The forecast had been for a very light breeze but a nice southerly came in which built to ten knots at time and lasted long enough for us to complete a shortened course race.
The first leg was a runch! Some times a run and sometimes a reach so towards the top of the course I poled the genoa out to leeward to open the gap and get the foot more in line with the apparent wind. In this configuration we seemed to hold the fleet to a two minute lead on our position.
Even though the gap was not large we were well back in parade around the top mark and had a job to do to get back into the race. I took the high road and kept to windward of the fleet which paid off when the breeze lifted along the shore leading up to Steel Point. At this stage we had caught Enigma and passed Star Ferry and Silky and were catching a new shiny silver grey competitor, Mojo. Kevin spotted the breeze coming around Steel Point and guided us close in which paid off well. We continued to benefit from a lifting breeze and were looking closer to Rainbow than we had been all day.
The tracks show some nice angles up into Rose Bay and by the time we had reached away to Point Piper we were surprisingly close to the fleet bunched around the mark. From Point Piper there was just the reach to the shortened course finish line but a fading breeze and an agonisingly slow reach home meant the short distance was still a long time.
Nice tracks up into Rose Bay
For our efforts and concentration we achieved fifth place which was a mighty fine effort for the light conditions. We were beaten by our old mark boats Rainbow and L’Eau Co and their sister ship Izzi. That made three Northshore 38’s in the first three which suggests the predominantly reaching conditions suited their narrow water lines and light weight. Our new mark boat the big blue Viva does not like the light conditions and was well back.
So considering the forecast it was a bonus race and we were very pleased to score a fifth place.
You can see some photos of the race and the day below.
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A tiny crew of Ron, Elaine and I raced Passion in the second West Harbour Winter series race with remarkable success. As we were down on crew numbers I arrived at Passion early to set up all the gear. Ron joined us at noon at the GFS pontoon and Elaine joined us at 12:30 at Woolwich where we were pulled up on our mooring waiting for the start. As we can see the start line from the mooring it is a relaxed way to prepare and hoist the sails before motoring to the start line.
Just in time enough breeze sprang up for us to turn off the motor and circle for the start. We took a few transoms as we started on Port but the starboard tack was away from the mark so we were soon into the lead. The lead looked even better when a big progressive header developed but I hung on for the lay line only to have the wind shift back as we tacked taking us back to the middle of the fleet. A zoomed in section of the tracks from the chartplotter shows how extreme were the wind shifts.
A big progressive header on the first work and a big progressive lift on the next
On the reach from Manns Point to Goat Island we carried breeze down on the fleet and rounded well up for the reach and run back to Balmain.
We were pleasantly surprised that we were still mid fleet as the wind was not enough to set spinnakers well and when it was it shifted around a lot making the spinnakers less effective. Once the wind picked up the lightweight flyers took off. The work back along the Birchgrove shore was always going to be difficult with such a small crew but Ron left the mainsail to look after itself and with Elaine skirted, tailed and winched away all day to good effect. We did try to stay out of the hurley burley by going closer to Cockatoo than the rest but that cost us as we languished in the wind shadow while Aggrovation and Macscap our jeanneau cruiser rivals took off. Once clear of the wind shadow I took the Long Nose side and we were gifted with this progressive lift that took us all the way to the mark, inside Macscap and right on Aggrovation’s tail. That is the second set of tracks on the chartplotter. Most of the spinnaker carrying yachts made ground on us on the next broad reach but we did hold off Mascap because the reach tightened towards the end which meant we had to harden up but she had to drop the spinnaker and hoist the genoa.
By the work along Spectacle and Spinnaker Ron had the tacking well sorted out and we used the full width of the track from moored yachts to shallow shores to good effect.
