Having sailed at PRSC for 30 plus years, I have been one who has always played by the rules of sailing. These rules are written in the little blue book, and then there are the "Whitsunday's rules". These were developed in close consultation with a number of very wise men, and involved late nights and sunny days of passionate discussion, always involving natures sweet nectar. In days gone by Sumo and Peanuts sailed the Adams 10 "Not So Squeezy" 2 up, setting spinnakers and observing the Whitsundays Hydration Rules, so I ask what gives my skipper Speedo the right to not observe the Whitsunday rules and only allow only one beer during the race on Saturday, gee it's only a race. And the big boys are such bullies of us in the little boat.
The starters today are Peter and Carmel, and they have sent us on the Island course, which is a great course for todays Easterly breeze of 12-15 Knots.
At the start, we question how close Resurgent is to the line, but they were not called back so it must have been close, closely followed by Still Festering and LOEG in the middle of the river. For us on Axis Of Evil, we chose to sail from the windward end of the line and sail close to Abbotsford tacking a couple of times, where we were able to call Resurgent and they sailed behind our tuck almost taking the paint from our tuck with them.
Sailing down the river into Abbotsford Bay we are taken by team Still Festering, and also powering down on us is team Resurgent. Today they had boat speed on their side. Meanwhile my skipper is questioning our rig set up, and wants adjustment made to give him more height and speed, the rigged was re-tuned, and we are chasing SF, and Res. LOEG was close behind with team Patto on Bush Telegraph looking pretty with new team shirts. Bush Telegraph have Lenny on board today to give technical advice on the best way to tackle all the river has to throw at skippers and crew, it great to see Len Back on the water.
As we pass under the Gladesville bridge and work along the Drummoyne shore, lots is happening in front of us. SF are leading Resurgent who have not seen Zenia, who call "Starboard", and change course to prevent a collision. Resurgent tacks, and loose valuable ground. It is a shame when you see this happen, but the little AOE is there to pounce and round Wright Point to reclaim 2nd position, chasing SF. Sailing nicely to Snapper Island the whole of the Greenwich fleet is rounding Snapper a couple of minutes in front of us, thank God.
Along this 3/4 we get some good gusts, and we notice Resurgent is a bit slow on the traveller, doing a 360, or was this a penalty! giving us a little bit more of a lead. We needed every edge to stay in front of Resurgent, who were close behind as we rounded Snapper Island, again going down the gutter we were able to do well enough to round the bottom of Cockatoo again in 2nd place.
Rounding the wharf end and raising the baby spinnaker we are passed by Resurgent who when they get there kite set are taken on a great ride hitting about 12 knot's, again they leave us in their wake.
We round Pulpit point to see SF at Wrights Point, Res sailing down the middle of the river. We chose to sail along the Drummoyne shore hoping to retain Breeze to Wrights point. This proved to be a great call as we round Wrights point once again in front of our challengers. Once Resurgent finds the breeze they catch and pass us once again.
Many gybes up the river have us looking for any breeze to bring us closer to the boats in front.
Rounding mark 1 at Morison Bay we have closed in on both SF and Res, LOEG and Bush Telegraph follow. Back to Abbotsford bay we now have good boat speed, and good height allowing us to lead Resurgent in to mark 5. Sailing out we have a spinnaker with a twist that takes time to unwind and Resurgent take us once again. We are off to 3 in France bay, chasing Resurgent to the mark. Two up makes the spinnaker drop and reset of the jib a very tense time but again we have done well and round and sail under Resurgent and head to Mark 5 for the final time.
We lead Resurgent to the mark, having changed the spinnaker for a Starboard set on the way to the mark. Once rounded Resurgent with superior boat speed down wind are in a commanding position, we pop the spinnaker and are off again, but alas, where is the spinnaker on Resurgent? There is plenty going on the for deck, and as they pass Abbotsford sailing club up goes the kite, better late than never, but we were able to keep our lead and win by 21 seconds, followed by Resurgent, the LOEG, Still Festering and team Patto improving each week.
This may be my last report for a long time as from today, all the big bullies with the big masts with giant sails have more handicap than us in our little 22 footer.
