Crew: Geoff, Murray, Frances.
Forecast: S 20 kts gusting 30 kts late morning, easing to 10 kts this evening.
Murray and I cast off from Chaffers Marina at 1115 hrs and motored round to Evans Bay with around 15 kts southerly. We rigged up the small no. 3 jib considering the Metservice forecast and being short-handed. We arrived at EB wharf 1153 hrs. The course was announced: Start – #5 Somes west – #12 Ward north – Finish.
Grenadier wasn’t racing as Phil was on race duties so Frances was able to join Halo‘s crew at the last minute.
Leg 1 – Start to Mark 5
We cast off from the wharf at 1243 hrs and did a few practice tacks while jostling for position in the small fleet of just four boats in the keelboat division: Jesse James, Incantare, Tamerlane and Halo. (A diminished attendance due to being Labour weekend and maybe also because All Blacks were playing Argentina that morning in the World Cup semi finals).
With Murray doing a great job on helm, we had a great start neck and neck with Incantare. We decided against flying the spinnaker and sailed comfortably with twin headsails for the run up towards Somes Island; no. 3 jib on windward side and no. 1 genoa HW on leeward side.
As we cleared Pt Halswell, however, we were now on a broad reach as we headed to where the chart plotter indicated the mark should be. The poled out jib was now not pulling well so we then took the pole down and sailed with the jib and genoa both on leeward.
As we neared the mark we realised we had been heading too far east. The mark must have moved since the last time I recorded its position!
We dropped the genoa down the hatch and sailed with just the jib ready for our turn back into the wind.
Leg 2 – Mark 5 to Mark 12
We rounded the Somes mark at 1337 hrs and then hardened up the sails to point close-hauled to where the Ward Island mark should be according to the chart plotter.
We saw Tamerlane and Incantare both pointing lower than us but we continued on our bearing. Eventually we could see the mark – exactly where it was meant to be. Whew.
Leg 3 – Mark 12 to Pt Halswell
A nice beam reach across the harbour at up to 7 kts as we followed Tamerlane towards Pt Halswell. We noticed Incantare sailed much closer to the lee of Kau Bay.
Leg 4 – Pt Halswell to Finish
Once we cleared the wind shadow of Pt Halswell it was back to close-hauled up Evans Bay getting a lift on the first tack towards Balaena Bay, then across to the point between Shelly Bay and Shark Bay. Then one last long beat past Greta Point dodging the dinghy sailors and moored boats to cross the finish line just in front of the start box at 1449 hrs.
We enjoyed hot tea and biscuits as we sailed back to Chaffers. A great day out on the water, and many thanks to Frances for her valuable assistance!
Race Qs Replay: http://raceQs.com/event/1647483
After packing up Halo we went back to the club. Phil announced the line results but as Rowdy was away the corrected handicap results won’t be published until later in the week. In the meantime, using the RaceQs timings my estimate of the results:
Halo Log Book 