Above: Smackwater Jack sporting her new sponsor's logo in Table Bay.

Photography: Trevor Wilkins

WINTER B SERIES - RACE 1
4th August, 2007

Race in a nutshell:

Position PHRF Class 2: 1st

Position Line Class 2: 2nd

Position IRC Class 2: 1st

Position Overall PHRF (All Classes): 2nd

Position Overall IRC (All Classes): 1st

Total Entries : 18

Number of Finishers: 18

Ave Speed: 5.6 kts

Max Speed: 9.6 kts

Distance: 12.43 nm.

Time: 01:30.21

Weather Forecast: Clear, Wind Light South East at 10 knots. Seas 3.0m.
Temp 13/15C Min/Max.
Baro: 996 hPa.

Weather Actual: Accurate except for the wind direction & strength, which was SE 18 knots becoming West 10 knots.

Course: Start No. 10 (S) –Paarden Island (P) - 2 (P) - Paarden Island (P) - 2 (P) - Finish No. 10 (P)

Seas: Flat with long 2.5m swell from WSW

Sails: Full Main, No. 3 Genoa, No. 2 Genoa, .75oz MTN Spinnaker.

Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Halyards), Andrew James (Bow) Total: 490 kg

With a forecast of only 10 knots from the south east, I figured we could sail five up – especially considering three of the five weigh in well over the 100 kg mark. We had Charles and Andrew James in as guests for the day, with Phillip, Greg and myself making up the rest of the regular team.

Charles laconically stated that there is no such thing as a 10 knot south easter in Cape Town, and to be fair, he was right. It was cold and a bit blustery on the bay and we didn’t “umm and aah” too much about headsail choice, going fairly unanimously for the blade and a full main. The course being two windward/leeward loops dictated a big spinnaker. I had little choice, but to ask Andrew to do bow – this is no mean feat as he is a BIG lad, and we all know the J27 doesn’t much like 120 kgs on the pointy end on any point of sail. All my regular light-weight bowmen are doing duty elsewhere.

We chose a pin end start expecting it to lift us up to the mark on one tack. We had a fair sized fleet milling around the start area. With the J27 ‘Pure Magic’ and the Hobie 33 ‘Quicksilver’ (the latter sporting a reefed main) having the same starting strategy as ourselves, we had to do a little skillfull luffing and stalling to ensure a clean start. We had a classic start – on the gun, going fast – and we quickly put those two boats behind us. Pure Magic had their No.1 Genoa with only five crew - too much sail area for the weight we thought. To windward, we had about six Class 1 boats falling down on us. The Farr 38 ‘Hocus Pocus’ rolled us after a few minutes, but we were able to easily hold our height and still lay the Paarden Island mark without any hassle. ‘Pure Magic’ were not matching our speed or height. Even so, they rounded about 20 lengths behind us. The other boats all went for a gybe set, whist Hocus Pocus and the two J27’s all went for a bear-away set. A gybe set would have been the better option, but we stuck with the conservative option and gybed back onto port as soon as we could. The boat felt dead and despite a wind angle of 100 degrees, we were barely managing 8.5 knots. Looking at boats around us, we appeared to be holding our position, neither losing, nor gaining on the competition.

At the #2 (leeward) mark, we did a perfect strike and rounding. The standard south easterly tactic of hardening up on port and heading straight in towards the wall, was not going to work today, as it was headering badly on port. Those that hung on, lost out badly.

Pure Magic tacked immediately after the mark with us following suit a few seconds later. Our jib sheets had snagged the front hatch and we lost 10 seconds clearing the lines. Once we were back on speed, we drew level with Pure Magic, but we were pointing slightly higher. They had changed to a #3 headsail and were able to keep station with us. However, the breeze was getting lighter and we were talking about changing to the #2 genoa. Once agreed, we elected to do the headsail change on the next downwind leg. As we went up the long beat to Paarden Island, we were getting lifted. As a consequence, Pure Magic, being the leeward boat, lost out progressively, having to sail an ever longer arc to the mark. WE rounded about 50 lengths ahead of her and not far behind the Farr 38 ‘Hocus Pocus’

This time we went for a gybe set, but the breeze had veered quite a bit and we were struggling to set the kite as the angle was 70 degrees ahead. That meant bearing off on a course away from the mark whilst Andy was feverishly trying to get the #2 genoa ready for hoisting. As soon as we got the #2 up and the kite down, we were able to get on to a beat. The wind had swung around from south east to west in the space of a minute and dropped in speed from 15 knots to 8 knots. We had just done an upwind leg and were now heading back 180 degrees and still on a beat. The bigger boats ahead benefited from the shift, as they had a shorter amount of upwind work to do than the Class 2 boats.

We remained focussed and worked the shifts meticulously to round the #2 buoy more than 100 lengths ahead of Pure Magic. With the spinnaker now on the wrong side, we had to do a bearaway set to weather, but with the light breeze, it went off smoothly and we made some ground on the Farr 38 in the run up to the finish.

The cold seemed to have disappeared and a gentle calm settled over the harbour as we sailed back to our moorings. A perfect winter afternoon in Cape Town. When the results were read out, we had beaten Hocus Pocus into 2nd place in Class 2 and ended 2nd overall PHRF (both classes). A very satisfactory result considering we had made two mistakes which cost us about a minute in time.

I was chatting to the octogenarian, Sheriff Saville, after racing. He told me that not too long ago the sailing season in Cape Town was from April till October and that no sailing took place in summer due to the perpetual strong south easterlies. Apparently Rick Nankin introduced summer sailing at RCYC. It still amazes me that the fleet size falls by 50% during winter, when we have the best sailing weather.

Our new sponsors, REGENT INSURANCE, have scheduled a photo shoot from a helicopter for next Sunday as we have some new sails sporting their logo – so hopefully this website will carry some of those pics next week.

SA 1278 Simonis 35 Wallbanger Brian Gardener 1 27 22 1st

SA 204 J 27 Smack Water Jack Trygve Roberts 1 29 54 2nd (1st Class 2) [1st IRC]

SA 1105 Farr 38 Hocus Pocus Kushner/Coward 1 30 52 3rd (2nd Class 2)

SA 2388 Leisure 42 Ocean Cruiser 1 31 39 4th (2nd IRC)

SA 223 Impact Impact Jay Barnes 1 33 1 5th (3rd Class 2)

SA 190 J 27 Pure Magic Alan Taylor 1 33 41 6th (4th Class 2)

045 L 26 Warlock Ian Slatem 1 38 55 7th (5th Class 2)

SA 130 Muira Apricot Bat Tromp 1 40 27 8th (6th Class 2)

13 RCOD Ariel Sheriff Saville 1 40 30 9th (7th Class 2)

SA 1178 Lightwave 395 Touch n' Go Dave Smith 1 43 56 10th

SA2018 Stadt 34 steel hull Cabaray Ray Matthews 1 45 55 11th (8th Class 2)

893 Muira Chen Iain McGuigan 1 52 32 12th (9th Class 2)

SA 2360 Atlantis 36 Saoirse Tony Blackwell 1 52 47 13th (10th Class 2)

SA 702 Charger 33 FTI Flyer Keith Mattison 1 55 32 14th (11th Class 2)

SA 797 Muira fp Iechyd Da Stephan Hundt 1 57 17 15th (12th Class 2)

SA 2458 Beneteau 38 Sheena Bhan Gordon Kling 1 57 34 16th

2676 Bucanneer Let's Go Duncan Johnson 2 2 5 17th (13th Class 2)

SA 2332 Hobie 33 Quicksilver Mike Klostermann 2 12 46 18th

CLASS II FINAL RESULTS WINTER A SERIES

SA204 Smackwater Jack Trygve Roberts J27 1, 2, 3, 1ST

SA 1105 Hocus Pocus Kushner/Coward Farr 38 3,3,1 2nd

SA 223 Impact Jacqui Brand Impact 4,1,12 3rd

SA702 FTI Flyer Keith Mattison Charger 33 6,12,3 4th

13 Ariel Sheriff Saville RCOD 9,11,2 5th

SA 130 Apricot Bat Tromp Muira 8,8,6 6th

SA2676 Lets Go Duncan Johnson Buccaneer 12,10,4 7th

042 Wild Goose Ernest Chicken L 26 5,5,16 8th

045 Warlock Ian Slatem L 26 11,16,4 9th

43 Escape Rodney Tanner L 26 25,5,2 10th

SA 2018 Cabaray Ray Mathews Stadt 34 10,13,11 11th

SA 3141 Always Well Thomas/Burger First 7.5 2,25,13 12th

SA 190 Pure Magic Alan Taylor J 27 7,25,14 13th

044 Hors d' Oeuvre Peter Bam L 26 25,3,18 14th

018 Aquavit Phil Flockton L34 25,15,7 15th

SA 198 Hill Billy Peter Hill J 27 25,1,25 16th

SA 2458 Sheena Bhan Gordon Kling Beneteau 38 25,7,20 17th

SA 961 Morgenster Joanne Lambrechts L 34 13,17,23 18th

SA2418 Celine III Volker Vierhaus H34 6,20,9 19th

SA 2360 Saoirse Tony Blackwell Atlantis 36 25,14,15 20th

SA 1335 Far Med Vitor Medina Muira 25,9,25 21st

010 Lapwing Alan Keen L34 25,10,25 22nd

SA 893 Chen Iain McGuinigan Muira 25,21,25 23rd

SA 3455 Mafuta Mathys Louwrens Bavaria 36 25,22,25 24th

WINTER A SERIES - RACE 3
23rd July, 2007

Race in a nutshell:

