Sanders Cup - Day 1

I pulled into the Bay of Islands car park at 10.30pm. It is cold, so much for the saying ‘Winterless North’. I went for a drive around the town to have a look and find breakfast.

Back at the club, I caught up with everyone as they drifted into the club one by one. The time few by and I helped David rig his yacht ‘Flying Circus’. I was unable to make the first day yesterday and David had got to fifth places. We hit the water first and started sailing out to the start line in the 15knot breeze. SPLAT. We got the yacht up and continued to the far end of the bay to the starting line. We had a quick sail upwind fixed up a couple of control ropes.

We started race well. We were 2nd off the starting line and straightaway we hooked into a high. We carried the high all the out to the lay line. We tacked and hooked into a left had swing and reached all the way into the top mark. It looked so funny. We were hard reaching with all sheets eased and going twice as fast as the rest of the fleet in the same direction. We got to the top mark with a 200-meter lead. We sailed to the bottom mark and went around with a 100-meter lead as the rest of the fleet had reached down on a huge gust. We held our lead for the next lap of the course. As we rounded the top mark for the last time we took it easy as there was no way we could be caught. A minute later ‘SPLAT’. The rudder was not completely down and had blown out on a huge gust as we were not running at full speed. We had to watch two boats pass us while we were on the centerboard. Dam. We all sailed the 1.5kilometer back up to the club for lunch.

In the afternoon we kited out to the starting line in 20knots. Everyone started well and we rounded the top mark in 3rd place. Places kept swapping as the random 30degree wind shifts made or broke dreams within seconds. We did not pick enough wind shifts and got 4th in this race. We waited around in 25knot gusts for the next race. We got a little better start and took off in the gale. There were only 5 yachts left in the race. Phil and Peter got a jump with a left-hand shift. We had a good battle between us other 3. On the finial downwind we all lined up 20 meters apart. There was a couple of meters in it from 3rd to 5th. Great racing.

Last night Phil, Helen and the Bay of Islands yacht club put on a BBQ dinner. The club has a great atmosphere and we stayed there until 10pm before crashing out. The sun is now breaking the horizon and the mist is starting to lift. It is currently 4 degrees Celsius, FREEZING… Today’s weather forecast is for 20 to 30 knots from the Northwest, going Southwest and rain. 

Sanders Cup - Day 2

Talk about cold.

Thankfully we are not sailing down further south in NZ. We rigged and hit the water to make the 10.30am start. We drift out of the club on a southwesterly. Half way out the wind dropped to below one knot and we slowly sailed towards the starting line. After a few minutes we could see a Northwest wind line coming in from behind. Within a minute it went from southwest to a 15knot Northwest. We popped the kite and had a very fast ride on dead flat water. Within minutes the bay began to chop up. We could see this was going to all end in tears. As we sailed back to the patrol boat in 25knots we dug the boat into a couple of waves and while correcting with the rudder we put a compression dent into the top of the carbon rudder blade. Home time! We followed Peter and Nathan back to the ramp. Minutes later the rest of the fleet arrived back as the patrol boat postponed the race and sent the fleet back to shore. Some of the guys had a good kite ride home on the 30knot breeze. Out came the sandpaper and carbon fiber. David repairing the rudder blade and Peter is glue’ing his mast top section back in place.

New Zealand Nationals - Day 1

The wind kept increasing and racing was abandoned at 3pm. Congrats to Phil and Matt for winning the Sanders Cup. Phil kept to the Jav tradition and late in the evening the cup was filled with rum and handed around.

The sun is about to pop of the horizon and we are about to start the Javelin Nationals today. There is talk of possible 16 to 18 boats on the starting line. Race start is at 12.30.

