Crew: Geoff, Graciela, Peter, Caroline, Tunch and Dilsad.
Forecast: Variable 5 knots. Southerly 10 knots developing early afternoon.
The RPNYC joined with the Turkish Embassy to hold an event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Türkiye. Each boat would have a guest from the Turkish community aboard. A course would be set and each boat had to guess their time to complete the course. The boat which finished closest to their estimate would win the trophy. The organisers emphasised that it was a rally not a race!
I contacted my old sailing buddy Tunch who is Turkish and now living in Auckland. He jumped at the chance to come to Wellington and join in the fun.
Prior to the race we were all invited to the club to enjoy delicious Turkish coffees, Turkish delight and other delicacies. Graciela and Caroline learned about Ebru, the Turkish art of marbling. We were given a flag to fly on the boat and collected our guest, Dilsad. The course was announced as: Start – Mark 25 (p) Shoal Pile – Mark 5 (p) west of Somes – Finish. Start time 1200 hrs.
We cast off from Chaffers at 1125 hrs with the no. 1 light genoa rigged. The breeze was almost non-existent but after a slight delay the race – sorry, rally 🙂 – commenced at 1205 hrs. We started sailing slowly towards Evans Bay with Peter doing a great job on helm.
As we rounded Pt Jerningham the breeze started picking up. After six tacks down Evans Bay we rounded the Shoal Pile mark at 1309 hrs.
For the downwind run, Tunch on foredeck hoisted our medium spinnaker. We were cruising along nicely at about 4.5 kts until the wind died out again. Race control made the call that engines were allowed to be used to complete the course, however we saw Annie coming up behind us in a band of wind so we held on and eventually the kite started pulling well again for the run all the way to Somes Island. Time for teas, coffees, more Turkish delicacies and Turkish music thanks to Tunch and Dilsad!
We rounded the Somes mark at 1410 hrs and started the beat back towards the finish line. The wind had now picked up to around 15 kts so in the interests of comfort we dropped the genoa and motor-sailed the rest of the way back towards Lambton Harbour. We crossed the finish line at 1448 hrs. My guestimate for Halo’s finish time was 1422 so our score was 21 minutes.
After berthing Halo back at Chaffers Marina we went over to the club to join in the Turkish festivities and delicacies. After a nice speech from the Turkish ambassador H. E. Ömür Ünsay, the beautiful trophy (crafted by her husband Murat) was presented to Gucci who recorded the best score of 6 minutes.
A great day out on the water and lots of fun for all!
That evening we had a party for the Waikawa Women’s Regatta crew on board Halo at the marina. We drank the magnum of bubbles that we won at the regatta, while enjoying a great view of the Diwali fireworks!
Halo Log Book 