, but ended abruptly as we took the kite down and got smacked by a big gust which refilled the kite, whilst the bowman already had the foot in the hatch. It split neatly along the second panel from clew to clew. Oh well....it's part of the game and we seldom break anything so we can hardly complain.
We had a good finish in fading light and later learned we had a 3rd overall (both classes) and a 1st in Class 2. A nice way to start the summer season.
1st Aladdin Bjorn Geiger Farr 40 0.46.27
2nd PUMA Unleashed Pacer 42 Hylton Hale 0.47.13
3rd Smack Water Jack J27 Trygve Roberts 0.47.41
4th Pure Magic Alan Taylor J 27 0.51.32
5th Lobelia Gordon Kling IMX 40 0.52.03
6th Hors D'Oeuvre Peter Bam L26 0.52.04
7th Maestro Roux/van Ass Fast 42 0.54.4
8th Always Well Ralph Thomas First 7.5 0.54.05
9th JML Michael Ovenstone L 26 0.57.16
10th Sensation L34 DNC
11th Lapwing Burger/Keen L 34 DNC
12th Welsh Witch Dave Garrard L 26 RTD
13th Overproof Gerrie Hegie Jnr Open 30 RTD
14th Hi Fidelity Welborn 46 RTD
WINTER B SERIES - RACE 2
13th September, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st (PHRF and IRC)
Position Overall: 1st (PHRF and IRC)
Total Entries : 7
Ave Speed: 5.3 kts
Max Speed: 8.2 kts
Distance: 10.4 nm.
Elapsed Time: 01.22.28
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind moderate NW. Temp. 20C
Weather Actual: NW 3 knots to start building to 10 knots and later 25 knots with cold front approaching. Real feel temp was 25C
Baro: 987 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (S) – No. 2 Mark (S) - No. 10 (P) - Paarden Island (P) – No.10 (S) – No.2 (S) – Finish No. 10 (P)
Seas: Flat. Very green becoming orange near Paarden Eiland. Lots of plastic floating around.
Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .05 oz Quantum BP Spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Waldo Zevenster (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Iaan vanHeerden (Mast), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 502 kg
Finally, after a very long lay-off we managed to complete a race! It was just one of those perfect days in Cape Town with the mountain etched against a deep blue sky – sharp and crisp. There was barely a whisper of breeze on the bay as we motored out to the start area already wondering whether it would turn into another beer swilling afternoon at Quay 4.
With the Mossel Bay Race on the go and many of the regular fleet on the way over to Simonstown for the Spring Regatta, I was asked to stand in as duty officer for the day. Not much to do as there were only seven yachts out to race. We decided to start near the pin end (as did everyone else), but we have learned also that it is far better to have speed than to be in the perfect position and that saw us as the furthest boat from the pin with a minute to go. It proved to be a very smart move, as we had clear air and fair speed as we rolled the boat over onto port on the gun.
The angle to the first mark was a fetch (for us) and we also appeared to have slightly better breeze than the rest of the fleet, allowing us to edge ahead. The J27 Pure Magic was staying with us, but to leeward and a bit slower. We were a bit concerned that the Mount Gay 30 would trounce us in the light stuff, but they decided (inexplicably) after starting right at the pin, to tack back onto starboard, which manouvre put them immediately out of contention. Our boat speed was 2.8 knots in just a whisper of breeze, not even visible on the water.
At the No2 mark, we rounded first with Pure Magic about 5 lengths behind us. The wind had picked up to around 7 knots. The downwind leg would prove to be troublesome for us as we have a lot more mast rake than Pure Magic and we know that in the lighter breezes they are marginally quicker than us. We were stuck in the 10 length zone with no easy way to extricate ourselves. The course took us back through the start line and at that stage Pure Magic had closed us down to 2 boat lengths. And we were only halfway down the the downwind leg. Some very tactical sailing was to follow.
Pure Magic gybed first. We knew we had to stay with them and do everything to keep the lead till the bottom mark. Our gybe was slightly better and we edged ahead as PM kept heading onto a higher angle of attack, but we were able to keep the small lead. Again PM decided to gybe first as we were virtually on the lay line to the bottom mark. We waited 5 seconds and gybed as well. Our gybe was perfect and PM picked up an hour glass, allowing us to increase our lead to five lengths. We were just able to hold them off and round the bottom mark ahead by two lengths. Our drop was good and we increased our lead to 8 lengths. The MG30 had sailed downwind with a single gybe and not followed us – in the process having closed up on us. They were sitting about 5 lengths astern of Pure Magic.
On the beat, the MG30 tacked away first, followed a few minutes later by PM. We remained on port for much longer, watching the compass intently, but the direction was rock steady. When we tacked onto starboard and converged on PM, we had lost most of our lead and to make matters worse, we were being lifted more and more as we approached the shore – definitely not what we wanted. When we crossed with PM we were on port and just scraped past them – a little too close for comfort. By now the wind was up to a steady 10 knots.
We were forced to put in another tack to clear the #10 mark, but things had swung back in our favour and we had our 5 length lead over PM back. The MG30 had lost out by tacking early. The rounding order at the top mark was the same as the first round with a big gap between the MG30 and the rest of the fleet.
All we had to do for the final reach down to the finish was hold PM off. The MG30 would have to give us plenty of time, so we didnt worry about them, but we wanted to beat them boat for boat just for the hell of it. We had another good hoist and set, whereas PM fluffed theirs, allowing us to increase our lead back to 10 lengths. We crossed the line first, beating PM by a scant 17 seconds. On corrected time, we gave the MG30 a hiding to the tune of almost 10 minutes.
This was one of those perfect days for sailboat racing. Really enjoyable and doubly so having close, competitive racing against another J27.
Results:
1st J27 – Smackwater Jack – Trygve Roberts - 1.22.03
2nd J27 – Pure Magic – Alan Taylor – 1.22.20
3rd MG30 – Juts Fun – M. Arnold – 1.31.08
4th RCOD30 – Ariel – Sheriff Saville – 1.32.14
5th H34 – Celine lll – Volker Vierhaus – 1.34.50
6th L34 – Aquavit – Phil Flockton – 1.44.37
WINTER B SERIES - RACE 1
6th September, 2008
After a long mid winter lay-off and without several of my regular crew, we managed to get the boat rigged and on the start line on time. Incredibly after weeks of stormy, winter weather, we picked a hot, clear Saturday to race - it also meant little wind.
We had a very good start and nudged our way northwards at an unspectacular speed of 0.5 knots. After twenty minutes we were lying well up at the sharp end of the fleet, but it really was uncomfortable and hot. The prospect of quaffing ice cold beers at Quay 4 in the V&A Waterfront seemed like an imminently suitable idea, so we bailed.