Position PHRF Class 2: 3rd

Position Line Class 2: 2nd

Total Entries : 31

Number of Finishers: 29

Ave Speed: 3.7 kts

Max Speed: 7.7 kts

Distance: 7.33 nm.

Time: 01:47.39

Weather Forecast: Partly Cloudy. Wind moderate South East. Seas 3.5m. Temp 13/17C Min/Max. Baro: 999 hPa.

Weather Actual: Accurate except for the wind direction & strength.

Course: Start No. 10 (S) –Paarden Island (P) - Milnerton (P) - Paarden Island (P) - Milnerton (P) - 4 (P) - Finish No. 10 (P)

Seas: Flat with long 3.0m swell.

Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .5oz Quantum BP kite.

Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Manuel Mendes (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Halyards), Morgan Evans (Bow) Total: 485 kg

An Engineer, a scientist, an underwriter and two vehicle marketing guys (one with yet another huge babbelaas - and it wasn't me) all together on one tiny boat with no wind. One would expect this to be a definite recipe for trouble, but it was actually just the opposite. A great afternoon spent in the company of some very smart people.

With a light south easterly forecast, I took my chances on that being accurate information and decided for good reasons (not least of which was that Tyran could not do bow) to race five up. This is unusual for me. I have fixed ideas about how a boat should be managed and long and bitter experience has taught me that a J27 needs six crew weighing around 500 kg.

Last week Manuel Mendes asked if he could sail with us, but I already had a full crew, but promised him a sail this week. Readers who know Manuel will understand what I am about to discuss, but for the benefit of the unitiated, you need to understand the magnitude of the man - (in every sense of the word.)

Manuel (if you had not already figured it out) is Portuguese. Born in Angola around 50 years ago, he has been involved in the marine business for most of his life. Recently he was one of the technical people on the Shosholoza AC campaign - and if that's not enough, he just happens to be the man who built Smackwater Jack and every other J27 in SA. In short, he really knows what he is doing. He is a larger than life character with a huge guffawing laugh emanating from a 110 kg frame - and he is strong. One of those rare crew who can sheet a #1 Genoa in on a J27 without a winch. Added to the physical strength and technical know how, comes a life time of yacht racing experience - and he loves every minute of what he does. What a pleasure having this man on my boat!

I asked Manuel to trim the genoa and spinnaker as Charles Crosby and I seem to work nicely together on main and tiller. As is the habit these days, Phill was asked to do halyards (and there is no-one better than him) which left Morgan as a solitary figure on the foredeck. Morgan was looking a tad pale and not quite as bouncy as I have come to know him. A little discreet questioning indicated a heavy Friday night out on the tiles. Morgan is getting a reputation of being a serious party animal, but he does take his punishment like a man, to be fair.

OK, so that's how we got to be five up and still slogging in at close to 500 kg. (Phil and I were the skinny ones.)

Out at the start area, we wrote down the course. A feeble south easterly wafted in and out of the bay - around 5 knots of it. I was smiling. This is J27 weather! Adding to the fair sized fleet were the other two J27's - Hillbilly sailing three up with two of Ukuzwana's crew members and Alan Taylor's "Pure Magic" sailing five up, like ourselves.

Just before the start, the wind switched 180 degrees and suddenly we were faced with a running start. Many of the skippers had not even noticed the wind switch and came drifting down the line on a course which would have been starboard tack had the breeze not swung round. Our calls for them to keep clear were met with blank stares and confusion. It was so light, it hardly mattered anyway. 'Pure Magic' had a perfect start picking up a nice puff and they shot off into the lead well clear of the entire fleet.

'Hilbilly' had their kite up and were pulling away on the port side of the fleet, whilst we sucked under the lee of three large Class 1 boats, going nowhere fast.

After about two minutes, we also got a sniff of breeze and quickly rehoisted the genoa, struck the spinnaker, and footed off of starboard tack, now back into a south easterly breeze. All three J27's were doing well and occupying three of the four leading places - the other being the Farr 40 'Majomoto'. We closed the gap on 'Hilbilly' fairly quickly, but 'Pure Magic' was aleady around the weather mark and heading off to Milnerton under spinnaker. We sat on 'Hillbilly's' tail knowing we would never get through her lee and that they would definitely luff us if we went to weather - so we just sat on her leeward quarter riding her wake, as we inched closer and closer.

"Hillbilly' went for a gybe, so we did as well. Now we were weather boat and with a superior gybe, managed to get our bow ahead and soon opened up a gap of about 80 meters.

The Race Committe then announced a shortened course which meant heading directly to the No.4 bouy and the finish.

Next boat in our sights was 'Pure Magic' now well within striking distance. This boat is seriously quick in the light stuff, so we would need to work hard to catch them.

We gybed perfectly back onto starboard in a breeze that was swirling around through many angles, but the shifts were working in our favour and we quickly closed the gap on 'Pure Magic'.

As we approached the Milnerton mark, 'Pure Magic' seemed to have gone too low, so we hoisted the #1 and took our kite down and reached quickly in to the mark at a good angle, just behind the Farr 40. We were in 2nd place overall and looking really good. The wind had gone back to a westerly, so we had a quick indaba and decided to head offshore. The rest of the fleet were wallowing in patchy conditions a long way behind us. Technically, we had the race sewn up, but we all know in light wind, that is often not the case. We tacked as little as possible and sailed into hole after hole waiting for a fresh eddy of breeze which would have us lifting and headering in as many seconds. Add to that a fairly long swell of around 3 meters and concentration was the first item on the menu. We were doing great - hopping from patch to patch more successfully than most.

"Hillbilly' was a long way below us to leeward also on starboard tack, whilst, 'Pure Magic' took a flyer and went far offshore on port, where they parked in a big hole for almost an hour.

'Hillbilly' were sailing well, getting ever closer to us and by the time we had the #4 buoy mark in sight, they were a mere 50 meters away. The inevitable happened and they picked up a puff of breeze and sailed neatly past us with good speed as we watched in dismay only 30 meters further upwind as our sails hung like limp washing. Eventually we also got the breeze, but 'Hillbilly' were not going to be caught. We finished in that order with the Farr 38 'Hocus Pocus' taking 3rd place. Behind us, we had not paid much attention to the slower class 2 boats. Sheriff Saville, one of our active octogenarian members, sailing the RCOD 'Ariel' came in with a good
corrected time, to push us back from 2nd to 3rd place. (I spoke to Sheriff after the race and he smilingly told me that he had sailed to the wrong mark by mistake, having missed the shorten course announcement, and in so doing had placed himself into a solid wind band!)

Our series competitors 'Impact' had a terrible race, finishing in 11th place. Our main competitor now becomes 'Hocus Pocus' for a series win. With a 1st, 2nd, 3rd scoreline, we have a good chance of collecting the trophy, but with a probability of not being able to sail the final race, we will have to use that as our discard. It is still possible therefore for two other boats to sneak in and beat us. Time will tell.

This was another fantastic afternoon out on the water in mid winter despite the light and patchy conditions. It's just such a treat not to get batterred week after week by the Cape Doctor.