I launched with Antje for the first race of the Nationals. We headed out to the starting line to join the rest of the fleet. We nailed the start of Race one. We hit the pin with full speed and left the other 16 boats behind. We held a left-hand shift and then came back on the lay line to the top mark. The wind was really shifty and after 3 laps we were 5th. The downwind rides were great, just small chop and heaps of wind. David and Doug in ‘flying Circus’ came in 6th, thank for the rums boys. We will wait to see what the weather brings before bets we place tomorrow 

New Zealand Nationals - Day 2

At 9.45am on Saturday we hit the water and blasted out to the starting line. The wind was swinging about 30 degrees and gusting 15 – 18 knots. There were 17 boats on the starting line.

To condense today’s racing report - I will just say it was “GREAT”.

On every starting gun we were at full speed by the pin. We popped out in front of the top of the fleet and were gone. We have 8 boats, which are all capable of winning each race. The upwind and down winds are so exciting with you either gaining or losing 3 places on a wind shift. We had fun calling angles downwind and pushing the envelope to try and gain places. We got a good start on today’s 4 races. Our placing’s so far are 6, 5, 5, 4, 5. Due to our consistency we are currently in 4th place and as yet do not have any bad results to drop. All the other boats around us have one or two bad results, which they will discard.

We had another lovely steak dinner cooked by Helen and Phil, thanks guys.

We will race another 3 or 4 races tomorrow. The points are so close that the top seven are still all able to win the regatta. Bring it on . 

New Zealand Nationals - Day 3

I awoke to another cool sunrise. Easter Sunday and the Easter bunny has not found me…

We had a look at the points last night, we are fourth with two boats around the same point once we drop two races out of the nine. Our worse result is a 6th which means today we can go out and take some big risks and either be Hero’s or Zero’s…

At 9.45am we hit the water and kited out to the starting line. This is the first race we have started with a incoming tide (washing boats over the starting line) We started at the pin and headed left, we looked back and saw that the committee had general recalled that race and started the countdown to another start. We rushed back and lined up for the next start. Again we hit the pin at speed and were off, the race was postponed due to a huge shift. The wind was blowing 12knots and shifting 90 degrees. Finial the race was restarted in 5 knots and we lined up at the committee boat started, tacked and went right to catch a shift from the big back rain cloud. We hit the right had lay line and tacked. We did not look to bad until the wind knocked 45 degrees and put us half a leg behind the fleet in 16th place (out of 17 yachts). Hero to Zero, Let’s just drop this race…

We started the next race by the pin and got sucked into the fleet off the starting line. We rounded the top mark in 12th spot. The wind started to increase and by the bottom we were 10th. We finial got our right hand shift and finished the race on the next upwind in 6th place. We all sailed in for lunch.

As the fleet hit the ramp to leave for the afternoon race a 30 knot blast went through. We held our yacht back until it dropped and kited out to the start in 20 knots. We started the race in the middle of the fleet. The wind got stronger and stronger as we went up the beat and we blasted up the fleet into 2nd place. We rounded the bottom mark in 3rd place however we soon blasted through and was slowly pulling the Bax’s back. We were soon at the top mark in 2nd place with a 200 meter lead over 3rd place. We kited down to the finish on a 25 knot gust for our best result of the regatta. Told you boys to watch out of Antje if it blew!

The wind died down a little for the finial race. We were starting by the patrol boat and we sailing in before being taken out by a yacht who lost control and tacked onto port and put in the drink by the patrol boat, F#&$, F#&$, F#&$ there goes 3rd place… We recover and started the race a good 250 meters behind the fleet. The wind was still around 20 knots and we went into fast mode. By the top mark we in the middle of the fleet. On the downwind we past another 5 boats and rounded the bottom mark in 8th place. By the top mark we were back up to 5th place. On the hoist we trawled the kite and had a lot of trouble getting it out of the water. With a bit of luck it we got it out of the water and we were off. Dave and Doug had just sailed past and taken our 5th place. We gibed to catch a gust and were off. Dave’s gibe was not the best and by the time they got their kite full we were gone. We finished the race and headed back to shore, what a recovery, speed to burn in the breeze..

We have prize giving and the party went through to 3.30am in the morning. Antje is really happy with her 5th place. Excellent Result ! Tomorrow morning we have the AGM then drive home…