Using all the available width on the work along the islands
The chartplotter tracks from this section of the race show how we took transoms but made it up on the next tack. We took the work carefully but did well and were very happy with our work. Aggrovation had pulled away on the previous reach and was in different wind now so she was no use as a benchmark but Macscap was still behind. We could see her and the smaller Jeanneau Sunfast 32 Tana battling along the Hunters Hill shore for bragging rights and for a while they appeared to be catching us. At Clarke Point our breeze picked up and we skipped away. We were still carrying our private breeze as we rounded for the reach to the western corner of Cockatoo Island and this was our highest speed leg of the day. By now everyone was enjoying our breeze as we tight reached to the finish line of the shortened course at Balmain.
Well satisfied to have beaten the Sun Fast 37 Macscap we followed the original course around the islands and back to the mooring. Ron helmed her home to complete a day where he did every conceivable task on board including holding our the genoa to windward on the square run. Elaine did a great job skirting, tailing calling the genoa trim and we declared the day a success. We were not expecting any great handicap result so I was very pleased to see we had won on handicap on a day we had not set the spinnaker.
After three weeks finishing just a little out of a good place we bounced back today with a fine seventh fastest and a second on handicap.
The fresh North West breeze ranged in strength from 10 to 20 knots but was generally above 15 knots. This is a good breeze for our No2 genoa and we performed much better than the last time we set the rig on the opening day of the season. I have dropped off a quarter a tonne of water which might account for a little improvement but the main seemed to flatten out better today allowing us to feather up into the gusts.
There were a few things going our way today. At no stage did we round up nor were we driven off our favoured tack by starboard tackers. The tack of the mainsail has been made adjustable with a big 4:1 block which means we can leave the mainsail halyard alone all race. These are not great changes but Passion drew away from the two Northshore 38 s which were our old mark boats before we adopted the big blue Viva as our benchmark. In the heavy airs we expected Viva to romp away but we stayed within 2 minutes of her and beat her by 20 seconds on handicap. Working in our favour was a few timely wind shifts and the tracks from today seem to overstate Passion’s real capability to windward. She is better than she used to be but really not that good.
Passion’s good tracks to windward today
The star of today was the 12 metre long Crackerjack who did the double first and fastest. She does like strong winds but appears to have improved a lot and is performing consistently well this year. In the strong breeze we did turn the tables on fellow GFS sailors on Gwhizz who struggled in the fresher winds. By rights it is our turn to crow this week but we know only too well that we might be the feather duster next week.
Seventeen yachts contested the RANSA Winter Wednesday race in conditions more like early Autumn. Nothing in the warm day and light airs suggested that the shortest day of the year is just a month away.
In the conditions I was pleased with our tenth place which might have been better but for the dying breeze that leaves the slower yachts out on the course struggling to finish in the lightest air of the day. It was worse for the big blue Viva and who was some 19 minutes behind and not so good for Enigma who was 9 minutes behind.
Izzi and Gwhizz from GFS have at last been granted suitable handicaps and Izzi with a good start in clear airs managed a respectable fifth on handicap while Gwhizz showed what a good light air yacht she is with a fourth on handicap and a finish well in front of Passion. John and Graeme on Gwhizz will be delighted that they beat the newer Elan 350 over the line and we will be hearing about it for a while.
The course was a tight reach up to South Head and a broad reach back to Steele Point before tacking into Rose Bay. The line was laid favouring the boat end and that is where a lot of damage was done to handicap prospects. Allegro did a penalty turn and it took half way to the head to catch us while Rainbow Gwhizz and Izzi seemed to get away unscathed .
We did try a few things. A new adjustable tack on the main seemed to work well and we were able to leave the main halyard alone all day. Letting the backstay right off so that the genoa and main were fuller seemed to help too. The tight reach to the heads was too tight for the reaching tweaker on the genoa so we settled for moving the car forward.
On the reach back to Steele Point we found some private wind and climbed above Silky for the first time in the race and made good ground on Gwhizz and Crackerjack. We were however forced by a starboard tacker to tack away from the shift ahead and that cost us dearly. Well maybe not too dearly but at least one place on handicap.