SA 198 Hill Billy Peter Hill J 27 1st

13 Ariel Sheriff Saville RCOD 2nd

SA 204 Smack Water Jack Trygve Roberts J 27 3rd

2676 Let's Go Duncan Johnson Bucanneer 4th

043 Escape Rodney Tanner L 26 5th

SA 130 Apricot Bat Tromp Muira 6th

018 Aquavit Phil Flockton L34 7th

SA 1105 Hocus Pocus Dale Kushner Farr38 8th

SA 2418 Celine III Volker Vierhaus H34 9th

010 Lapwing Alan Keen L34 10th

SA2018 Cabaray Ray Matthews Stadt 34 steel hull 11th

SA 223 Impact Jay Barnes Impact 12th

SA 3141 Always Well Thomas/Burger Beneteau 6.5m 13th

SA 190 Pure Magic Alan Taylor J 27 14th

SA 2360 Saoirse Tony Blackwell Atlantis 36 15th

SA 042 Wild Goose Ernie Chicken L 26 16th

045 Warlock Ian Slatem L26 17th

044 Hors d'Oeuvre Peter Bam L26 18th

SA 702 FTI Flyer Keith Mattison Charger 33 19th

SA 2458 Sheena Bhan Gordon Kling Beneteau 38 20th

893 Chen Iain McGuigan Muira 21st

SA 3455 Mafuta Mathys Lourens Bavaria 36 22nd

SA 961 Morgenster Joanne Lambrechts L34 23rd

SA 1335 Far Med Vitor Medina Muira DNF

SA 3082 Uku Zwana Thomas Swana Laser 28 DNS

WINTER SERIES - RACE 2
14th July, 2007

Race in a nutshell:

Position PHRF Overall: 3rd

Position PHRF Class 2: 2nd

Position IRC Class 2: 1st

Total Entries : 23

Number of Finishers: 20

Ave Speed: 5.4 kts

Max Speed: 7.8 kts

Distance: 8.28 nm.

Time: 01:31.54

Weather Forecast: Clear. Wind moderate South East. Seas 1.5m. Temp 15/22C Min/Max. Baro: 1000 hPa.

Weather Actual: Accurate

Course: Start No. 10 (S) –Paarden Island (P) - 8 (P) - Paarden island (P) - 8 (P) - Finish No. 10 (P)

Seas: Flat with long 1.5m swell.

Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .75oz North MTN kite.

Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Morgan Evans (Main), Andrew James (Genoa), Simon Penso (Halyards), Chris Gough (Mast), Steve Meek (Bow) Total: 535 kg

It's funny how things happen.

One of the items that got waterlogged on that blistering and wild reach back from Robben Island a few weeks ago, was the first aid kit on Smackwater Jack. So I took it home for sorting and drying and perhaps for relocation into a truly waterproof container. Well...the truth is by Saturday morning when I was packing all the sailing gear at home, the first aid kit was far from ready.

"Not to worry" I told my wife..."Today we have a light wind forecast and the reality is that we have only used the first aid kit twice in four years. One for a plaster and another for headache pills. We will be fine. We can finish the first aid kit next week" and off I went to go sailing - technically not fully complying with my certificate of safety. It would turn into a very good lesson later in the day.

There we were back at our jetty after racing; all the sails packed away, in calm weather and flat water. I had just unshackled the mainsheet from the boom and had asked Simon for the boom's securing line. Morgan (all 110 kgs of hungover main trimmer) spotted the line on the jetty and stepped off the side of the boat to fetch it. The boom had been lying well over the port side of the boat. With the shift in weight, the boat rotated from port to starboard and with it came the unhinged boom. I was standing, bent down in the cockpit, coiling a line, when the end of the boom (that nice bit with the sharp cutaway for the reefing blocks) smacked me on the temple, just above my left eye. It wasn't a thud, more of a cracking sound. Then there was a lot of blood.

Aha! No first aid kit of course! Damn and double damn! Well, there was the lesson.

I used my sailing shorts to stem the blood flow and I probably should have gone for a few stitches, as there is a 3cm double split in the eyebrow. Plaster will just have to do for now.

Oh yes, we went racing as well. In beautiful Cape winter weather, a fair sized fleet of about 25 boats set sail for the starting area. We had plenty of talent on board for the day - many of them substitutes for our regulars who were attending Greg's wedding. I invited Steve Meek from North Sails to be our bowman for the day and without diminishing the copious sailing qualities of the rest of the crew (including myself) it was marvelous to watch a true professional at work. With a meticulous eye for detail, Steve quickly had the tape out; covering split pins, checking the rigging, pole end fittings, halyards and systems. His agility is impressive, considering he is probably close to my own age. I only managed to get him flustered once when I called for three gybes in the space of 60 seconds. Luckily it wasn't blowing hard!

Peter Bam - owner of the L26 "Hors d' Oeuvres" was OOD and set a solid windward/leeward course for the fleet. Two loops up to No.2 buoy with a crossing of the finish line on each loop in case they needed to shorten in the light conditions. The forecasted 10 knot southeasterly was actually an 8 knot westerly. This was J27 weather. These boats really perform out of their socks in light wind and flat water.

The start line had a good dollop of starboard bias on it. Obvious enough to lure the fleet to the pin end, so our strategy would be to hang back, watch the bun fight, then sneak in right at the pin, but with 3 minutes to go, the breeze backed 15 degrees and we quickly amended our plan to go for a port start near the wall end. We did it pretty well and whilst the rest of the fleet all had to tack over onto port on the gun (a very slow maneuver in
such light breeze), we simply accelerated off the line doing 5,8 knots in six or seven knots of wind.

We had to duck one big boat (the 38 ft "Sheenah Bhan") and after that it was power sailing up to the weather mark. We easily rolled the Beneteau "Always Well" and were ahead of all the Farr 38's and Farr 40's. Within five minutes we were positively the leading boat. Only the Simonis 35 "Wallbanger" was keeping station with us - slightly behind and to weather.

We rounded #2 buoy in first place and went immediately for a gybe set. "Wallbanger" took the leeward route (where we wanted them) and then they slowly pulled ahead of us. There was a solid gap between the two of us out front and the rest of the fleet. And then the wind faded. We closed up on "Wallbanger" and the rest of the fleet closed on us. At the leeward mark, things were agonizingly slow. In the space of 300 meters, I think we did three spinnaker hoists and as many genoa drops and hoists. We did actually cross past the #10 mark in first place as the south easter starting filling in from behind, but the entire fleet had bunched up and the RC wisely decided to abandon the race.

The new course was set for the south easterly breeze - with much the same pattern - two loops between Paarden Island and #8 marks. I learned another BIG lesson in this race and I will share this with you - The south easter does not lift a boat up towards the Paarden Island mark if the breeze is less than 15 knots. This is not the first time I have made this mistake. Nine out of ten times, we tend to start near the pin end in a south easterly breeze, relying on the J27's pointing ability to get us to the weather mark on one tack. The distance from #10 to Paarden island is about 800 meters shorter than from the hut.

So there we were, perfectly lined up for the start, close to the pin, with Dale Kushner in his Farr 38 "Hocus Pocus" having the same thoughts as us, lined up just to leeward of us. It was a text book start. Lance Burger in the Beneteau "Always Well" did his customary trick and was recalled OCS (just in front of us). As we went off on starboard tack, I could see we would never lay the mark. We were headered way off. The boats on the inside track had a much better pattern with persistent shifts favouring the starboard tack. We were not getting them and it soon became clear that we were losing out swiftly. We had no choice, but to write off our losing tactic and cross over on port tack.

Things were not looking too shabby when we rolled back onto starboard as we found ourselves level with the Farr 38 again. We had them port/starboard, but I waved them through, not wanting them tacking under us. It was pretty cool being able to race a Farr 38 boat for boat and beat them. This specific boat is rated with a No.3 headsail (to get a more favourable rating), so the lack of headsail power obviously affects their speed in the lighter breezes.

We rounded the top mark slightly ahead and inside. We got our spinnaker up and drawing a lot quicker than them, but there was not enough space to gybe across onto port. We wanted to stay on the land side where we felt there was better pressure.

It was time to make some bold decisions. I thought that the Farr 38 skipper (being a smart sailor) would want to employ the same strategy and I also thought he might return the earlier favour when they were allowed through on port - so I called for a gybe. No problems with the gybe, but as the two boats closed on opposing courses; there was not an inkling of the Farr getting ready to gybe or in any way allow us to cross ahead or behind them. Suddenly my whole plan (as risky as it was) fell apart and I gave one warning of the next gybe - which is when Steve got a little unhappy. I think he said three gybes in 30 seconds are a bit much. Anyway, the breeze was light and besides a little shuffling around, no harm was done. The problem of course remained. We were sitting squarely in their wind shadow – trapped and nowhere to go.

