The Royal Akarana Cruising Series is a family friendly way to enjoy casual racing, exploring new destinations and meeting new club members.
Boyd Wason
Phone 376 1440
Race 4
Here is our view of the weekend race to Administration Bay. The course was set to be course 3, which with the forecast 15-20 Knot SW would have been a broad reach from Orakei to Whangaparoa Navy buoy, then a tight reach across to the finish at Administration Bay. It’s quite a long course at 22 miles, but with good breeze and reaching conditions, we expected it would be quite fast.
At start time, the day was overcast with puffy SW breeze at 15-20 knots, and some showers. It did look like being quite a fast race. We started at the pin, closest to the lighthouse, Communique started at the wharf, taking the “money in the bank” low line to sail fast from, and everyone else was somewhere in between those 2 extremes.
We saw Outlaw racing for the first time, and she quickly powered past Romany to windward to take the lead, with Mr Roosevelt following their line to also take the unfortunate Romany’s air as they too went past to windward. Ocean Rhythm had started well but was passed by Incentive, and Result was going well in the brisk conditions. Aeolian had started reasonably well to leeward, and made a good line straight towards the lighthouse, sailing past Communique and Romany to leeward.
On the way from North Head to the lighthouse, the order of march was Outlaw and Mr R going WAY left towards Stillwater, then Aeolian with a small gap to Romany and Communique who were side by side, with Incentive, Result and Ocean Rhythm following in line not far behind. The 42 footers continued on their scenic tour of the East Coast bays, and Fendall and I had a conversation something like “ Where are THEY going”? “Don’t know, do the ‘A’ division have a different course for this race”?, “I Dunno”. The rest of the fleet sailed the straight line more or less, and tried to get the best out of their headsails which were sometimes shadowed by the mainsail.
During this long reach, the wind did increase, and Result was able to pass Incentive who was sailing with a #3 sail for the day, and Romany was finally able to gain a tiny bit of separation from Communique who was being helmed by Nigel Halliburton at the time. So, arrival at Navy buoy was managed first by Outlaw, who was quite a long way ahead of Mr R at that time, and they gybed. From the far distance I was back, it all looked OK, so I decided to hang onto full sail for the next leg. Outlaw did look a little slow, but they seemed all right to my eyes.
Mr Roosevelt was next, and though they had a few people on board as crew, they decide to tack round rather than gybe in the strong wind blowing at the mark. This seemed slow, but they were soon off again and going well. Aeolian too tacked around, so we caught them a little as we simply gybed, then sailed the new course once we had finally wound all the headsail sheet in – it was blowing a bit. Communique rounded bare-headed, and sailed off to leeward a way while they set up their #2 headsail - when they got going again they were well balanced and fast. Result and Incentive we did not see make their turn, but they must have managed OK because they were still quite close.
The wind was blowing about 25 knots plus some in the puffs, and most boats reduced sail. Outlaw was struggling to reef their main with an unusual reefing system, and had experienced a long sideways drag as their gybe at the mark had not gone quite as well as it looked to us. Suffice it to say that Mr Roosevelt managed to get a small headsail up and a reef in the main, and quickly powered past and away from Outlaw. Outlaw did get their mainsail reefed after a fashion, and started to make good speed again, but could not really make any gain on Mr Roosevelt. Aeolian had reduced sail by furling in some headsail, and was travelling well. We on Romany were managing well enough with full furler at first, but when the wind really increased, we did roll in about half the furler, and were quite comfortable like this. Communique was travelling fast and easy not for behind us, and Incentive was well suited to the tougher conditions with her #3, and was able to re-pass Result.
That’s how the yachts finished. First round of the Davidson 42 stakes goes to Mr Roosevelt who took line honours. Outlaw finished a couple of minutes behind, then a bit of a gap to Aeolian, then all the other yachts finished quite close together. It was a fairly demanding race. It was difficult to get the best speed out of the yacht while trying to maintain a sensible line to the mark. At Navy Buoy, it was a windy rounding with strong air at the time one had to gybe, then it was a tough reaching leg once we rounded Navy buoy, needing decent trim to keep the boat at max speed. Quite an interesting race for us.
The anchorage at Administration Bay was too unprotected for a strong SW wind, so we all went round to Waikalabubu for the night. Had an excellent BBQ on the beach with the usual tasty gourmet sausages, sourced b y Fendall and Lynn Halliburton, and we also had fireworks and lots of people, as both Mr R and Outlaw had a few guests on board for the race and overnight.
As can be seen from the results, there were some surprises at prize-giving time. We had thought that the fastest boats had done enough to be in the money, but in fact it was Result who was first, having sailed a good race in conditions that made them work hard, but with reward. Ocean Rhythm was second, not bad as they also caught 8 good Kawhai during the race. Romany was 3rd, just ahead of Communique, then came Mr Roosevelt, Outlaw, Aeolian and Incentive.
Next day Mac and Norma had offered to smoke all their fish and share them amongst the fleet, but we hoped to get home ahead of the impending rain, so set up our previously untried #3 headsail and one reef, and headed for home. It was a full-on beat once we rounded Emu Point, and was blowing enough to make a fair test of our #3 sail, about 25 Knots most of the time, and we had to cope with some near 40 knot wind near Bean Rock which we managed well. Nice to get some practice sailing in big breeze from time to time, though we were both a little stiff after our 3-hour beat home. Not exactly summer cruising, but fun all the same.
Please do check the results and handicaps. Also check the series results to date. If there are any mistakes, please do let me know and I will fix them.
See you all next time.
Justin.
Race 2
Next day was the Mark Foy start and race back to Orakei. Result was to start first, with Ocean Rhythm 1 minute behind, and Romany 17 minutes behind. We based these calculations on the idea that our notional Farr 9.2 scratch boat (handicap 0.72) would average 6 knots for the sail home. On the day, the wind was a fair bit more than we expected, so it was a very fast race home. We all decided to leave early, and the first boat started at 9:00.