At the finish we beat Silky by the smallest of margins of one second but a place is a place.
At the finish I declared the day a roaring success because we had enough wind to get around the course in picture perfect conditions and we beat our new “mark” boat Viva by nineteen minutes.
Twenty one yachts lined up for the start of the Winter Wednesday race on a too short, too biased start line. In the prestart manouvres a new yacht to our division, L’eau Co, bore away from the line forcing us to gybe away. We got back to the line on time only to find the same yacht stalled on the pin end. Unable to make the mark they bore away again forcing us to again gybe around to cross the line on port. So biased was the line we still started in front of several yachts and we were quickly under way.
On the long windward work to the south head we were kept busy tacking below starboard tackers and on occasions taking a stern. We quickly caught Rainbow, Enigma, Star Ferry and a couple of Etchells and for our troubles had these extra yachts to avoid. Rainbow did climb above us on the starboard tack making up for the gains we made on them on port. I was unwilling to take on the big blue Viva so we tacked below her when troubled. All this tacking was taking a toll on our progress so on the approach to the top mark we were pinned on to starboard going past the lay line with Gwhizz on our quarter so that when we could tack we were well above the lay line.
Passion’s tracks from today’s race.
I expected we would do well on the run back to Rose Bay with our big black genoa poled out on the oversized pole but it was not to be. We were on port gybe running by the lee and when we gybed to starboard the wind shifted and we were by the lee again. In these unfortunate shifts Enigma, doing nothing, sailed past and Gwhizz approached our stern. Only the wind shadow of Vaucluse and our more cautious course out wide saved us. Somehow Rainbow, L’Eau Co and Silky pulled away in Rose Bay while we drifted around Enigma and a couple of Etchells. When we rounded Rose Bay with the inside running and went high to protect our wind there was a large gap in front of us splitting the fleet.
There was no Britannia this week driving us up into moored yachts but just clear air and a reach to the mark. Once around Point Piper we were in phase with the breeze for both legs of the beat which on the tracks look to be our best for the day.
For the reach and run home to the finish we ran down the div 2 Fatso and managed to keep in front of the fast finishing Starr Ferry, Gwhizz and Enigma as well as the two Etchells that had kept us company for the whole race.
The thirteenth place was disappointing considering how well we had held the fleet on the windward work. There were no big upsets on the course and we finished just over a minute out of seventh place. In these big fleets a few seconds here and there are important. Rainbow’s margin if front was over four minutes which is at the top end of the range we should expect.
We did have a good day on the water and were blessed with fresher winds than I expected. I know we should not ask for more than good company, fair winds and sunny skies but a little bit further up the result sheet would be nice.
On the way to the course we were overtaken by Oracle skippered by Olympic champion Tom Slingsby and we did get to say hello to Tom as he and his team scooted by.
For the first race of the RANSA Winter Wednesday series I was hoping for winds between 15 to 20 knots so we could see how we performed with the No 2 genoa and a full mainsail. Well we got the winds I wanted but not the result.
The fleet all started very close to on time and a wall of 17 yachts spread out over the course reaching to South Head. While we broad reached with the genoa poled out on the leeward side we were holding the fleet well. When it was square and we had the genoa poled out to windward we also held the fleet well but near the leeward mark we were caught needing to go high with the pole out and were over run by Rainbow and Silky and Star Ferry on the mark.
At this stage I was not worried because we had the No 2 genoa on and were commencing the long beat back home. Rainbow with a reef in was pulling away in the gusts while Britannia with a big crew complement was struggling in the heavier conditions. Slowly we overhauled Star Ferry and Silky and at the Rose Bay mark had them well covered. Approaching Rose Bay I stayed wide of the mark to allow Britannia to round without interference but she was determined to cause as much trouble as possible and held on forcing us to tack onto Starboard and stall. Had I known they were going to sail so aggressively I would have taken their stern and possibly still made the mark but the damage was done. To add insult to injury they forced us up into the prohibited area of the moored yachts and only a lot of yelling made them give room. Now perhaps they thought we did not have an overlap and could have pulled behind their stern but from my position that seemed impossible. In the close results on the day these couple of diversions cost us about three places and made the difference between contented and grumpy.