So we went on to plan B. We heated up our angle and got more separation from them, then gybed over to port and went beam reaching across their transom. Once we were to weather of them, we had slightly better speed and gradually drew ahead of them. We gybed back onto starboard on the gybeline to the leeward mark and went straight in to #8 buoy with a solid overlap and an inside track on the Farr 38. Displaying excellent crew work, our drop and rounding was top quality. Two minutes later we had opened up a 20 boat length lead on Hocus Pocus.

The breeze had backed by about 15 degrees and our initial plan to head towards the wall had to be amended. Just then we had the Farr 40 "Majimoto" suddenly popping up on starboard and here we made another small mistake. We should really have ducked their transom - instead we tacked under them and tried to outsail them. Once again we were sitting in a trapped position under a much bigger boat. The only solution was to sail low, separate and tack slowly to clear behind "Majimoto".

For the rest of the beat, we worked the shifts as best we could and found ourselves losing out a little to 'Hocus Pocus', but maintaining station with 'Majimoto' on whose stern we rounded the weather mark. Our kite was up and drawing in a flash, after doing a gybe set, but 'Majimoto' had the same idea and there we were back in the 'Farr box' (not unlike the dog box). Again we had to separate, heat up and cross their stern. They had a bit of a spinnaker halyard problem and although their spinnaker was drawing fully, the entire crew were staring up the mast, transfixed and sailing slowly, so we took our chances and sailed away from them. By the time we gybed back onto starboard, we were very Farr ahead (so to speak). This time we executed a second gybe allowing us to approach the leeward mark on the favoured port gybe.

With Steve doing his thing on the foredeck and generally sharp crew work, we were gaining continually. Our final beat up to the line was close behind 'Hocus Pocus' who inexplicably decided not to tack on the layline to #10. We did and crossed a short distance behind them. With our attentions firmly on the three Farr's, we had not really worried too much about the L26's and the other Class 2 boats. After crossing the finish line and heading back into the harbour, we noticed the 30ft Impact (an old IOR design with an excellent rating and a masthead kite) as well as an L26 (Peter Bam) not very far behind us. Suddenly, a first place was not so secure any more. We would have to wait for the results.

Brian Gardener on the Simonis 35 (mod) 'Wallbanger' had done enough work to secure 2nd place overall, but Jacqui Brand's 'Impact' took the top spot with some good tactical sailing. We had to be content with 3rd. 'Impact' is a regular competitor and it was nice to see them walking off with a prize for a change.

I noted that we missed 2nd place by a mere two seconds!

So far, the Winter Series has provided very good, tactical sailing in gentle breezes with comfortable temperatures. Ironically, we all sailed in short sleeves yesterday. Mid winter in Africa. You have to love it!

Sail # Class Yacht Skipper Club TCF Finished Elapsed Corr Place Overall Class 2 Class 1

SA 223 Impact 30 Impact Jay Barnes 1 13 52 1st

SA 1278 Simonis 35 mod Wallbanger Brian Gardener 1 15 2 2nd

SA 204 J 27 Smack Water Jack Trygve Roberts 1 15 4 3rd

044 L26 Hors d'Oeuvre Peter Bam 1 16 10 4th

SA3502 Farr 40a Aladdin Bjorn Geiger 1 17 33 5th

SA 2418 H34 Celine III Volker Vierhaus 1 18 49 6th

SA 042 L 26 Wild Goose Ernie Chicken 1 19 20 7th

SA 1105 Farr38 Hocus Pocus Dale Kushner 1 19 44 8th

SA 2458 Beneteau 38 Sheena Bhan Gordon Kling 1 22 10 9th

SA 130 Muira Apricot Bat Tromp 1 19 55 10th

SA 1335 Muira Far Med Vitor Medina 1 22 14 11th


2676 Bucanneer Let's Go Duncan Johnson 1 22 57 12th

SA 3141 Beneteau 6.5m Always Well Ralph Thomas 1 23 16 13th

SA 702 Charger 33 FTI Flyer Keith Mattison 1 24 0 14th

SA2018 Stadt 34 steel hull Cabaray Ray Matthews 1 24 4 15th

SA765 Farr 40 PG Glass Majimoto II Paul Mare 1 27 37 16th

SA 2360 Atlantis 36 Saoirse Tony Blackwell 1 27 48 17th

018 L34 Aquavit Phil Flockton 1 28 3 18th

045 L26 Warlock Ian Slatem 1 28 46 19th

SA 961 L34 Morgenster Joanne Lambrechts 1 28 47 20th

SA 3455 Bavaria 36 Mafuta Mathys Lourens Retired

SA 1245 Simonis 35 mod Pallucci Syd Kaye Retired

010 L34 Lapwing Alan Keen DNF

WINTER SERIES - RACE 1
7th July, 2007

Race in a nutshell:

Position PHRF Overall: 1st

Position PHRF Class 2: 1st

Position IRC Overall & Class 2: 1st

Total Entries : 20

Number of Finishers: 17

Ave Speed: 6.1 kts

Max Speed: 11.0 kts

Distance: 12.46 nm.

Time: 01:36.37

Weather Forecast: Partly Cloudy. Wind fresh Westerly. 60% rain by evening. Seas 1.0m. Temp 12/15C Min/Max. Baro: 1008 hPa.

Weather Actual: Wind was lighter than forecast. No rain.

Course: Start No. 10 (S) – 2 (S)Milnerton (S) - 2 (P) - Paarden island (S) - Finish No. 10 (P)

Seas: Flat with minor swell and chop.

Sails: Full Main, No. 1 Genoa, .75oz North MTN kite.

Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Chris Boshoff (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Halyards), Deon (Mast), Morgan Evans (Bow) Total: 525 kg

It has been a different winter to what we are accustomed to down here at the tip of Africa. The normal benign winter weather so pleasant to sail in, has gone A.W.O.L. and we have had a fairly testing season so far - including some seriously big swell and a new speed record. After our blistering run around Robben Island a fortnight ago, the dehumidifier had still not quite managed to dry the boat out completely.

With two cold fronts arriving in piggy back style - one on Friday and the next on Saturday with a 60% rain forecast and fresh westerly winds, I thought we were going to be in for another slog through the heavy stuff, but we were fortunate to be able to squeeze a perfect race in, between the two fronts.

With 20 boats entered, I knew the heavy rain and cold on Friday had affected the entries to a certain degree. Once again a big rugby international between South Africa and Australia, set to be screened around about the time we should be starting the race, also kept some of the boats at their moorings. The rest of us who love sailing more than rugby, went out to do our thing.

It was one of those awkward weeks of the year where many of my usual pool of crew were not available for a variety of reasons, so we were left more than thin on manpower. We had Greg, Phil, Morgan and myself, as our core group which left us a bit vulnerable. Charles, Simon, Tyran and Waldo all had other commitments, so Morgan brought a pal along (Chris Boshoff) and we offered a ride to one of the juniors (Deon)as the club was running a junior promotion. So we had two rank novices on board. Who to place where?

After some debate, I moved Phil from the main trim position and put him on halyards (probably the most complex job on the boat and the most likely place for a foul-up to happen). Morgan had to do bow, which is also not ideal - having a 110 kg bowman. I kept Chris in the cockpit to do main trim where I could help him with direct instruction - and we put Deon at mast under the watchful eye of Morgan. Michael (Chunderchild) Ovenstone had gallantly agreed to do foredeck immediately after arrival at the airport from a week long regatta in Durban, but a delayed flight put paid to that idea.

Out at the start area we had about 10 to 12 knots of breeze, which gave us just sufficient breathing space to iron out the errors and training novice crew. Once we were all settled in, I noticed a fair amount of port bias on the line, so we opted for a wall start, which in hindsight, was not our smartest move this year. We had about 800 meters further to sail, but my theory was that we would be windward boat (clean air) and we would be able to sail freer than everyone else (better speed) - giving us two advantages.

As the gun went, we had the Beneteau sport boat "Always Well" directly upwind of us and on port tack (they had a similar plan to us in terms of positioning). However, they were OCS and had to duck in between all the starboard tackers to get back over the line. It hampered us a little, but a worse problem was a 30 footer just behind us on starboard, preventing us from tacking. Our plan was to tack onto port as the gun went, so we had to hang on for a minute longer until the Miura tacked.