As things turned out, a nice 10 knot breeze filtered in over the bay allowing the race to be completed. It was won by the 30ft Impact.
WINTER A SERIES - RACE 2
12th July, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st (PHRF)
Position Overall: 2nd (PHRF)
Total Entries : 16
Ave Speed: 0.0? kts
Max Speed: 11.4 kts
Distance: 10.65 nm.
Elapsed Time: 02.04.53
Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind fresh
south east. Temp. 18C
Weather Actual: Accurate
Baro: 1015 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (S) – Paarden Island(P) - No. 2 Mark (P) - No. 10 (P) x 3 loops.
Seas: Flat and full of rubbish.
Sails: Full Main, No. 2 Genoa, .75 oz North Mamba Spinnaker;
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Doug Harrowsmith (Main), Nic Pratt (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Nic Baigrie (Mast), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 480 kg
I have lived in this magnificent city in the Cape of Storms for a very long time and I have never seen a pattern of fronts as severe as that which whipped our seas into a frenzy over the past 8 days. It was not so much the strength of the wind, but the very low temperatures which followed. Two of our core crew couldn't make racing on Saturday, so we asked Doug Harrowsmith and sailmaker Nic Pratt to step into their shoes - and very capably they did as well.
Conditions on Table Bay were excellent with crisp visibility and snow capped mountains adding a distinct wintry touch to the scene. Sixteen boats pitched for racing, so the start line wasn't crowded at all. We picked a nice open section about halfway down the line and nailed a fast start. We got our boat speed up to 6,2 knots fairly quickly and were able to hold both the L34's - Lapwing and Sensation. The flat conditions suited the J27 perfectly with the No.2 Genoa being the right choice of headsail.
Lapwing suddenly bore off onto a reach halfway up the beat and then luffed hard reversing their main. They clearly had something stuck on their keel - probably a Sunfish - to require such drastic action. Surprisingly the bay, which is normally littered with kelp after a winter storm, had very little on offer, but in it's place was a murky ocean with lots of plastic floating around.
We rounded the weather mark in 4th place behind Lobelia, Benba and Sensation - and went immediately for a gybe set, in the process getting ahead of Sensation, who were short crewed. The breeze was fairly steady between 15 and 18 knots, enabling us to hold our position at the bottom mark.
On the second beat Sensation seemed to have a bit better speed than us. I felt something tugging at the rudder and asked Nic to check, which he did and reported nothing, but we did in fact have a large sheet of plastic of about 1 sq.m. size right down at the bottom of the rudder. It was white and virtually invisible in the aerated water. We sailed the rest of the race with it attached.
We held our position up the second beat and rounded smoothly into another gybe set. Sensation was definitely opening up the gap on us and Lapwing was closing progressively from the rear.
By the second leeward rounding there had stil been no change in the order, but Lobelia (IMX40) out in front had a problem with their headsail and lost out badly having to do a naked headsail change. Benba (Farr 38) took the lead for the next leg, but Lobelia managed to get back into the lead on the final run.
No matter how hard we tried, we could feel the gap on Sensation increasing and finally Lapwing passed us on the final half beat to the finish line.
On corrected time we still managed a second overall beating Sensation by 35 seconds and we missed 1st place by 15 seconds. Who knows what we could have achieved without that sheet of plastic?
A lovely mid winter race in excellent conditions.
RESULTS
1st SA 1105 Farr38 Benba.co.za Dale Kushner
2nd SA 204 J 27 Smack Water Jack T Roberts
3rd 005 L34 Sensation Ryan Avery
4th L34 Lapwing Burger/Keen
5th 044 L26 Hors d'Oeuvre P Bam
6th SA 2700 IMX 40 Lobelia Kling/Meek
7th SA 042 L 26 Wild Goose B Gray
8th 13 RCOD Ariel Sheriff Saville
9th SA 130 Muira Apricot Bat Tromp
10th 043 L26 Escape Rodney Tanner
11th SA2018 Stadt 34 steel hull Cabaray Ray Matthews
12th SA 223 Impact Impact Jaqui Brand
13th SA1146 Compass 47 Cathy R Johan Rabie
14th SA 797 Muira Ichyd Da Stephaan Hundt
15th SA 2447 Ocean 31 Paragon Ann Fletcher
16th SA 702 Charger 33 FTI Flyer Keith Mattison
Above: Our haul of the 2007/8 season's trophies at a function last week. It was what is commonly known as a Jaegermeister evening.
L - R: Simon, Charles, Trygve, Nic, Phill, Greg.
The whole team has also been awarded Provincial sailing colours.
ROBBEN ISLAND RACE
28th June, 2008
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st
Position Overall: 6th
Total Entries : 52
Ave Speed: 5.6 kts
Max Speed: 9.4 kts
Distance: 21.76 nm.
Elapsed Time: 03.58.09
Weather Forecast: Partly Cloudy. Wind fresh
south east. Temp. 15C
Weather Actual: Clear. Wind South East 5 to 8 knots becoming southerly 10 -12 knots becoming south easterly 20 knots.
Baro: 1014 hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (S) – Robben island (P or S) - Finish #10 (P)
Seas: 2.0m swell, lumpy, choppy, confused, rough.
Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .05 oz Quantum BP Spinnaker;
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Waldo Zevenster (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Nic Baigrie (Mast), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 485 kg
Those of us on board for this event a year ago remembered only too well, that incredibly fast reach ahead of those huge waves and a 35 knot, wet northerly storm, where we reached our highest ever max speed of 17.4 knots. This day would be very different.
We were greeted with an almost flat calm on Table Bay. The boats which had left at 1200 – some 32 minutes before us, were still in sight. It would turn out to be a classic bad pursuit race scenario of a building wind, where the boats starting later had better breeze for longer. We had our genoa trimmer absent and sailing for the opposition (Farr 38 - 'Benba') and managed to get Waldo Zevenster to trim for the day.
The three J27’s were all on the start line at 1232 with spinnakers up starting in a neat row. We were to enjoy classic one design racing, but there were some unequalities. Hillbilly only had three crew; Pure Magic had 5 and we were (as usual) fully loaded with six. The start was a painful affair with all three J’s in close proximity on a starboard run. We picked up a puff of breeze and gained a 50m lead, which we held for a while, whilst Pure Magic sailed a deeper angle and Hillbilly inexorably reeled us in from behind with their big weight saving advantage. It would prove to be their undoing on the beat back though. Within a short space of time, we had passed all the boats ahead of us except for Sirocco. The wind remained light (less than 8 knots) as we gybed our way towards the northern end of the island.