Many thanks Rob, Phil and team Resurgent for one of the toughest races we have sailed. Many thanks to Greg Widders for taking photo's from the club at the start of the race.
Thanks to Speedo for being a gun skipper, who manages to dehydrate his crew and do it all with a smile. Sumo would keel haul him!
A O E Scribe.
{Editors comment: Stay tuned for this weeks race report and see what happens to the beer this week....)
At the start, we question how close Resurgent is to the line, but they were not called back so it must have been close, closely followed by Still Festering and LOEG in the middle of the river. For us on Axis Of Evil, we chose to sail from the windward end of the line and sail close to Abbotsford tacking a couple of times, where we were able to call Resurgent and they sailed behind our tuck almost taking the paint from our tuck with them.
Sailing down the river into Abbotsford Bay we are taken by team Still Festering, and also powering down on us is team Resurgent. Today they had boat speed on their side. Meanwhile my skipper is questioning our rig set up, and wants adjustment made to give him more height and speed, the rigged was re-tuned, and we are chasing SF, and Res. LOEG was close behind with team Patto on Bush Telegraph looking pretty with new team shirts. Bush Telegraph have Lenny on board today to give technical advice on the best way to tackle all the river has to throw at skippers and crew, it great to see Len Back on the water.
As we pass under the Gladesville bridge and work along the Drummoyne shore, lots is happening in front of us. SF are leading Resurgent who have not seen Zenia, who call "Starboard", and change course to prevent a collision. Resurgent tacks, and loose valuable ground. It is a shame when you see this happen, but the little AOE is there to pounce and round Wright Point to reclaim 2nd position, chasing SF. Sailing nicely to Snapper Island the whole of the Greenwich fleet is rounding Snapper a couple of minutes in front of us, thank God.
Along this 3/4 we get some good gusts, and we notice Resurgent is a bit slow on the traveller, doing a 360, or was this a penalty! giving us a little bit more of a lead. We needed every edge to stay in front of Resurgent, who were close behind as we rounded Snapper Island, again going down the gutter we were able to do well enough to round the bottom of Cockatoo again in 2nd place.
Rounding the wharf end and raising the baby spinnaker we are passed by Resurgent who when they get there kite set are taken on a great ride hitting about 12 knot's, again they leave us in their wake.
We round Pulpit point to see SF at Wrights Point, Res sailing down the middle of the river. We chose to sail along the Drummoyne shore hoping to retain Breeze to Wrights point. This proved to be a great call as we round Wrights point once again in front of our challengers. Once Resurgent finds the breeze they catch and pass us once again.
Many gybes up the river have us looking for any breeze to bring us closer to the boats in front.
Rounding mark 1 at Morison Bay we have closed in on both SF and Res, LOEG and Bush Telegraph follow. Back to Abbotsford bay we now have good boat speed, and good height allowing us to lead Resurgent in to mark 5. Sailing out we have a spinnaker with a twist that takes time to unwind and Resurgent take us once again. We are off to 3 in France bay, chasing Resurgent to the mark. Two up makes the spinnaker drop and reset of the jib a very tense time but again we have done well and round and sail under Resurgent and head to Mark 5 for the final time.
We lead Resurgent to the mark, having changed the spinnaker for a Starboard set on the way to the mark. Once rounded Resurgent with superior boat speed down wind are in a commanding position, we pop the spinnaker and are off again, but alas, where is the spinnaker on Resurgent? There is plenty going on the for deck, and as they pass Abbotsford sailing club up goes the kite, better late than never, but we were able to keep our lead and win by 21 seconds, followed by Resurgent, the LOEG, Still Festering and team Patto improving each week.
This may be my last report for a long time as from today, all the big bullies with the big masts with giant sails have more handicap than us in our little 22 footer.
Many thanks Rob, Phil and team Resurgent for one of the toughest races we have sailed. Many thanks to Greg Widders for taking photo's from the club at the start of the race.
Thanks to Speedo for being a gun skipper, who manages to dehydrate his crew and do it all with a smile. Sumo would keel haul him!
A O E Scribe.
{Editors comment: Stay tuned for this weeks race report and see what happens to the beer this week....)
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