As soon as we got the boat speed up to 7.7 knots, we ran over half a dozen boats. We were well above the layline and had more than enough (let's make that too much) height and found ourselves rounding the first mark with the Charger 33 "Fti Flyer" - a boat we normally easily beat. We got our spinnaker up and drawing before them, but we just lacked enough gas to get
past them to windward. We also couldn't gybe away as they were too close. I didn't like the heading which had too much north in it and instinctively felt the need to gybe away from the fleet. None of the crew liked the idea, so I pulled rank and called for the gybe anyway. I stalled the boat nicely through the gybe and allowed enough space to sneak past Fti's transom and suddenly the boat felt better. However we were on a separation angle and it's always uncomfortable sailing away from the opposition.

"Always Well" gybed across a few minutes after us, but they weren't planing, so we could hold them with our deeper gybing angles. Once we gybed back onto port, we had gained at least five more places and were hot on the heels of the big boats. Just before rehoisting the genoa before the lee mark, Morgan had "bowline stage fright" and gave us a few anxious seconds as the mark loomed ever closer and the genoa remained flaked on the foredeck. But we got it up just in time.

Our rounding was fine and we found ourselves staying on pace with the Lightwave 395 (A 40 footer) which meant we were doing a good job with the
trimming. The starboard tack was starting to header, so we rolled over onto
port and we made some more ground on those ahead. On our next tack back onto
starboard, we had caught "Always Well" and closed so much on the Simonis 35 "Palucci", that we had to bear away to clear them. One tack later and we were ahead. The boat felt great and the light to medium weather suited our weight combination perfectly, allowing us to sail fully powered up. On the next tack, we were ahead of the Lightwave "Touch n Go" with only a few big boats ahead of us.

We overstood the #2 mark by quite a margin, allowing Palucci back into the race. Our spinnaker set was again better and we drew level with them, with ourselves in the windward position. Try as they may, they could not break out of our wind shadow. Meanwhile, the wind had clicked up to about 18 knots and backed about 10 degrees, making for an ever tighter reach and we were starting to get overpowered. The Beneteau "Always Well" had their asso up and they overtook us easily whilst planing - the angle suited them perfectly. Ten lengths behind us "Touch n Go" also had a huge asso up and they were slowly starting to gain on us. We were able to hold them off by discreetly herding them into a leeward overtaking position and rounded behind the Beneteau and Palucci, with Touch n Go close behind us. There was one hairy moment when the genoa blew over the guardrail sending both Phillip and Morgan (that's around 190 kgs of sudden weight shifting) to leeward to retrieve the errant sail. The net result was we were only one second away from broaching, but with some slick ballet steps on the foredeck, (actually Morgan was rolling) he managed to drag himself back onto the high side of the boat. (He has promised to reinstate himself in his ballet classes!)

The final upwind leg to the finish was a textbook leg and worked really well for us. We remained on starboard till it headered and rolled over onto port which persistently lifted us right up to the layline to the finish, which also gave us a lift and brought us in to the line right alongside Palucci who crossed one second ahead of us.

We beat the Beneteau by a scant 4 seconds on corrected time to take a 1st overall PHRF and IRC. Not too shabby considering our crew status. The Farr 40 "Aladdin" took 3rd place.

Alan Taylor had his wife and two young sons on board and one other lady crew member. Their weight was only about half of ours, so Alan just enjoyed a nice winter sail on the bay, finishing aout 10 minutes behind us. Our 3rd J27 "Hillbilly" did not race.

After racing I chatted to Harry Brehm (ex owner of the Vickers 41 "Avanti") who is keen on buying Gavin Smith's J27 in Durban. Harry is a regular competitor and would add good value to our J27 fleet in Cape Town. Let's hope this deal actually happens.

1st J27 Smackwater Jack - Trygve Roberts - 1.36.8

2nd Beneteau 7.5 - Always Well - Ralph Thomas - 1.36.12

3rd Farr 40 - Aladdin - Bjorn Geiger - 1.36.55

4th Farr 38 - Hocus Pocus - Dale Kushner - 1.37.33

5th Impact 30 - Impact - J.Barnes 1.40.6

6th Farr 40 - Majimoto - Paul Mare - 1.41.43

7th L26 - Wild Goose - Ernie Chicken - 1.43.44

8th Simonis 35 - Palucci - Syd Kaye - 1.44.20

9th Charger 33 - FTi Flyer - Keith Mattison - 1.45.26

10th J27 - Pure Magic - Alan Taylor - 1.45.35

11th Lightwave 395 - Touch n Go - Dave Smith - 1.46.5

12th Miura 30 - Apricot - Bat tromp - 1.46.37

13th RCOD 30 - Ariel - Sheriff Saville - 1.48.1

14th Stadt 34 - Cabaray - Ray Matthews - 1.49.1

15th L26 - Warlock - Ian Slatem - 1.52.17

16th Buccaneer - Lets Go - Duncan Johnson - 1.52.33

17th L34 - Morgenster - Joanne Lambrechts - 1.59.38

18th Miura 30 - Chen - Iain McGuigan - RTD

19th Laser 28 - Ukuzwana - Thomas Swana - DNS

NEW J27 SPEED RECORD!!!!!

Above: Proof of our new speed record set on Saturday 22nd June, 2007 during the Robben Island Race

ROBBEN ISLAND PURSUIT RACE
22nd JUNE, 2007

Race in a nutshell:

Position PHRF Overall: 3rd

Position PHRF Class 2: 1st

Total Entries : 44

Number of Finishers: 9

Ave Speed: 7.4 kts

Max Speed: 17.6 kts

Distance: 23.48 nm.

Time: 03:05.59

Weather Forecast: Cloudy. Wind strong North West. Seas 4.0m. Temp 12/15C Min/Max. Baro: 1009 hPa.

Weather Actual: Accurate

Course: Start No. 10 (S) – Robben Island (P) - Finish No. 10 (P)

Seas: Violent. Steep. Breaking crests. Unpredictable.

Sails: Reefed main, No. 3, .75oz North MTN kite.

Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Simon Penso (Halyards), Waldo Zevenster (Mast), Tyran Kerford (Bow) Total: 515 kg

“Deliciously terrifying” - That’s about the best way to describe this race. Not only did we have the satisfaction of being one of the smallest boats to complete the race, but we also finished on the podium (3rd overall) having been beaten by the Mumm 36 ‘Ballyhoo Too’ and the ILC 40 ‘Gumption’ respectively. These were relatively minor achievements as the real glamour of the day went to a breathtakingly fast, downwind sleigh ride in 35 knots of winter gale with huge waves. Add to that a brand new speed record for Smackwater Jack of 17,6 knots – smashing our previous record of 16,6 in the process.

The lucky ones who were on board for this sail were Charles Crosby, Greg Harrowsmith, Simon Penso, Waldo Zevenster and Tyran Kerford – and myself, of course! I wouldn’t have missed this one for all the tea in China.

So where were our regulars? Phillip was paying homage to family matters (what I euphemistically call domestic banking) whilst our mastman, Morgan, had the rather unfortunate experience of having been mugged last Saturday after heading to his car from a pub after the rugby international at Newlands. Four of our previously disadvantaged brethren took his wallet and stabbed him in the leg after a brief scuffle. Morgan is a big guy weighing in around 110 kgs and standing well over 6 feet tall, I’m not sure I would want to challenge him. Anyway, he gave a few of them some of their own medicine, but they did get away. On Monday last week, Morgan said he should be OK to sail, but he called on Friday saying his leg was too painful, which is how Waldo ended up in Morgan's place and Charles was able to fill in for Phillip. With Michael (Chunderchild) having moved on to the Melges 24 we were able to get Tyran Kerford (all 55 kgs of him) to do bow for us.

The newspaper banners were all shouting ‘COLD, RAIN, SNOW FOR CAPE’, so I knew the race would either be cancelled or it would just be a hell of a tough race. It was the latter.

There were forty four odd boats entered when I checked the notice board and the course, which was simple enough stated: “Start at #10 (Starboard) – Robben Island (Port) – Finish #10 (Port)”

Whilst we were rigging the boat at about 10h30 on Saturday morning, the wind was about 15 knots North West and the skies were blue – actually very pleasant conditions considering it is mid winter – but there was a distinct chill in the air, so I told the crew to dress warmly. As we left the dock and motored into the main dock, the weather changed abruptly. Suddenly there were banks of dark clouds rolling in and the wind picked up to well over 25 knots. The outboard was struggling a bit, so we hoisted the main so we could motor-sail out of the harbour.