At one stage the Beneteau “Always Well” looked very good, but they sailed into a large hole which trapped them for a long time. This year we had the unique situation of being able to choose which way we wanted to round the island. We had plenty of debate and at one stage, we almost committed to a clockwise rounding, but being able to see the almost stationary Beneteau, made us change our mind, and we gybed back onto starboard. Just as we went into our final gybe, we overtook Sirocco – looking very unhappy and slow in the light wind. All three J27’s converged onto the same point and incredibly, after an hours sailing, we were all still within a few meters of each other. Pure Magic had the inside track and managed to gain a lead of about 70 meters, followed by ourselves, with Hillbilly two lengths behind us. So it was the three J27's in 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions at the half way mark.
Pure Magic kept their spinnaker up as we crossed the north side of the island, whilst we took ours down and put the #1 Genoa up, hoping to gain an advantage by cutting the corner finer. That worked quite well, till we parked for a minute in a small private hole and Hillbilly simply dropped down to leeward and forged ahead. We got the breeze back and quickly popped back into the lead as worked the waves and gentle southerly wind to clear the reefs and shore break on the western side of the island. In a few tacks Hillbilly had dropped well back, but Pure Magic was staying with us. A quick glance behind showed the bulk of the fleet rounding the bottom of the island.
With the breeze picking up nicely to around 12 knots, we were able to get the boat speed up to 6,2 knots. We were in the lead and wanted to cross the convergence zone as close the southern tip of the island as possible. As we approached on starboard tack, we hit an almighty header of almost 50 degrees. By the time we tacked onto port to clear, Pure Magic had erased our lead in a few seconds and had a 50 m lead on us. They then also sailed into the header and remained there for too long with exactly the same result – as they lost their lead to us. This happened another few times as the two J’s fought for supremacy. Pure Magic was the last to sail into the header and we kept our lead as the breeze settled down to a steady 15 knot southerly. We knew we had to head over to the eastern side to pick up the inevitable south easter, so we kept on attempting short tacks on port, but always coming back to starboard if the headers were too great.
Some of the big boats like Auto Atlantic and Unleashed were doing exactly what we had intended and were crossing the convergence zone successfully – and close to the island as well. At that stage, we were fairly sure, our lead would be insufficient for line honours, but we gave it our best and finally committed to one long port tack. (The point where we chose to cross from the southerly breeze into the south easter can be clearly seen on our GPS track above) The seas were confused and made helming and trimming very difficult. We put the boat into a powerful low groove and just punched our way through the slop, keeping the speed at 6,2 knots.
With about 3 miles to go, Auto Atlantic (L52) crossed ahead of us on starboard and it became clear that she would win the race. We were actually pleased for them, as they don’t often win anything, but they are really good competitors in that they sail in almost every race. If anyone deserved a win, it was Thunderchild.
Unleashed (Fast 42) were lying a sure 2nd. At that stage we decided to forget about a win and modify our goals to a top 5 finishing place. We were clearly the leading Class 2 boat with Pure Magic steady behind us – about 250m adrift.
Then it was A-L (Farr 38) that powered easily over us to windward; then Tenacity (Fast 42). We were 5th, but we still had to try to finish ahead of Lobelia (IMX40) to get that 5th place, but it was not to be. Lobelia was pointing a good deal higher than ourselves and finished comfortably ahead of us, leaving us in 6th place. Nothing to be ashamed of as we had sailed a very good race, showing just what a J27 can do in big boat conditions.
Pure Magic had an excellent race as well finishing three positions and about 4 minutes behind us. Hillbilly did remarkably well, considering how light they were, to finish 13th.
Of the 50+ starters only 22 actually finished within the time limit.
RESULTS
1 SA 1027 Auto Atlantic Thunder Child L 52 (84m sq main, No 2 gen, 187 spin)
2 SA 3800 Puma Unleashed Pacer 42R
3 SA 4242 Tenacity Fast 42
4 SA 630 A-L Farr 38
5 SA 2700 Lobelia IMX 40
6 SA 204 Smack Water Jack J 27
7 SA 1234 After You L 41
8 SA 3502 Aladdin Farr 40a
9 SA 190 Pure Magic J 27
10 SA1105 Hocus Pocus Farr 38 w #3.5 headsail
11 004 Pacer II Pacer 27s
12 US43434 Spilhaus III Swede 55 (#3 & 124m Sq bag)
13 SA 198 Hill Billy J 27
14 SA 1178 Touch n' Go Schumacher
15 SA3176 Zebra X 332
16 037 Spectrum L 34
17 SA 123 Diel Diebold 19.2
18 SA 250 Freedom Farr 38
19 SA 917 Voodoo L 54
20 RSA 3141 Beneteau7.5 Always Well No 3 headsail
21 SA 2103 Avanti Vickers 41 (smaller genoa)
22 044 Hors d' Oevres L 26
DNF SA 284 Spirit Miura
DNF 13 Ariel RCOD
DNF SA 33 Julie 3 Muira
DNF 10 Suidoos II RCOD
DNF SA 2018 Cabaray Stadt 34 Steel hull mod
DNF SA 2360 Saiorse Atlantis 36*
DNF SA 1967 Storm Ocean 31
DNF SA 2278 Sirocco
DNF 043 Escape L 26
DNF SA 2447 Paragon Ocean 31
DNF SA 555 Solitaire Compass 47
DNF SA 978 Aurora Atlantis 49
DNF SA 858 Perriwinkle Farr 38
DNF SA 675 Majimoto Farr 40
DNC SA 1005 Panther L 76
DNF SA 578 Mighty Lemon Drop L mini ton
DNF SA 382 Chiquita Miura
DNF SA044 Moonshine Miura*
DNF Red Baron Sweet Pea
DNF SA 223 Impact Impact
DNF SA323 Sebeza Vd Stadt 45*
DNF SA 704 Freestyle H 34
DNF SA3455 Mafuta Bavaria 36
DNF 018 Aquavit L 34
DNF SA 3520 Myrtle Leopard 40
RTD SA 546 Nauti Buoy Petersen 33
RTD RSA 1505 Casa Mia Stadt 34
RTD SA 2963 Sea Oyster Noseby 38
cat
RTD 010 Lapwing L 34
RTD SA 941 Morgenster L34
PORTUGAL DAY PURSUIT RACE
7th June, 2008
Above: Approaching the first mark
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
Race in a nutshell:
Position Class 2: 1st
Position Overall: 2nd
Position Line Class 2: 1st
Position Team Trophy: 1st
Total Entries : 48
Ave Speed: 7.3 kts
Max Speed: 14.2 kts
Distance: 22.5 nm.
