Crew: Geoff, Anastasia, Murray, Meredith, Yareen.
Forecast: Variable 5 knots. Northeast 10 knots developing this morning, then turning northerly 10 knots around midday. HW 1325 hrs.
A beautiful calm morning for sailing! Anastasia took the helm as we cast off from Chaffers at 1035 hrs. I rigged up the No. 1 light genoa and shook out the mainsail reef. I realised later that one of the sail cover straps had got caught in a reef line and got ripped off as I tried to hoist the main. (I forgot that golden rule – If a halyard feels stuck, resist the temptation to force it).
A gentle 5-6 kts NE breeze was blowing as we sailed round to Evans Bay and we took the opportunity to play around with the genoa sail trim and jib car position to get all the tell tales flowing correctly.
We tied up at the wharf next to Coriander. Murray and Meredith joined us as well as a Yareen, a new crew member for Halo. After signing on for the race we got the course for the day; Start at Pania – Mark 10 (Falcon Shoals light) – finish at Start Box, with race start at 1215 hrs.
After a safety briefing for Yareen we rigged up the spinnaker sheets and cast off at 1145 hrs and motored up towards Shark Bay where Pania had the the start line set up. Anastasia and Meredith were on sail trim, Murray on mainsheet, me on helm and Yareen on bow duties.
We timed the start sequence pretty well and crossed the line on a starboard tack near Pania, close to the leading boats. A minute after crossing the line we tacked round to port to follow Usurper towards Shelly Bay. We just managed to dodge a fisherman while trying to keep up with Grenadier who was just ahead of us.
After four more tacks we were on the layline to round Pt Halswell when Sea Beagle on our right tacked onto starboard to clear the mark which forced us to do an additional couple of tacks to give way to them.
Yareen did a great job hoisting our maxi spinnaker as we sailed past Kau Bay on a broad reach in 10 kts of northerly while Murray took a turn on helm. As we neared the Falcon Shoals light the faster boats were already coming back towards us.
We hoisted the genoa and doused the spinnaker just before rounding Falcon Shoals light at 1300 hrs and we started the beat back towards Halswell. As we neared Kau Point we were discussing whether or not we could make it round the point when we noticed a very large clump of kelp sitting off the point. A quick tack ensured we bypassed it.
As we were zooming past Kau Bay we noticed that one of the leading boats, Slingshot, had stopped in the bay. (We found out later that they had sailed right through the kelp and got into all sorts of trouble with big clumps of seaweed attaching themselves to their rudder and keel).
In the meantime Yareen and I re-rigged the spinnaker, this time with the pole out to starboard. Soon after we rounded Pt Halswell we had the kite hoisted and flying beautifully on a run down Evans Bay in around 8 kts of northerly breeze.
We crossed the finish line at 1349 hrs and dropped Murray and Meredith off at EB wharf. We then motor sailed back to Chaffers while enjoying chocolates and snacks. Anastasia and Yareen did a nice job tidying up the boat.
Back at the club for the post-race socialising, the results were announced. Halo came 6th on line and 7th on corrected time.
RaceQs Replay http://raceQs.com/event/1602620
A great day out on the water!
Halo Log Book 