Our start was scheduled for 11h49, so we had about 20 minutes to check things out. As we headed towards the outer breakwater, some boats were already heading back in. Boats were calling race control to announce their retirements one after the other. Of the twenty one boats that ventured out to the start area, eleven had retired before the race even began. Things were a little wild out there to be fair. Our sparring partners, the J27 ‘Pure Magic’ also retired which we were a little disappointed with, but Alan must have had his reasons. Some of the gusts riding up ahead a major pre frontal system were very strong – up to 40 knots, so we decided for safety’s sake, to stick in a reef. Our rule of thumb is that we never reef, but something about the sea state and the sky colour, made me go against our standard procedure. It turned out to be a very astute decision. We would have been in a spot of trouble otherwise.

The skippers in Cape Town are a tough, well-salted bunch and the rate of retirees bears testimony to the conditions out on the bay. To be fair, there was a Tri-nations rugby international between South Africa and New Zealand on the big screen in the clubhouse and a nice, big fire in the hearth. Nonetheless, I doubt skippers would have taken the trouble to arrange crew, rig, get to the start area and then return to watch the rugby. I digress…..Back to the wet stuff.

We had about six boats which started ahead of us. Behind us, we had all the big boats. It would turn into a day of carnage as the sea and wind dealt swiftly with most of the competitors. It was a much smaller fleet that actually started the race.

Our start was obviously no problem as we were the only boat in that specific time slot. We went off on a short starboard tack remaining in the lee of the western breakwater to make use of whatever flat water we could find – and let me assure you, there wasn’t much! The boat actually felt well balanced with the reefed main and the #3 sheeted fairly full for power, to get through the waves. Even so, the main wasn’t doing much work at all and we were easily getting to 6.5 knots on the beat. We tacked just under the head of the breakwater for a long port tack out into the bay. Immediately we realised one of our biggest problems would be avoiding floating kelp – and there was lots of it. Conditions for the guys on the pointy end of the boat were, shall we say ‘character building’, with ice cold gusty wind and sheets of spray coming over the bow. Every now and then the boat would plunge over a sharp wave and bury her bow half a meter under water. This wall of water would come rushing over the decks, swamping and physically moving the crew from their positions. It was getting very rough. The guys up front were calling the kelp: “Up, up up!!!! OK OK Down, down!!” It’s not so easy going up when you are already close hauled. Each of those luffs to avoid kelp would see our speed coming right down to 5 knots or less. Conversely sailing down would make us lose plenty of height. As it was, we were sailing fat for power and speed, rather than height with the compass indicating a tacking angle of 91 degrees. After 4 miles, we stuck in a tack to head directly into the waves and towards the island. Our boat speed went up to 6,6 knots. The odd steep waves would see us come crashing down with the whole boat shuddering on impact. Boat speed down by one knot and then work it back up to speed again. It was hard work and Charles was grunting with effort as he had to perpetually work the mainsheet through the waves. It was about at that point that Charles noticed a meter long tear along the leech of our fairly new mainsail. It appeared to have ripped out from the leech tape and had split fully between the 3rd and 4th battens. We would just have to live with it and it was unlikely to affect our speed by much. I just hoped it wouldn’t tear any further. Stresses on the boat were enormous – particularly so when falling off wave faces at speed.

Up ahead, we had the L26 in our sights and much further, the Miura ‘Apricot’. At least we had something visual to gauge our performance by. We gradually drew ahead of the L26.

Dead upwind we had the dangerous ‘Dyang Family’ reef (so named after a freighter which ran aground there in the seventies). Massive rollers were thundering over the reef and we were heading directly towards it. Then we were suddenly back in kelp territory again. Tons of it floating around and so difficult to spot in between the sharp crests of waves which were already getting into the four meter range. Which was worse? A headered tack or sailing into kelp? We decided the kelp was the worse evil, so we tacked back onto port heading out into the deeper water of the channel. In the process we crossed ahead of the L26. Our next quarry would be the Miura – a 30ft cruiser/racer and renowned for their heavy weather abilities. We were confident we could overtake them on the long downwind leg as that design cannot plane and we sure as hell would be!

A series of tacks in the lee of the island followed dictated by kelp, heading and flat water. We were steadily gaining on the Muira, but behind us the bigger boats were also closing on us. Behind us one of the boats was in trouble – their mast snapped off at the lower spreaders and the rig was in the water. It turned out to be Connie Papageorge’s 33foot X Boat - “Zebra” Now we were only nine boats left in the race. It was getting bitterly cold especially so for the foredeck guys and our bowman specifically, who is a skinny guy. He must have been frozen, but typically he never complains.

We were nearing the northern (dangerous) tip of the island and about to cross tacks with the Muira. Inexplicably they carried on going out to sea leaving us in first place around the north of the island – the halfway mark. The leg had taken about two hours to cover a distance of 12 nautical miles.

Most of the big boats had benefited from a big starboard shift behind the island. Looking at our GPS track it is clear, we did not benefit from the same shift.

The Farr 40 ‘Aladdin’ was cutting the corner of the island dangerously close. There are reefs all along that shore, but the big danger is the size of the waves, which lift ponderously in great green walls of solid water to thunder down on the shore. The shore is littered with wrecks – to me they had large neon signs reading “DON’T COME NEAR HERE SONNY!” (I was obedient)

We were still sailing fat and fast , whilst the Farr 40 was pinching to get around the reefs, so we remained in the lead, but we had a whole host of boats on our tail as we bore off around the the north western corner of the island. Whilst the northern shore of the island has the most wrecks, the western shore has more reefs and a shore break which starts several hundred meters offshore. This is dangerous stuff, so we headed well out to sea, behind any evidence of white rollers. As we were progressively able to free off, our boat speed kept on increasing till we were doing a steady 9 to 11 knots with frequent extended forays into the planing zone. We were able to hold our lead over the bigger boats, but it was inevitable that they would overhaul us in time, so we got ready to hoist the spinnaker. Things were hairy with the boat bobbing and rocking, plummeting and leaping over wave crests. It was exciting stuff, but the big league roller coaster ride was lying in waiting in the form of the yellow .75 oz. spinnaker.

We waited for a lull and gave the call “OK – KITE UP!” It was a smooth hoist and the sail set immediately. The turbos came on and the boat speed climbed immediately to 13 knots. We were all concentrating too hard after that to look at the log. To our left the Mumm 36 had her spinnaker up as well and did a huge Chinese gybe allowing us back into the lead. We were cranking down the wave faces. Unpredictable. Every wave different. The helm was mainly feather light as the foils howled their song of protest. As each wave would lift the stern, we would accelerate abruptly with first Waldo, then Tyran, furiously cranking the winch controlling the spinnaker sheet. The apparent wind would come forward in less than a second and I would have to steer deep onto a run and beyond to prevent the kite collapsing – then back up the next wave as the speed bled from 16 knots down to 13 – but that’s where we remained. The guys were all speechless, scared, amazed, thrilled, wide eyed and loving it. The longer we were able to plane at these speeds without broaching, the more our confidence grew. Behind us, the Farr and other boats declined flying spinnakers and we simply disappeared from their view.

Our heading was determined by that fine pre-determined groove that one gets into with high-speed sailing – but this heading was way too low. After the initial surge of high octane adrenaline subsided, I told the crew we needed to gybe. After a brief, but sensible discussion, we decided we would strike, granny tack (in lieu of the torn leech on the mainsail and a great reluctance by any of us to take a dip in the Atlantic), and rehoist on the port gybe – however it would be a weather hoist, complicating matters a bit, but we had little choice in the matter. The manoeuvre went off smoothly and we sailed 'two sail reaching' for a minute or two waiting for a lull before getting the kite back up again. Having a first class bowman like Tyran proved its worth and up she went, filling instantly with the big horsepower kicking in. It was another four miles of breathtaking speed with plumes of white water peeling off the bow five meters into the air – higher than our lower spreaders – obliterating the view. The boat humming and groaning as we charged from wave to wave. Some of the waves would tilt the boat forward at about 15 degrees and hold us there for 30 seconds or longer - roaring downhill at 16 knots plus and then plowing the bow into the next uphill with cascades of water foaming over the boat and out the back. Then Charles heaved a big sigh and said very loudly: “EISH!”

We were all smiling and laughing. Adrenaline junkies to the core. We were actually holding it together. We had done more than eight miles of this super fast surfing and planing and not one broach. Simon was lightning quick on the vang control and the whole team was working together in an efficient manner – each understanding the consequences of a mistake very clearly. Between the spray and the incredible volume of noise (the VHF repeater in the cockpit which I normally find too loud was inaudible) I could make out what looked like a lighthouse in the distance. That meant we were way too deep as it was Mouille Point Light and we would have to take the kite down and do a two sail reach through to the finish at a ninety degree wind angle.