Elapsed Time: 03:04:18
Weather Forecast: Cloudy. Wind fresh
southerly becoming south easterly. Temp. 16C
Weather Actual: Clear. Wind South East 25 to 35 knots.
Baro: 0995hPa.
Course: Start No. 10 (P) – Paarden Island (P) - Milnerton (P) - Landfall (S) - Blaauwberg (P) - Dyang Family (P) - Milnerton (S) - Finish #10 (S)
Seas: 3.5m swell, lumpy, rough.
Sails: Full Main, No. 2 Genoa, No. 3 Genoa; .75 oz North Mamba Spinnaker; .75 oz Quantum reaching spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Doug Harrowsmith (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Nic Baigrie (Mast), Simon Penso (Bow) Total: 500 kg
This annual event is a showcase of the Portuguese business community in Cape Town’s ability to organize and sponsor a truly first class event. It is a long list of sponsors not least of which is the Portuguese consulate. The regatta itself is much more casual in tone designed to suit every type of boat (as opposed to a more serious “Round the Cans” style of racing) and this can be attested by the large entry; especially given the ice cold and unseasonal south easter blowing on the day and a big cold front with lots of rain which had rushed through the Cape the night before. The yacht club was bedecked in green and red – leaving no doubt that this was a Portuguese event.
As is the tradition, the event is run as a pursuit race with the slowest boats heading off first at 1200. The organizers had set a course consisting of a series of tight reaches followed by a stinted beat back and yet another fetch to the finish line. The course would undoubtedly suit the sport boats with asymmetric spinnakers.
Our start was at 1252, five minutes behind a cluster of L26’s. The south easter had a polar hint behind it and was touching around 25 knots at the time of our start and would increase to 35 knots later in the day. Two of the three J27’s at RCYC had entered, leaving the 800m start line clear for a text book start. We had ‘Hillbilly” (J27) to leeward of us. With thirty seconds to go before the gun, with Di Hutton-Squire helming, “Hillbilly” suddenly turned downwind, leaving us to start in clear air. Di had slipped and the lost the tiller, in the process losing two female crew members overboard. By the time they had recovered the two LOB’s (Lady Over Board) we were already halfway up the first leg.
Above: Rounding Paarden Island mark
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
The next leg was a beam reach and we put up our big spinnaker (probably a bit of an adrenaline driven brain process) despite the tight angle. It would prove to be a fruitless exercise, as we were perpetually falling lower than the rhumb line. Several broaches later, we decided to switch up to the #2 Genoa and strike the kite. With first class crew on board, that little exercise went off seamlessly. We had not overtaken any boats yet, which meant we had another twenty five odd boats to catch and a lot of work to get through. We were the only boat at the Milnerton mark, so crashed through our gybe J27 style – in other words, with our heads flat against the deck for fear of being beheaded.
Above: Our first broach nicely captured by the press boat
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
The leg from Milnerton to Landfall was a ninety to eighty degree reach. None of the boats ahead were carrying spinnaker, so we decided to be more prudent and stick with the #2 Genoa, which we opened the leech up with the car for extra drive. The sail combination worked well and we saw a steady eight to nine knots on the log and with those speeds the first batch of boats were overtaken. About a third of the way along this leg, the breeze started freeing a bit, so we put up the smaller shouldered spinnaker and immediately enjoyed an extra three knots of speed, peaking out at 14,2 knots. This was perhaps the leg in the race where we gained the most by flying the spinnaker, when other's didn't or couldn't. It was a weird feeling sailing downwind into the face of the oncoming westerly swells, but we were cooking. The L26 fleet up ahead were coming focus and we could already read their sail numbers. At that point we felt we had a chance of overall line honours.
Above: Simon on the foredeck, re-feeding the genoa halyard.
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
Just before the Landfall mark, the Beneteau 7.5 sports boat “Always Well” sailed through our lee and had water on the mark. We gybed on their stern and settled down for another fast fetch down to the Blaauwberg buoy. We still had another 15 or so boats ahead of us. Before the Blaauwberg mark, we caught the first of three L26’s (Warlock) - comfortably surfing past them to windward. At the mark a Petersen 33 and another L26 (Welsh Witch) blocked the way, but we managed to quickly power to windward of both of them after gybing.
The boat speed remained in the 9 to 11 knot range as we caught the leading L26 “Hors d Ouvers” sailing easily through their lee. A flurry of other boats slid by to leeward and just before the Dyang Family mark, we were lying 5th and hungrily hunting down the opposition. We were confident of catching all of them including a big cat, which would battle going to windward. The Beneteau “Always Well” however, was far ahead. The Pacer 27 had also caught up a lot and were lying a few hundred meters astern of us, but the upwind leg would not be their forte, so I wasn’t too concerned.
The last downwind (if you can call it that) leg was a long reach to the Dyang Family mark.The wind had clicked up several notches so we discussed whether we should change down to the blade for the beat back to Milnerton. It was a unanimous vote. Because we had rigged the reefing line for the main, it meant we couldn’t do a peel change, but once again, young Nic did a very fast static headsail change on the bow, which meant we had to sail without a headsail for about a minute. It was worth every second, as the long beat back would be bad news for any boat with too much sail up. Even with the #3 up, we were still overpowered most of the time.
Above: Finally getting the kite under control on the leg from Paarden Island to Milnerton
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
We tacked immediately after rounding Dyang, which with hindsight, was not that clever, as it put us right into the oncoming traffic with the associated rough water from hull wash. The wind was a solid 30 knots gusting 35 with short uncomfortable waves mingled with a 3m period swell. In other words it was bloody wet. The crew on the rail were soaked through and very cold. They said it was actually warm when a wave washed over them (14C) compared to the wind chill factor they were experiencing, which probably brought the real feel temperature down to around 6 degrees. We endured the traffic for about three minutes, before tacking onto port to make some progress to weather. The port tack was the more comfortable tack allowing us to point higher, but the starboard tack was the long one – and the tack which we had to spend most of our time on.
Above: Leading the race, approaching the penultimate Milnerton mark.
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
We did our best to sustain our target speed of 6,2 knots. Every time a set of bad waves would bring our speed down to 5.5 knots, it meant having to foot off to get the speed back again. We had passed all the boats in the fleet at the time we tacked back onto starboard, except the Beneteau, but we were definitely gaining on them. To leeward we could see we had better speed and height than the Pacer 27, so our focus went onto catching the Beneteau.
