Race Report - Summer 3
Written by Barry Ommundson
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06 December 2011
Saturday 3 December 2011
Sailing preparation for the AoE starts on Thursdays with a quick scan of the forecast and tide. How many beers to pack and how much ice? These are important considerations for a mutiny free race.
Also our thoughts turned to the next level of foxing and handicap sandbagging exhibited by Van Demon last week J - will their handicap shenanigans have any impact on this week’s race?
A light SE is forecast and a telephone call see’s our crew reduced to two. Some last minute attempts to shore things up fail miserably, and so it’s Speed and Baz, soldiering on together again!
Saturday brings with it a beautiful day with a light breeze Easterly. Hopefully we’ll have a better turnout this week and on the start line I see the light wind lovers Scandal, the Girls on Adam are there. Not too worried about the showers this week. Van Demon seems to have recovered from the problems that forced their early retirement last week. I see Phil doing early maintenance on Solitude and I have heard that Len is not sailing today, so we will have stiff competition again by the looks of it.
Arriving at the club at 12-30, I find a nice breeze developing with no signs of and southerly. Later reports indicate we should expect a Nor Easter, what will we finally race with and where will Starter Anne send us.
At start time the breeze has settled at about 8-10 knots and is ENE, a good river breeze. Where will the starter send us? We do not have to wait too long when course 5 flag goes up and a handicap start! Great choice Anne, there’s not a lot of reaching in that course for us. We may have a chance today.
We prepare the boat moving the spinnaker halyard and braces for the kite set at the bottom of Cockatoo. We watch Scandal take off, good start and great positioning with no one to crowd him in. The challenge has been set can we catch Scandal? As time goes by Van Demon readies herself for the start, with all eyes watching a very good safe start, no crossing early today, too big a penalty. Then it’s our turn, we hit the starters blocks, there’s no stopping us now and we are off like the bride’s nightie (or hijab, depending upon your preference).
Abbotsford Point arrives in no time. It is so different with no one about. We spot Van Demon along the Chiswick Wall, opposite Searle’s monument, the race is on. We see Dell taking photos and say “Hi”. I look forward to seeing these to see how the rig looks with our new flatter main.
We cross Five Dock bay and watch Van Demon approaching Wright’s Point; we feel we have closed the gap. The big fella starts picking the lifts like a champion, all along the Drummoyne shore we short tack to stay out of the tide and use the vagaries of the breeze on that shore. As we reach Wright’s point we find Van Demon just past Wolseley Street wharf – hey - all those short tacks paid off. We have a nice reach to Schnapper Island and guess what – those short tacks were thirsty work, time for a drink.
Having passed Schnapper we sail in to the channel before tacking, however once turned we are heading toward a floating block of flats that was holding a party on board. Nice sights on board but the question is how best to avoid them? All of a sudden we start lifting nicely as the block is lifting a short section of breeze too us, thank you. Naturally we then get knocked badly and start heading straight for the shore on the eastern point of Cockatoo. Speed being the champion that he is hold’s his line and just as the keel is about to scrape we get a lift and harden the sheets, with the bow popping over the top of the island nicely.
We ease the gear and set the pole to prepare the kite for setting, while all this is happening we have no time to look for Van Demon, As we cross the bottom of Cockatoo approaching the wharf we haul up big red and take off. Trim the gear, and pass the beer is the command! We look up and find Van Demon without a kite near the Hunter Hill Marina. As we pass by our thoughts now turn to Scandal who is nowhere in sight.
Its Speed’s shout as we reach up to Wright’s point and then square away for an easy run down the river. Passing Searle’s is always thirsty work and so we crack another beer and go chasing Paul and the boys.
We just pass Cabarita as Scandal turns the Morrison bay mark. As the breeze kicks in I’m thankful that we are running square as I would not hold this kite if the breeze was off your shoulder. In no time we are at the mark, up goes the jib, Pull the bloody big kite in, put the pole away, and pull on the gear and around the mark we go. We do it so well it’s as though we have 3 on board. There’s no doubt about the big fella, he does not give an inch no matter what the circumstances. We take off and chase Scandal.
Sailing down the river with little tide we sail where the wind is best. Speed finds a beautiful lift that takes us straight down the river. The breeze is now quite strong 15 knots plus. If we are going to fly the kite, we will only want the little one this time or I will have no arms left. The man at the back of the boat agrees we go the mighty blue, and start changing the gear form one side of the boat to other.
We turn at Abbotsford to see Scandal approaching mark 5. Scandal rounds and don’t pop a kite. Have they decided to play it safe? What do they know that we don’t?
We round the mark pop the kite and take off. Scandal rounds 3 and we have closed the gap.
We both head back to 3 with Scandal still leading however we manager to put our nose in front in this leg at Abbotsford. Adams Den is trying hard to catch the fleet but if we can hold on I can already taste the wine tonight. Rounding mark 5 for the last time we set the kite and sail home for a well deserved win.
To the starter thank you for a great race, to our competitor’s great racing, thank you for being there. On the veranda it was noted that Adam Dem won fastest time by 4 seconds, well done girls.
Team Axis