It was one of those days where looking at the plotter and making intelligent tactical decisions were not happening. It was simply a matter of head in the general direction of south and hold on for dear life and try not to broach. The strike was smooth and we were soon planing along on a two sail beam reach at 11 knots- which ironically felt dreadfully pedestrian after the sustained 15 and 16 knot runs we had been doing. The bigger boats were starting to close us down without our spinnaker up, but it would have spelt a certain broach if we had tried, so we just focused on surfing the waves to the best of our ability.

We could see ‘Ballyhoo Too’ and ‘Gumption’ to our left and about a mile ahead heading toward the finishing line. Once around the breakwater, we got the spinnaker ready for the final burst through to the line, but as luck would have it, we got a big 40 knot gust with a massive wave set at the same time, which sent us on another of those blistering downhill charges with Tyran still sitting on his haunches on the bow with the spinnaker in his arms - white water foaming under his armpits. This man is cool as ice. Nothing seems to fluster him! It would not be necessary to hoist – our third place was easily secured.

Once back in the harbour, I checked the GPS and there it was: 17,6 knots. I reckon this record will stand for a very long time. So to celebrate, we put the kite back up inside the harbour to see what sort of speed we could get on flat water, but it was a mediocre 12.4 knots. After showers and beers back at the clubhouse, the rugby held little allure for us. We had all just lived through three of the best hours of our lives. Memories we will take to our graves. Happy and contented sailors.

To Phillip and Morgan – Sorry you missed out on this one guys. Really sorry.

Footnote: The Ohlsons Cup was donated by the owner of Ohlsons Breweries 101 years ago for the inaugural race around Robben island. Back then it was a prestigious event and the cup went to the winning club, rather than an individual. The record time for this race was set by the 65ft "Warrior" in 2005 with a time of 1 hr 51 mins 13 secs. It puts our 3 hrs 5 mins and 59 secs into perspective! This years winning time by Ballyhoo Too was 2 hrs 20 mins 2 secs - a very long way off the record.

Obviously the wind direction is the key to setting up a record and will never be broken in a North westerly or a South easterly wind, as there is too much upwind component involved.

This year the winning club was RCYC which made up the first three boats.

Results:

1st Ballyhoo Too (Mumm 36 mod) - Rick Nankin

2nd Gumption (ILC 40) - Nicholas Mace

3rd Smackwater Jack (J27) - Trygve Roberts

4th Aladdin (Farr 40) - Bjorn Geiger

5th Spilhaus lll (Swede 55) - Teddy Kuttel

6th Apricot (Miura 30) - Bat Tromp

7th Shazam (Fast 42) - Fred Phillips

8th Warlock (L26) - Ian Slatem

9th Avanti (Vickers 41) - Grant Saunders

10th Ariel (RCOD 30) - Sherif Saville

11 yachts RTD (Retired)

22 yachts DNS (Did Not Sail)

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PORTUGAL DAY RACE
9th JUNE, 2007

Race in a nutshell:

Position PHRF Class 2: 2nd

Position PHRF Class 1 & 2: 3rd

Our position in Vasco Team: 1st

Vasco Team position: 1st

Entries Class 2: 25

Total Entries: 48

Ave Speed: 7.0 kts

Max Speed: 14.8 kts

Distance: 19.27 nm.

Time: 02:30.05

Weather Forecast: Cloudy with 60% rain. Wind strong North West. Seas 4.0m. Temp 13/16C Min/Max. Baro: 1010 hPa.

Weather Actual: Accurate

Course: Start No. 10 (S) – Landfall (P) - Barker Rock (P) - Finish No. 10 (P)

Seas: HUGE! Unpredictable. Sometimes with breaking crests.

Sails: Full Main, No. 3 and 2 Genoas, .75oz North MTN kite.

Crew: Trygve Roberts (Helm), Charles Crosby (Main), Greg Harrowsmith (Genoa), Phillip Rentschler (Halyards), Morgan Evans (Mast), Michael Ovenstone (Bow) Total: 520 kg

Throw some big seas, fresh breeze, swamped boats, flat batteries, seasick crews, man (or rather lady) overboard emergencies, torn sails and general pandemonium - and you have a recipe for a race which will be talked about for a long time to come.

This great annual event is a showcase of 'masakhane' (working together) for the local Portuguese business community. Vitor Medina runs the show with Manuel Mendes (both on the RCYC Committee) and they create a wonderful day of competitive racing followed by an excellent prizegiving, cultural events, good food and a live band.

But there was one problem - the weather. The Cape of Storms is not named so without valid reason. We have been 'klapped' by several storms with a lot of rain and cold weather for several weeks now. Glancing at the forecast a few days ahead of this event, things were looking a little dismal with a distinct possibility that it might be postponed. "Severe weather warning: Gale force north westerly winds with 4.0m seas" was the basic message.

As things turned out, the front arrived earlier than expected and the Cape was belted on Friday night, leaving us with some weak sunshine, lots of cloud, a bit less breeze than expected and a very ugly sea - and I mean UGLY!

We cast off at 12h00 with a full main; No. 3 and MTN Spinnaker rigged up. The course was unusual - almost 20 nautical miles long with the dangerous mark of Barker Rock -(a lump of granite a few hundred meters off shore Clifton) thrown in for good measure. The course had a high tight reaching component and with 20 to 25 knots of breeze, we would be unlikely to be able to carry the spinnaker.

This is a pursuit race, so tactics on the start line are a bit different to the norm. On an 800 meter long start line, we only had the three J27's. Most boats were heading west on starboard tack, but I prefer doing the long tack first and the plotter indicated a port tack - which is what we did, with a good start going fast. The other two J27's went off on starboard. We tried sailing with the No.3 sheeted outboard, but the boat didn't feel right with only 5.7 knots of speed, so we changed back to inboard sheeting with a deep camber and immediately the boat came to life with 6.1 knots on the log. The port tack was very uncomfortable with huge waves throwing us off course, like a cork. Once we picked up a five degree header, we rolled over onto starboard tack, and the boat felt much better - attacking the waves head on and getting the speed up to 6.3 knots.

Our progress was remarkably good, considering this sort of weather suited the heavier, bigger boats and we were the leading boat of the J27's. By the time we had put in another two tacks, we were lying third overall at the windward mark. Trying to locate the mark in the big seaway was difficult, so we relied heavily on the GPS. We were about 100 meters ahead of the J27 Hillbilly whilst Alan Taylor's J27 'Pure Magic' trailed a dozen or more boat lengths behind 'Hillbilly' on rounding the weather mark. As we eased sheets onto the rhumb line to Barker Rock it immediately became apparent we would not be able to carry the kite. On our starboard (windward) beam, we had the L34 'WWB' (ex Sixpack) and a few hundred meters further ahead, in first place, was the Miura 'Chen' helmed by my friend and "VASCO" team mate, Russell Volmer.

WWB had us trapped in their wind shadow. We simply had to extricate ourselves out of that position. Getting involved in a luffing match with them seemed a futile exercise, so we sailed low to create a gap, then luffed hard and powered up behind their stern to get ourselves into a windward position. They were 'heads down' doing a headsail change, whilst we decided we had more than enough power to stay with the blade which we had sheeted outboard for the reach. Our speed was a steady 8 to 9 knots, but the waves were difficult to read and would suddenly rear up in near vertical walls leaving fresh air under the bow and we would come crashing down in bone jarring fashion, but we were slowly opening up a gap on the L34 and within 5 minutes, we overtook the Miura to take the lead - which we would hold for the next 30 minutes.

I heard an ominous roar to my right. I looked up and there was a massive wave rearing up - the top third was broken white water - and I felt my heart skip a beat. Was this it? Were we about to be rolled?

I slammed the helm down. Both Greg and Charles instinctively trimmed in hard and Smackwater Jack accellerated and climbed the wave head on. Up and up we went; then through the white water which soaked us and covered the entire deck in foaming water and we dropped off the back into clear water. Phew! Our speed went down to 4 knots. Luckily that was the only rogue wave for us in the race. But we still had to sail around the infamous Barker Rock with it's currents and surges.

It was a long reach down to Clifton and by the time we closed in on the shore, we had opened up a decent lead over WWB of about 100 meters. About a half mile before Barker Rock, the breeze started going lighter (18 knots) and our speed dropped accordingly. We needed to do a sail change. We decided to change up to the No.2. Whilst we were busy with that task, WWB closed the gap on us and drew level. Also, they had the inside track, which meant we couldn't gybe until they did.