We finally caught the Beneteau just before the Milnerton mark and spent about 15 minutes in the lead. Coming up fast behind us was the 40 foot “Crocs”. Another threat was the L34 “Lapwing” which had been gaining height on us on the beat. The leg from Milnerton to the finish was another tight fetch, so we decided to stick with the #3 Genoa and barber haul it outboard it necessary. Halfway up the leg “Crocs” rolled us to windward, but “Lapwing” did not appear to be gaining on us any longer. The Beneteau was sailing much freer than us and had good boat speed, but they were falling well down on the rhumb line and later would lose out by having to pinch back up to the mark.
“Crocs” took line honours, with “Smackwater Jack” getting a comfortable 2nd, followed by “Always Well” about a minute behind us. “Lapwing” came 4th.
Those warm showers back in the clubhouse were heaven. In the galley bowls of hot soup and fresh rolls were consumed by cold and hungry sailors. Vitor Medina and Manuel Mendes, the two main organizers really put on a good show. There were traditional Portuguese folk dancers with a band and an enjoyable and fun prize giving.
Smackwater Jack collected three trophies
1st Div 2
2nd Overall
1st Team prize. (WINNING TEAM
DIOGO CAO TACA Trophy: Smack Water Jack 2nd; After You 8th; Bally Hoo 2 12th; Freedom 10th; Lets Go 44th ; Set Sea DNF)
Above: Still in the lead, with Crocs (right) in the background and Allways Well to leeward.
Photo: Trevor Wilkins
SA 4444 CROCS Fast 40 Div 1
SA 204 Smack Water Jack J 27 Div 2
RSA 3141 Always Well Beneteau 7.5 Div 1
10 Lapwing L34 Div 1
USA 43434 Spilhaus Swede 55 Div 1
SA 3502 Alladin Farr 40 Div 1
SA 630 A-L Farr 38 Div 1
SA 3800 PUMA Unleashed Leisure 42R Div 1
SA 1234 After You L 41 Div 1
SA 2773 Naledi J120 Div 1
SA 250 Freedom Farr 38 Div 1
SA 2700 Lobelia IMX 40 Div 1
SA 3600 Bally Hoo II Mumm 36 (mod keel & big bag) Div 1
44 Hors d' Oevres L 26 Div 2
SA 858 Perriwinkle Farr 38 Div 1
4 Pacer II Pacer 27s Div 1
SA 2954 Sea Oyster Nosebee 38 Div 4
SA 1027 Auto Atlantic Thunderchild L 52 Div 1
FRA 34635 Addis in Cape A 35 Div 1
SA 3444 Maestro Fast 42 Div 1
3 Welsh Witch L 26 Div 2
SA 765 Majimoto II Farr 40 Div 1
SA 978 Aurora Atlantis 49 Div 1
SA2388 8 Seconds Leisure 42 Div 1
45 Warlock L 26 Div 2
SA 2018 Cabaray Stadt 34 Div 3
SA 197 Diel Diebold 19.2 Div 1
SA 1178 Touch n'Go Lightwave 395 Div 1
SA 223 Impact Impact Div 3
11 Tally Ho L 34 Div 1
SA 2360 Saoirse Atlantis 36 Div 4
SA 3455 Mafuta Bavaria 36 Div 1
SA 198 Hill Billy J 27 Div 2
SA 1005 Panther L 76 Div 1
SA 2103 Avanti Vickers 41 Div 1
SA 797 Iechyd Da Muira Div 4
SA 3244 Maximus Maxim 38 Div 1
SA 399 Paprika Petersen 33 Div 3
SA 2447 Paragon Ocean 31 Div 2
SA 294 Albacore Corrida 36 Div 3
SA 1967 Storm Ocean 31 Div 2
SA 546 Nauti buoy Petersen 33 Div 3
SA 941 Morgenster L34 Div 1
18 Aquavit L 34 Div 1
SA 2676 Lets Go Bucanneer Div 3
20 Moonraker L 34 Div 1 (DNF)
SA 2922 Set Sea Scape 39 Div 4 (DNF)
SA 1245 Palucci Simonis 35 Div 1 (RTD)
SA 2332 Quicksilver Hobie 33 Div 1 (RTD)
VDO VIEWLINE TABLE BAY WEEK
AND IRC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
14th - 18th MAY, 2008
The trophy (all 10 kgs of it!) for 1st IRC Class 2 National Championships
Ah....Table Bay Week - the one event that has eluded Smackwater Jack. We have sailed this regatta every year since 2004 and failed with each attempt at even making the podium. Fourth, is the best we have been able to manage. We have wondered whether we lack BMT or was it just that the sailing gods didn't want us to win?
The 2007/2008 season has produced without doubt, our best set of results to date and we have been sailing flat out since January - certainly a lot more than our opposition. It would prove to be the ingredient we needed for victory.
I was one of the main campaigners in getting RCYC to move the regatta from it's old December (read that as in howling south easters) time slot to an autumn/winter month, where the breezes are lighter and the racing more tactical. Of course I didn't work into that equation the fact that we are set up for heavy breeze - lots of mast rake, heavy crew and predominantly heavy weather sails. It would prove to be a light wind regatta and we were going to have to work very hard for a win.
Entries had been dwindling in recent years, but this year they were almost double the 2007 total and even more encouraging is that there has been a sudden and excellent increase in IRC entries. The IRC fleets formed the bulk of the total. I do believe the tide has finally turned. With Matthew Thomas at the IRC helm things are bound to grow rapidly.
With VDO on board as event sponsors, the regatta was launched on Tuesday 13th May in grand style at RCYC. Some top managers from VDO Germany were in attendance indicating a keen interest by the sponsors in the event. The City of Cape Town climbed on board as well as they see sailing as one of Cape Town's prime sports offerings. Nice!
Adding additional status to the event is that it was classified as the SA IRC National Championships, so there were two trophies and two sets of medals in the offing for each category. There were press boats out every day and a TV film crew were on shore and on the water doing some good film production for Super Sport 2 due to be screened in a months time.
The first problem was trying to stick very large VDO decals onto the bows of the yachts without getting bubbles and creases. Hah! Easier said than done...
Race 1 - Wednesday, 14th May:
Weather Forecast: Cloudy with intermittent rain. Wind moderate to fresh NW. Temp. 16C
Course: Windward/Leeward x 3 loops (shortened to 2 loops)
Seas: Lumpy
Sails: Full Main, No. 2 Genoa, .75 oz North Mamba Spinnaker
Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Pit), Nic Baigrie (Bow), Simon Penso (Mast) Total: 520 kg
It looked like things were going to start on time, but the race officer, John 'Spilly' Spilhaus was going to have an unhappy day. The Cruising class went off first with many of the IRC boats not having read the class flags properly and starting with them.