The last beat around the Island was not a good one. Perhaps we missed the lift being a bit below the fleet but in the space of one leg we were overtaken by Silky and almost caught by Star Ferry and this was worth another three places. At my best guess we should have managed a fifth place by improving 1 minute and four seconds but had to settle for eleventh.
Comparing the results with the past year we did a very similar time to our average time compared to Allegro, Larrikin, Rainbow and Krakatoa and we did better than average against Ellipse and Britannia. The new entrants to the division from GFS, Gwhizz and Izzi were four to six minutes behind so we have not a lot to complain about. The fact is it was a close race and we could have been sharper.
There is a suggestion that we should have reefed like Rainbow and I admit it was a close call. We have beaten them before when they carried too much sail so perhaps this was their turn. I did have full water tanks and while I hate wasting water it will have to go before next weeks race. We are down three crew for next week but I predict a very light air race so we should be fine.
With just two sleeps to go before the Winter Wednesday series kicks off it is time to practise blogging on the new Passion site Kevin has kindly made a new site based on WordPress and this is my first effort posting from the mobile phone to the new site.
I am looking forward to the new series and the forecast for the first race is for a windy one. Bring it on.
The RANSA Winter Wednesday Series runs from 7th May until 17th September.
Race Documents
The Notice of Race is here
The Sailing Instructions are here
Division
Passion is Division 1
Division 1 code flag looks like;
Start
Division 1 Start is 2.00pm
Course
Course A (Full Course)
Lady Bay, East Channel, Rose Bay, Point Piper, Light House Mark.Shark Island Mark, Naval Bouy 3B (P), Naval Buoy 3 (P) to Finish.
Course B (Short Course)
Lady Bay, East Channel, Rose Bay, Naval Bouy 3B (P), Naval Buoy 3 (P) to Finish.
Code flags A and B look like;
Pick-up
Pickup times for Passion are 12.30pm at GFS and 1.00pm at Number One Walsh Bay.
I took the opportunity of the sunny weather and light winds to take the cruising frames off Passion and spread out the sails to dry. The spinnaker was a bit too wet to leave on board so here it is in the drying room.
Passion’s big spinnaker laid out to dry
Looking through the results for the different divisions it seems that the gun boats of our size were Toy Story, Kerinda, Amante and L’Altra Donna (The Other Woman).
L’Altra Donna is the Summit 35 that raced in the performance racing section. She is currently on the market priced at $219,000 – details here. L’Altra Donna is 250 kg lighter than Amante, has more sail area and a similar beam. Kerinda, Amante and L’Altra Donna can all cruise but without the same level of comfort as Passion but the stand out is Kerinda in looks and performance.Passion looks good in the photos. The main and genoa and asymmetric looks a good size for the boat in the photo from Saltwater ImagesI could not find any close up shots of the big spinnaker on the media site but there were many fine shots of Kerinda with a huge runner which looked 10% bigger on a lighter yacht. The final photo of the crew enjoying the event just about sums up the regatta.
Passion’s crew enjoying the regatta despite the wet weather (Copyright Saltwater Images)
This heading for this blog is the dry comment from Geoff that just about sums up the week at Port Stephens. Apart from the first day when we did the three island course in fickle conditions the balance of the week was wet to different degrees. Normally Passion is very dry below because we do a lot of no extras sailing but for the Port Stephens Regatta we were dropping wet kites into the forepeak. After a few days of this we discovered the best idea was to stash the wet sails and sail bags into jumbo garbage bags so we soon had the interior back in order.