Barker Rock is a large chunk of granite which is just above the high water mark and about 300 meters off Clifton beach. It is a dangerous place to be in a winter gale with serious surges which can easily pull a small boat onto it. Today we had massive waves washing right over it and an area of white water to leeward of it. We decided to play it safe and give the rock a wide berth.

WWB took their chances differently and gybed inside us, venturing five boat lengths closer than us - and that was also when they overtook us. Immediately they called for water as the conditions were too dangerous for us to luff them.

Meanwhile further back near the weather mark, The J27 'Hillbilly' was in a spot of trouble. They had not realized that their front hatch was open. By the time Peter felt the boat was sluggish, it was too late. They had two feet of water sloshing around the bottom of the boat. The batteries were gone, so no electric bilge pump. That meant sending a crew member below to pump manually. He soon became seasick as did his replacement, at which point Peter sensibly decided to retire from the race.

There was drama aplenty in the fleet. On the Audi sponsored Simonis 35 'Wallbanger' a lady crew member was washed overboard. She was not wearing a life jacket. I am not going to say anything more about the life jacket subject, other than I know of only two other boats in the fleet, besides ourselves who always wear life jackets and for the life of me, I just don't understand why skippers don't insist on the practice. If ever there were conditions conducive to being washed overboard - it was in this race.

The lady concerned was at least wearing oilies. She had a few things going in her favour.

1.There were several boats in the vicinity.

2.Her skipper immediately put out a radio alert and

3. Trevor Wilkins in the RCYC powerboat was close by taking photo's.

Trevor is a well trained person in sea rescue and immediately threw a life jacket attached to a rope behind the power boat and circled the casualty. They had her on board in 57 seconds. Given the weather conditions she can consider herself extremely lucky. I hope Wallbanger (and the rest of the fleet) start wearing life jackets from here on. Why wait for someone to drown?

Once round Barker Rock the bigger boats started closing the gap. Once we were happy with our offing, we eased the No. 2 and got our speed back up to 8.5 knots with some great extended surfs above 11 knots - but it was still too tight for the spinnaker.

Once around the shore break and big rollers at Mouille Point, the waves were coming more from astern. WWB hoisted their spinnaker and pulled away from us, but their angle to clear the Western breakwater looked too tight. We were well under control and going fast and lying 2nd, so I didnt think the flying the big spinnaker was worth the risk of broaching - so we just sat it out and worked every wave to the maximum.

Behind us, the Beneteau Sport 7.5 'Always Well' got their asso up and they shot past us doing around 20 knots. They were having a wild ride, but their angle looked too low to clear the breakwater. Then they broached spectacularly - One of those keel in the air jobs and all crew were thrown off the boat. They were fairly close to the 'dolosse' and their situation was looking dangerous. In the process we moved back into 2nd place.

The big carbon 46 footer 'Hifidelity' with Geoff Meek at the helm, was coming up behind us - very fast and flying an assymetric. She didn't look fast, but produced little spray, but she was moving very quickly - well above 20 knots and whooshed through our lee as if we weren't there. So now we were in 3rd place.

The Beneteau had recovered and were closing on us, even without their kite. Several big boats like the Mumm 36, the ILC49 and a Farr 40 were also closing. We stood a real chance of losing several more places with only about half a mile to go to the finish line. Well, we couldn't let that happen now, could we?

So we hoisted the spinnaker. Instantly the turbos kicked in and we shot off onto the plane clocking in our maximum speed of the day of 14.8 knots. That was just enough to hold the opposition at bay and we saved ourselves into 3rd overall and 2nd in Class 2.

It was quite a testing race and I dont think I have ever seen so much water coming over this boat and into it. We should have sailed with the washboards in place - it would have been safer, but it does hamper the pitman's movements.

This is one of those well organised regattas where we even collected two trophies for our efforts despite not coming 1st. I would like to compliment my crew on keeping level heads throughout this race. It was a tough one.

This was Michael (Chunderchild) Overnstone's last race with us as bowman (for as a while anyway). He is off to crew on one the Melges 24's at NCS week in Durban and then onto an L26 for Lipton Cup. I hope he has as much fun on those boats as he has had on Smackwater Jack. Good luck Michael.

The fleet was devided up into teams for the day. Our "Team Vasco da Gama" also walked off with the trophy for the winning team.

The two Melges 24's seemed to not like the heavy offshore conditions and finished in the last quarter.

Only two boats under 30 ft. finished in the top 10 (J27 and Beneteau Sport.) And dare I say it again - the J27 is one hell of a potent design suited to most conditions - especially considering its vintage.

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RESULTS (Actual finish times)

1st Hifidelity (Welbourne 46) - Geoff Meek 14.27.41

2nd Wentzel, Webber, Bouwens -WWB (L34) - Patrick Holloway 14.27.51

3rd Smackwater Jack (J27) - Trygve Roberts 14.30.05

4th Always Well (Beneteau 7.5) - Lance Burger 14.30.26

5th Auto Atlantic (L52) - Rhett Goldswain 14.31.04

6th Ballyhoo Too (Mumm 36) - Rick Nankin 14.31.06

7th Gumption (ILC 40) - Nicolas Mace 14.31.23

8th Naledi (J120) - Felix Scheider-Bieschin 14.31.35

9th Freedom (Farr 38) - Dr. CP vd Merwe 14.33.16

10th Unleashed (Fast 42) - Hylton Hale -14.34.59

11th Baysider (Dufour 34) - Bruce Williams 14.36.00

12th Spectrum (L34) - Andy James 14.36.17

13th Aurora (?) - Mel Hawtrey - 14.36.39

14th Majimoto (Farr 40) - Paul Mare - 14.36.51

15th Aladdin (Farr 40) - Bjorn Geiger 14.37.13

16th Pure Magic (J27) - Alan Taylor 14.38.11

17th Touch n Go (Lightwave 395) - Dr. Dave Smith 14.40.20

18th Take 3 (Trimaran) - Alan Biesheuwel - 14.41.08

19th Harken Racing (Melges 24) - Tony Norris - 14.42.59

20th Chen (Miura) - Russell Vollmer 14.44.18

21st Apricot (Miura) - Bat Tromp - 14.45.23

22nd FTi Flyer (Charger 33) - Keith Mattison - 14.45.28

23rd Impact (Impact 30) - Jackie Brand 14.46.16

24th Iechyd Da (?) Stefan Hundt - 14.48.02

25th Set Sea (Catamaran) - Greg Davis - 14.49.30

26th Cabaray (Stadt 40) - Ray Matthews - 14.51.46

27th Miss Isle (?) - Hennie McGlachlan - 14.51.46

28th Paprika (?) - Howard Minne - 14.54.07

29th Saoirse (Petersen 33) - Tony Blackwell - 14.54.32

30th Avanti (Vickers 41) - Grant Saunders - 14.54.43

31st Monkeys in the Mist (Jaz 30) Bernard Dieboldt - 14.58.51

32nd Ocean Cruiser (?) - Brian Kennedy - 14.58.51

33rd Gandalf (?) - Jorg Wegner - 15.59.58

34th Goblet (?) - Dave Dickensen - 15.00.15

35th Melges Racing (Melges 24) - Simon Baer - 15.02.52

36th Sheena Bhan (Vickers 41) - Gordon Kling - 15.09.15

37th Albacore (?) - Thomas Boecker - 15.17.46

38th Hillbilly (J27) - Peter Hill - RTD

39th Wallbanger (Simonis 35) - Brian Gardener - RTD

40th Ambre (?) - RTD

41st Lets Go (Bucanneer 19) Duncan Johnson - RTD

42nd Morgenster (L34) - Joanne Lambrechts -DSQ/OCS

43rd Cape Recife (RCOD) -Steven Bently
DNC

44th UkuZwana (Laser 28) - Thomas Swana DNC

45th Aquavit (L34) - Phil Flocton - DNC

46th Sensation (L34) - Riegardt Munnik - DNC

47th Mighty Lemon Drop (Sweet Pea) - Jannie de Goede - DNC

48th Foam (RCOD) - Barry Wolf - DNC

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A tribute to Trevor Wilkins. In my long sailing career I have met few photopgraphers willing to go out in rough sea conditions. Trevor took that risk in this event and returned with some stunning photos. Trevors pics can be viewed on his website at http://picasaweb.google.com/wilcopix/PortugalBayRaceJune2007

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