In the 10 minutes that followed before the IRC start, the wind shifted from 320 degrees around to 360 degrees, making the line seriously starboard biased. The ensuing bunfight at the committee boat caused a general recall and then a long delay as the weather mark and the line were reset, this time with too much port bias.
The IRC Class 2 were required to start with Class 1 making life very unpleasant for the smaller boats. We managed to have an OK start and find a clear path to tack away on port. We immediately went into the lead in Class 2. We did a long port tack which headered at the perfect point, giving us a good lift up to the weather mark on starboard.
Finding the weather mark was a mission as the breeze had swung back to 360 degrees, making it a port tack favoured beat. We overstood quite badly and reached down to the weather mark, still just ahead of 2nd placed J27 'Hillbilly'
Our hoist was slick and we had a very fast beam reach back to the leeward mark logging 14 knots. Melges Racing and the Pacer 27 overtook us on towards the last third of this leg, but both boats mistakenly thought it was a starboard rounding and took their spinnakers down much too early, allowing us to regain the lead at the mark. We had a close call when Melges Racing were 'unwinding' themselves round the mark and tacked right in front of us. Fortunately they left a nice big gap on the leeward side of the mark, allowing us to squeeze through.
There was supposed to be an inner weather mark laid for Class 2, but poor Spilly had to make frantic radio announcements for both IRC fleets to sail to one mark, which had to be hastily moved back upwind to the new wind direction.
We were still in the lead at the second windward mark rounding as the breeze started going light. We went for a bear away set and held station with the Melges and Pacer who both sailed a higher course than us. We sailed a bit too far on starboard before gybing and found the angle on port to be tighter than expected. Hillbilly gained some ground by gybing earlier. Both the sports boats overtook us near the finish line. However corrected out, we had a resounding victory over 2nd placed J27 'Hillbilly' of just over 2 minutes. The J27 'Pure Magic' came third about 2 minutes adrift of 'Hillbilly'
Cool! A nice way to kick off a championship regatta with a bullet. The J27's completely dominated this race, but to be fair the moderate to fresh conditions which should have suited the sports boats, didn't pan out well for them due to the deep downwind angles they had to sail with a windward/leward course configuration. Of course the J27's could also plane downwind, negating any speed advantage the sports boats had over us.
Harken Racing (the other Melges 24), helmed by one of our ex crew members, Rodney Tanner did a spectacular broach after rounding the first weather mark, tearing the kite in the process. They scored a DNF as they did not finish within the time limit.
1st Smackwater Jack J27 1:33:21
2nd Hillbilly J27 1:35:5
3rd Pure Magic J27 1:37:3
4th Pacer 2 - Pacer 27 1:41:42
5th Melges Racing - Melges 24 1:42:14
6th Always Well - Beneteau 7.5 1:47:36
7th Harken Racing - Melges 24 DNF
RACE 2: THURSDAY 15TH MAY
(That foggen race!)
Race 2: Thursday 15th May
Weather: Nothing like the forecast! A gentle northerly and dense fog.
Later this day I sort of imagined a banner headline in the Cape Times saying something like..."Furious yachtsmen lynch unpopular race officer at premier yachting event" but it really was a day of seriously bad decisions. Volunteer race officers have a very tough job in that they give up their valuable work and leisure time to run our races and then we are vocal when they make mistakes. It doesn't sound fair and it probably isn't, but thats how things happen.
Things started off with more than half the fleet being unable to locate the committee boat. There were two reasons for this. First was that the start area had been moved (unannounced) from Milnerton to Clifton - a considerable distance and secondly that the bay was covered in a thick blanket of fog, reducing visibility down to 30 meters at times. Most skippers probably felt quite chuffed with themselves just finding the start area.
The bidge boat crew were unable to see the pin end at the end of this race. The pin itself was laid very close to Barker Rock which had a 4m swell breaking over it and the yachts had to contend with less than 8 knots of wind. Add to that both weather marks drifting (due to the water depth being greater than the ground tackle) and making their accurate location and rounding a seemingly impossible task, plus large ships with booming fog horns, a serious current running southwards and a bunch of seasick, wet and cold sailors - surely a recipe for trouble. And then there was some cheating going on as well, which I am disappointed to hear. The fog was so dense it often felt as we were the only boat out there. The temptation to head back downwind before finding that elusive weather mark for some boats, was clearly too much.
We had a shocker of a race, finishing some 30 minutes adrift of the J27 Pure Magic, but several skippers lodged protests seeking redress, the result of which was, that this race for both IRC fleets was declared abandoned. A wise and sensible decision by the Protest Committee which was favourably received by the vast majority of competitors.
It is a day I will remember for a very long time. Despite the compass and chartplotter, I felt stupidly disoriented most of the time. Feeling seasick didn't help matters much either. Hearing that ship's foghorn booming ever closer from the left hand side of the course was particularly nerve wracking. It is a race that should never have been started in the first place. And that is not just my opinion.
Trying to extract the best out of a bad situation, I suppose it was an interesting exercise in navigation trying to locate marks in extremely poor visibility. We found the marks every time, despite them drifting slowly downwind. I saved our GPS tracklog to illustrate the rate of drift.
The actual finishing order (just for interests sake) was:
1st Pure Magic (J27)
2nd Melges Racing (M24)
3rd Smackwater Jack (J27)
4th Hillbilly(J27)
5th Pacer ll (P27)
6th Harken Racing (M24)
7th Always Well (Ben 7.5)
RACES 2 (RESAILED); 3 AND 4.
Friday 16th May
Weather: Overcast, cold, 16C with lumpy 3m seas. Wind 14 to 18 knots NW.
It was a cold two hour wait for the bridge to set the course. Tuning up we tried both the No. 1 & 2 Genoas, but opted for the No.1 as we wanted to be fully powered up in the lulls even if it meant a slight bit of height sacrificing. There was a fair bit of port bias on the line and after a request for a separate start for Class 2, it was thankfully given, so at least we had the advantage of watching the Class 1 fleet starting. It also meant we had a long line to work with. Needless to say all the skippers had the same idea and all seven boats ended up near the pin end.
Shortly after the start, the Pacer got it's nose in front and started luffing us up. This forced us into a tack and we went off on a long port tack to the wrong side of the course. By the time we crossed back over to the left, we were lying last. With three rounds we didn't panic and resolved to make up ground wherever we could. On the first run we passed three boats, but Pure Magic had a good lead on us. We also noticed that they could soak right down to a square run and maintain the same speed we were doing at 160 degrees apparent. They sailed directly to the lee mark, whereas we still had to gybe and come in on port. The arrival of the leading boats in Class 1 at the same time made for interesting tactics and often worked to our advantage, but we came out of the mess quite nicely, doing a quick tack onto starboard to get into clear air. Hillbilly got badly buried by a Class 1 boat.