This time everyone set off with full sail, as although the wind was expected to be over 20 knots for almost all of the race, we were sailing a broad reach most of the way home.
It was a very quick sail home. Result won easily getting home first, and winning also on corrected time. Romany was not fast enough to catch Ocean Rhythm, though we could see the whites of their eyes as we finished 41 seconds behind them.
On corrected time, Result was first by a long way, then Romany 2nd, and Ocean Rhythm 3rd. Our average speed for the race was 7.8 knots, so it was quite brisk. After a quick sail up the harbour, we were able to pack the boat away without getting rained on – that was a surprise.
It turned out to be a much better weekend’s sailing than we had expected. We had no rain, the sailing was easier than we imagined it would be, and the boat behaved impeccably throughout, so we were altogether very contented yachties. We are looking forward to the next race, and will not complain if there is a little less wind and a bit more sun.
I’ve just heard from James Grant that his beloved Jane has seriously damaged her Achilles tendon on the night of the Cruising dinner. James had been outside playing the Scottish bagpipes, and Jane performed a magnificent Scottish Dance to the pipes, but somewhere in there she damaged the tendon. She has her lower leg in a plaster cast, and will need a few months of re-hab to get it fixed. We hope it gets better quickly Jane.
Race 1
At the Cruising dinner on the Friday before the race, we had discussed the idea of maybe going to Rocky Bay instead of Rakino, as the weather looked like it might be strong breeze from NE, and we thought that going to Rocky Bay would be an easier sail than the long beat through the Motuihe Channel and up around Haystack in big air and lumpy seas.
On Saturday morning, Fendall rang from the marina. He and Lynn had stayed over-night on Communique after a big night at the Simrad prize-giving. Congratulations to Fendall & his crew Stu, who won the last race, and also the series. Fendall said that there was lots of wind, and they would not be racing so could we (Justin & Lindsay) pick up the sausages for the BBQ.
I thought “goodness gracious me, it must be looking bad out there” so rang Fred Price from Incentive to get his thoughts. It was gusting over 30 knots at Tiri, and Fred thought they might give it a miss.
Next call was to Jonathan and Kerry Ash from Result. They were keen as mustard, and not at all fazed by the wind strength. They were ready to go with all gear and food packed, so they were definitely in for the race if a race was starting.
We knew that Mac and Norma from Ocean Rhythm were racing (they also stayed on their boat in Westhaven overnight), and Mac called to suggest we do course 31 to Rocky Bay. We communicated this to Jonathan and Kerry, and also to John Muir from Absolut Leisur who was also packed and ready to go with various daughters and daughters’ friends ready to crew. So, there were at least 4 boats going racing.
One thing about the series this year is that the tides are always big for our races, and we knew we would be pushing a strong tide on the way to the start, so left early. We motored and motor-sailed down in company with Absolut Leisur. Linz and I were all rugged up in our wet weather gear, but John Muir was tiddling along quite happily in his shorts and T-shirt!
After a while, we saw Result and Ocean Rhythm coming down the harbour towards the start, but they both looked to be running a bit late.
When we go to the start, it wasn’t there. Well, the Orakei Wharf was there, but there was no yellow buoy for the outer limit. We just decided to start near the wharf using the starboard channel marker by the torpedo wharf as our line. We must thank the excellent starting crew, who got the race away exactly on time with all proper signals done perfectly, great job as usual.
We started OK, but John Muir considered that he was ahead of the line, so turned back and returned to a notional position well behind the start line before re-starting – exceptionally honest sailing. Meanwhile, we could see Result and Ocean Rhythm approaching the start line, they were late by about 3 minutes and 6 minutes respectively, but they were there, and they were racing.
The yachts were all racing with reduced sail. Absolut Leisure had a number 3 or 4 headsail and full main. Result and Romany both had 1 reef, and approximately #3 sized furler rolled out. Ocean Rhythm had 2 reefs and a couple of rolls in the furler. With this setup, all the boats were sailing comfortably in the 22-28 Knots of wind, as the seas were not very rough.
Absolut Leisur was going well, and had overtaken Romany about 15 minutes after the start. John and his girls and their friends had the boat going nicely, and they steadily stretched away from the other yachts. Result had started behind Romany, and stayed there, sometimes gaining, sometimes losing, but always close, and Ocean Rhythm was going along steadily as always.
By the time we had passed Browns island Navy Buoy, the wind had moderated slightly, and Ocean Rhythm decided to increase sail, and by about 12:45pm we too were up to our full furler and 1-reef main, as the breeze had moved slightly left and eased back to 15-22 knots. We finished comfortably, and patted ourselves on the back for having had an enjoyable and splash-free race with no round-ups or any difficulties at all. John Muir was also happy – he had enjoyed his race, as too had Result and Ocean Rhythm, so “a good time was had by all”.
John Muir had to get back to town that night, so invited us all aboard his big boat for a natter and drinkies. Lindsay cooked up the excellent sausages (thanks Fendall and Lynn), I did the results, and we headed over to Absolut Leisur. We scoffed some snacks and snags, chatted a bit, then went through the results. Well done to John Muir and crew who got the line and handicap double. This is the first cruising race that Absolut Leisur has won on handicap, so John was very happy – they had sailed a sensible race, and they easily won on corrected time, despite going back to do their re-start.
Result also had a very good race and was second, with Romany 3rd, and Ocean Rhythm 4th. There was not much in the way of big gusts or waves, and everyone managed the race very easily with the sail selections they had. It was not too long, we only sailed about 16 miles through the water, and we were all finished by 2:05pm.