EBYMBC Waitangi Day 8 Feb 2021 – Win for Halo!

Crew: Geoff, Albrecht, Murray, Lorrna, Silvia.

Forecast: Northerly 10 knots rising to 20 knots in the morning. Sea becoming moderate. Morning and evening cloud otherwise fine.

We all met at Chaffers and after safety briefing for new crew we cast off a 1100 hrs. The northerly was averaging around 18 kts with gusts around 25 kts so definitely stronger than the forecast. We hoisted No. 3 Jib and Mainsail with one reef and did some practice tacks up the harbour before running down to Evans Bay with the jib poled out. Tied up at the wharf at 1210 hrs. Course was set as #27: Start – Ward Is (p) – Somes Is (p) – Finish. We did the online sign-on and cast off at 1235 hrs ready to race!

We had a good start on port tack just a few seconds behind Coriander with Geoff on helm, Murray on mainsheet, Albrecht on bow and helping Lorna and Silvia on jib sheet trimming. The gusty conditions kept us on our toes as we tacked our way up the bay. Halo felt well balanced and we were pointing well. We were hoping to get round Pt. Halswell in two tacks but couldn’t quite make it and had to do another couple of tacks to get round.

Passed the point at 1330 hrs (thanks for the great photo Phil Williams) and we settled into a broad reach across the harbour at 7 kts towards Ward Island. We gained on Coriander and were almost neck and neck with them by the time we past the island. Murray took over helm as Geoff kept a close watch on the chart plotter to navigate Halo as close to the underwater rocks as safely possible. The tactic worked and we cut inside of Coriander as we rounded the bottom of the island at 1349 hrs.

Beating our way up the harbour we almost got around Somes in three tacks but then again had to do a quick couple of tacks to avoid the hidden rocks north of Mokopuna Island while Coriander caught up with us.

We then shook out the reef and sailed on a broad reach at 7-8 kts with a tail wind up to 30 kts.

Once we entered Evans Bay we were able to pole out the jib and sail goose-winged surfing down the bay to finish at 1521 hrs – first across the line.