On the second upwind leg, we did a much better job of reading the shifts. We crossed tacks halfway up the beat with Pure Magic and noticed that we had shrunk their considerable lead right down to about 20 lengths. We also noticed that we were able to point higher than them on port tack. (We still haven't figured out why) We got ourselves right back into contention by lee bowing Pure Magic on the final starboard leg to the weather buoy, but our timing was not good, forcing us to soak away and put in another tack to clear the mark, rounding the top mark 8 lengths behind Pure Magic.
Whatever tricks we had, needed to be executed on this final run, so we aggressively went into high/fast mode. We knew we didn't have to cross the line ahead of them, but we had to be within 15 seconds due to a slight advantage we have in our IRC rating. All we needed was a slick gybe to cross the line on port 16 seconds behind Pure Magic. We got our second bullet by a a slender margin of one second! Hillbilly snapped up 3rd place.
RESULTS RACE 2 (Resailed)
1st Smackwater Jack (J27) 0:42:10
2nd Pure Magic (J27) 0:42:11
3rd Hillbilly (J27) 0:43.00
4th Pacer ll (Pacer 27) 0:46.30
5th Melges Racing (Melges 24) 0:47:15
6th Harken Racing (Melges 24) 0:50:28
7th Always Well (Beneteau 7.5) DNS
RACE 3 : FRIDAY 16TH MAY
(The Man Overboard Race)
Sailed back to back on Race 2 there was little change in the weather, so we stuck with the No.1 Genoa. The three J27's were dominating the results over the four sports boats with the conditions not really suiting the latter as no-one was planing.
We again went for a pin end start and got shafted by the Pacer, so tacked off for a short port tack, before going back to starboard and heading up towards the anchored ship. Pure Magic had good speed and got ahead of us. We tried to stay in contention on a lifting port tack and rounded fourth behind Melges Racing, Pacer ll and Pure Magic.
We were struggling to hold Pure Magic downwind just as in the earlier race and any gains we had made upwind would be lost on the runs.
On the second beat we managed to edge past Pure Magic and rounded just ahead only to lose the advantage again on the downwind leg.
Again we made up losses on the beat and rounded the top mark within 10 lengths of Pure Magic. We went for a close blanketing option as our best form of attack and this time we were able to soak down with them, progressively eroding their lead until we were within one boat length. We knew all we had to do was sit on them. It was gybe time and important that we kept them in the blanket zone.
Normally our gybes are pretty slick - even in strong winds. Perhaps I shouldn't have said: "Let's have a good gybe guys"
Phill shouted 'MAN OVERBOARD!" ....I had a brief glimpse of Simon, our mastman, doing one or two hops on the water like a skimming stone, before receding away behind us rapidly with the whites of his eyes being the most visible object. We have gone through this drill so many times. Charles pointed at the swimmer whilst the rest of us got the kite and pole down and turned back to pick Simon up. No-one timed it, but by working out our actual finishing time vs Pure Magic's, we can assume the MOB recovery took us less than 42 seconds. That must be something of a record in itself.
We had to be content with a 2nd place to Pure Magic. Of course that started a debate as to whether we should have just carried on across the finish line and then recovered our MOB, but just as quickly dismissed the notion as totally unacceptable and probably DSQ'able under Rule 69.
And then there are still some people that scoff at us when they see us wearing life jackets!!! Simon was happy to report that he had no problem floating with full oilies and sea boots. Luckily we had some spare dry kit on board which he could wear as there was another race to follow.
Peter Hill was sailing Hillbilly consistently into 3rd place to maintain the J27 dominance in IRC CLass 2.
RESULTS RACE 3:
1st Pure Magic (J27) 1:01:34
2nd Smackwater Jack (J27) 1:02:17
3rd Hillbilly (J27) 1:02:59
4th Pacer ll (P27) 1:04:48
5th Melges Racing (M24) 1:04:59
6th Always Well (Ben 7.5) DNS
7th Harken Racing (M24) DNF
RACE 4: 16th MAY
WINDWARD/LEEWARD X 3 LOOPS
Pure Magic had Alex Schon helming with owner, Allan Taylor trimming. They were proving to be tough competition and revelling in the light to moderate conditions. We were working very hard for our bullets and grateful that we had the 16 seconds per hour rating advantage.
The final race of the day was showing no change in the weather. It was to be another pin end start. This time our start position was slightly better and with some judicial trimming we were able to hold our line up the first starboard tack. The course was very much port tack favoured and Greg with his keen eyesight was able to spot the weather mark and call the layline. We nailed it to perfection, whereas Pure Magic overstood, which cost them dearly. We arrived at the weather mark just behind Melges Racing and did a good bearaway set.
We sailed an almost faultless race to cross the line first by a comfortable margin. Pure Magic took 2nd and Hillbilly 3rd place.
At that stage we felt less nervous with 3 x 1st's and 1 x 2nd versus Pure Magic's 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd scoreline. Hillbilly had a 2nd and 3 x 3rds. It wasn't a time to relax, but at least we could take a few deep breaths. Discards were what was worrying me.
RESULTS RACE 4:
1st Smackwater Jack (J27) 1:02:20
2nd Pure Magic (J27) 1:03.06
3rd Hillbilly (J27) 1:05:43
4th Pacer ll (P27) 1:08:22
5th Melges Racing (M24) 1:09:17
6th Always well (Ben 7.5) 1:14:13
7th Harken Racing (M24) DNS
RACES 5 & 6
SATURDAY 17th May
RACE 5: 17TH MAY - 20 NM. DISTANCE RACE
Five day regattas are tough on the body and the mind. It is important to hold the morale of the crew high and to keep a fine balance between party time and performance. I could see a few weary eyes on Saturday morning (including my own!).
Finally we had blue skies! To counter that we had enormous 5m swells on the bay coupled with winds of less than 8 knots from the SW, despite a weather forecast of 20 knots SE. It was up there in the corner of the bay, but not strong enough to oppose the westerly.
The course was a short beat to Paarden Island, followed by a long reach to Blaauwberg; a short fetch to a laid mark; another fetch to Milnerton and a beat to the finish via a second laid mark.
Pure Magic had problems. They had a man up the mast. The main halyard shackle had come undone and had slid all the way up to the sheave. Hoisting a crew member up to the hounds and trying to reach the halyard with a boat hook was not sufficient, so they they had to return to moorings to sort things out and forfeit a DNS score for this race. It must have been a real blow for them. They had been performing very well and were still in with a fighting chance to win overall.