At the end of the regatta as a precaution we have stripped as much clothing and sailing gear as we can from Passion for a good wash and dry. Some wet carpet has been taken off for a wash and dry and the sails have been spread out in the warm cabin to air. With all these precautions she should be in good shape for the Winter Wednesdays starting in May.
Some of the damp gear from Passion ready for a wash and dry
In a few days the wet weather will be forgotten and all that will remain is the pleasure of sailing to the best of our ability against fellow sailors of similar disposition. In the Port Stephens Cup we finished in sixth place but only two point separated first and sixth with placings decided on count backs. For the Commodores Cup we finished fifth in a fleet of nineteen so we were consistent finishers.
Elaine and I enjoyed the trip up and back. Good Friday on the water from Newcastle to Sydney was ten hours of delightful weather suited to sunbathing, relaxing and tidying up the damp sails. With the sun shining through the windows warming up the cabin I spread the genoas out in the cabin to dry while Elaine kept watch. Wet gear spread out under the spray dodger was dry long before the sun set.
The final part of the sail home was to come through the heads at sunset and motor up the harbour in the time between sunset and full moon. Our journey to the mooring was interrupted be the Rhapsody of the Sea which was leaving the passenger terminal and blocking the way but we were on the mooring shortly after 1900 hours and ready for dinner and a good night sleep.
Easter Saturday was the best day for cleaning up. From dawn to 0900 hours there was no breeze and very little ferry traffic to interrupt our very thorough clean up on Passion so while the weather had been difficult early in the regatta it more than made up for it on the trip home.
April 2nd, 2014
The last race of the Autumn series was a short but slow event out around Goat Island and return. We started up the line on port tack and made a good start with speed and no one in front but in a few moments Agrovation was ahead of the fleet and leading into Humbug followed closely by French Connection. Michael Groves on Agrovation tells me that he now knows how to feather the prop and if this has been the cause of his up and down performance we might be in for a shock next season.
In Humbug the fleet kept reaching up to us and blanketing us from the puffs so we made poor progress. Izzi seemed to want to take the fleet up into the wind shadow of Greenwich Point but we managed to get clear ahead so we could hold our own line. Approaching Long Nose point we had Gwhizz above and pointing lower and Worlds Apart in front and holding a similar line until we eased the main halyard too much. Immediately we dropped below their line and had to retension the main halyard to get the leech to stand up. That took us into Long Nose from which we had to tack away. For a while the tack away seemed to work as Worlds Apart was pinching and slowing along the shore but the further into Snails Bay we went the further ahead she went. In light airs and with an incoming tide we made slow progress to Goat with Izzi and Rex sneaking past on a favourable lift. We did manage to pin Izzi onto starboard until we tacked to round Goat Island and that got us one back. Around Goat Island we hand held the genoa our to windward until it was time to round up for the tight reach back to Humbug.
The tight reach back was a tricky one with a large fleet of Blue yachts catching every time the wind picked up.
Blue and black fleet yachts reaching down on top of Passion in the last race of the 1013 2014 season
Eventually Gael Force reached past us despite Kevin’s best endeavours to take them back to the Harbour Bridge but as we hardened up for the beat up Humbug the breeze freshened and Passion took off pointing higher and going faster. In two tacks it was all over. We had passed Geal Force and Rex by a long margin and after we had finished they were left to struggle home in dying breeze.
We did manage a fifth fastest some seven minutes behind Agrovation but some four minutes in front of Gael Force.
On handicap the eighth place should become a drop and with 17 races finished three drops should count and we should win the overall handicap by a point. French Connection with a fine second fastest and first on handicap did everything she could to beat us but with our results year to date even a win was not enough.
We also managed equal second place in the Autumn series with Cipriani and three point behind French Connection. I was pretty happy with the Autumn series as it was a light affair and there were few days that really suited Passion.
Again thanks to all the crew for their loyal support through the season and their company on and off the water.