Our start was OK just to windward of Hillbilly who was being luffed by the Pacer. Hillbilly squeezed us over onto port tack, which turned into a wonderful advantage as we picked up two or three beautiful shifts putting us 300m in front of the fleet in the space of 4 minutes. (Thanks Peter!)
We did a bearaway set and aimed for the distant Blaauwberg mark. The huge swells were rolling in from the port beam and one of them flipped us easily onto our side, but we recovered quickly and high tailed it on a hotter angle into deeper water. The adrenaline had kicked in... Man those waves were collosal!
The mark was not where the GPS co-ordinates said it should be. Once again Greg found the mark, which meant we had to turn dead downwind to round it - and that is awfully slow in 5 knots of wind and it was probably where we lost those vital seconds to Melges Racing - the eventual winner.
They carried their asso on the next leg whereas we were under Genoa. After rounding the laid mark, it was another very long fetch and again the Melges dropped us with their big asso. Rounding Milnerton, we timed them and knew it would be a tight race if we wanted another bullet.
The final beat to the finish was slow in a whisper of breeze. Just before we crossed the line the wind suddenly stopped completely leaving us stationary only 10 meters from the line. What agony! We had to be content with a 2nd, being roughly a minute and a half shy of first place.
RESULTS RACE 5 (DISTANCE RACE)
1st Melges Racing (M24) 2:31:37
2nd Smackwater Jack (J27) 2:33:09
3rd Hillbilly (J27) 2:51:12
4th Pacer ll (P27) 3:04:47
5th Always Well (Ben 7.5) 3:08:37
6th Pure Magic (J27) DNS
7th Harken Racing (M24) DNS
RACE 6: WINDWARD/LEEWARD X 1 LOOP
(Although that's not what the R.O. intended!)
Sailed back to back on the distance race, Pure Magic was ready and waiting to get back into the fray. The weather had worsened into about 2 to 5 knots of westerly coupled with those monster swells. We went for the pin end and started on time, being the most weatherly boat. Pure Magic immediately took the lead and within 10 minutes crossed 20 lengths ahead of us on port. We decided to go with them as we know we can point higher than them on port.
It was tough going with the sails inverting completely on the top of the waves as the boat was moved sideways unceremoniously by the swells. Gradually we edged up on Pure Magic and the Melges, who rounded first and second and put spinnakers up. They seemed to be stationary, so we decided not to hoist but stuck with the headsail. It took only about three minutes and we had drawn level with them. The going was slow and our course had been shortened by eliminating Milnerton mark from the course. That meant we would be finishing in the opposite direction to Class 1. Oh yeah! Fun and games!
We decided to stick as close to Pure Magic as posssible and again try to remain within 16 seconds of them. Then we spotted the dark colours of a fresh south easter on the water a few hundred meters shy of the finish line. Whoever would get to the breeze first, would win. We picked the left side which turned out to be wrong. Pure Magic and Melges racing got the breeze first and pulled away. Half a minute later we were also into the south easter and playing catch up but it looked like the gap was too big.
Now we often chirp on our boat about "the fat lady hasn't sung yet" and in this race it would once again prove to be accurate. Pure Magic and the Melges were level but on opposite tacks approaching the finish line at the committee boat end. Simultaneously Crocs (a Class 1 boat) was approaching the finish line from the opposite side on a reach with a spinnaker up. We heard some shouting (in fact lots of heated shouting!) and looked up to see Pure Magic and Melges Racing parked in irons right at the finish line. Meanwhile we took our opportunities so copiously provided by the opposition and tacked onto starboard for the finish line. We heard 4 hooters in 4 seconds. Crocs, Melges, Pure Magic and Smackwater Jack, in that order. We had just won the final race!
Melges Racing lodged a protest against Pure Magic (Port/Starboard) resulting in Pure Magic being disqualified from this race. It would prove to be a very expensive mistake taking them from 2nd overall to 3rd overall. Hillbilly gladly took the silver.
Pure Magic should have simply ducked the Melges' stern as they were miles ahead of them on corrected time. But of course, wisdom with hindsight is just an observation. It is a mistake they will probably never make again.
RESULTS RACE 6:
1st Smackwater Jack (J27) 1:19:21
2nd Pure Magic (J27) 1:19:36 DSQ
3rd Hillbilly (J27) 1:21:23
4th Melges Racing (M24) 1:28:05
5th Pacer ll (P27) 1:31:28
6th Always Well (Ben 7.5) RTD
7th Harken Racing (M24) DNS
Pure Magic was scored DSQ after a protest ruling. All positions moved up one place.
SUNDAY: 18th MAY
The final day of racing proved to be nothing more than a fairly pleasant three hour wait on the bay for non existent wind to make an appearance. The weather was beautifully warm and everyone was in shorts and T Shirts - some bolder (younger) crews taking to leaping off spreaders into the 14 degree C Atlantic to cool down.
At 1230 the Race Officer finally capitulated and called racing off. The regatta was over in a sort of anti-climax way. We congratulated each other and started the donkey to head back to moorings.
Perhaps the greatest task of all still lay ahead - remaining sober till the prize giving scheduled for 1800. Like the opening ceremony, the PG was smart and lavish with a great deal of silverware on offer including trophies and medals for each competitor from 3rd place upwards.
FINAL RESULTS IRC CLASS 2
1st Trygve Roberts J27 1 1 2 1 2 1 (-2) = 6 pts
2nd Peter Hill J 27 2 3 3 3 3 3 (-3) = 14 pts
3rd Allan Taylor J27 3 2 1 2 DNS DSQ 2 (-8) = 16 pts
4th Ryan Avery Melges 24 5 5 4 5 1 4 (-5) = 19 pts
5th Harry Brehm Pacer 27s 4 4 DSQ 8 4 5 (-8) = 25 pts
6th Ralph Thomas Beneteau 7.5 : 6 DNS DNS 6 5 DNF (-8) = 33 pts
7th Rodney Tanner Melges 24 DNF 6 DNF DNS DNS DNS (-8) = 38 pts
Above: The trophy for 1st in IRC Class 2 VDO Table Bay Week
And so we come to the good, the bad and the ugly. That time where we sum up the regatta and decide whther it was a success or not....
There were mistakes. There always are, but in general it was a well run event with a distinct air of class about it. Most skippers and crews spoke in positive terms about the regatta and I reckon Table Bay Week is back on track in a big way. I am willing to be bold enough to predict that next year will see another big increase in entries - especially so that the dates only require one day off work in 2009.
Well done to all involved.