A wonderful weekend of yacht racing and socialising organised by the Lowry Bay Yacht Club. Wellington turned on two days of glorious sunshine and light breezes (a bit too light at times). Marion did a great job organising Halo’s all-women (apart from me) crew and a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all.
Friday
After applying a new coat of antifoul and other maintenance jobs at the Evans Bay yard last week, Murray and I delivered Halo across the harbour to the Seaview Marina on Friday afternoon. Fairly breezy with wind gusts over 30 kts but nice and calm in the marina where we were met by Rob to help us with our lines.
I washed down the boat to get all the salt off from yesterday’s storm then we wandered over to Pier F for drinks on Rob and Denise’s nice new (to them) boat, Expresso, a Beale 33. Graciela arrived and drove us back to Wellington.
Saturday
Crew: Marion, Patricia, Libby, Vivien, Funny, Geoff.
Forecast: Metservice Wgtn: Variable 5 kts, PredictWind Somes Island: NW 9 knots decreasing to 5 knots. Low tide: 1336 hrs.
Today is to be the long harbour course: Start – round Matiu/Somes/Mokopuna Islands and Makaro/Ward Island in any order and in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction – Finish. A pursuit race with Halo‘s warning signal at 1255 hrs.
After attending the race briefing at the clubhouse Murray joined us at Compass Coffee and we discussed our race strategy.
We decided our best option was to do the course in a clockwise direction which would hopefully take advantage of the vagaries of Wellington’s tidal current which flows in a clockwise direction at flood tide.
We cast off from our marina berth at 1145 hrs with Marion on helm, Patricia and Vivian on sail trim, Libby on mainsheet and Funny on foredeck.
The start line was announced over ch. 77 as near Mahina Bay so we sailed down the harbour with our No. 1 light genoa hoisted and did some practise tacks and a goose-winged downwind run in the light northerly breeze. The start boat and pin marker were eventually positioned in Sunshine Bay.
We had a good start and soon had our maxi kite hoisted as we sailed down towards Ward Island. The wind had turned more west and up to 10 kts so we were reaching. Making ok speed but we would have been better off using our medium spinnaker.
About half way down the the leg we had a mishap with the spinnaker pole as the downhaul was inadvertently released and the pole went flying up and broke off the mast track. Bit of an anxious moment!
We had to quickly hoist the genoa and then douse the kite. We got up to speed again and soon we were rounding Ward Island.
The wind continued to increase gusting 15 kts as we sailed close-hauled up the harbour. We were somewhat overpowered now with the light genoa but we pressed on and Marion did a good job pointing us upwind towards Somes Island. We were now crossing paths with the most of the fleet who were flying their spinnakers past us on the anticlockwise route.
We rounded the virtual mark off Mokopuna Island at 1410 hrs. I did a temporary repair on the mast track slider and Funny hoisted the medium spinnaker for the run down towards Sunshine Bay.
We crossed the finish line at 1434 hrs meeting up with most of the fleet coming towards us tacking up to the finish from Ward Island.
We packed up the sails and motored back to our berth at Seaview Marina. Cups of tea and biscuits were enjoyed on the boat. I walked over to Burnsco and luckily they had replacement parts for our broken mast slider so was able to get it back to new again.
We then went to the clubhouse for a fun pizza evening. The preliminary results for Race 1 were announced, we came 8th on handicap. Great work team Halo!
Sunday
Another glorious Wellington day greeted us for our second day of sailing in the regatta. The plan was to have up to four round-the-cans races with the first race starting at 1030 hrs.
Crew: Marion, Libby, Funny, Leah, Geoff.
Forecast: Metservice Wgtn: Northerly 10 kts, PredictWind Somes Island: NW 5 knots.
We cast off from our berth at Seaview Marina at 0945 hrs with Marion on helm, Funny on bow and Leah and me on sail trim. After checking out the breeze we decided to once again go with the No. 1 light genoa. The course marks were set up near Sunshine Bay again for both divisions. Race officer Ray on Ollie’s boat Shariba announced that the spinnaker division’s course was to be W2.
Race 2
The start was very busy with most boats converging at the pin end on starboard tack. Marion sensibly kept Halo back from the melee and found a gap just behind Grenadier.
We were getting a good lift up to the top mark and rounded the mark after just two tacks.
For the run down to the bottom mark we hoisted the maxi spinnaker. Very light winds but we were getting about 3 kts of SOG. After a while we realised that we needed to gybe the kite to make the layline to the mark.
In all this busyness the race officer announced on ch. 77 that due to the wind dying out the course would be shortened to finish at mark 3. We crossed the line at 1111 hrs and found out later that Halo had won on handicap – just one second ahead of Zigzag. Woo hoo!
By now the wind had died out completely so we waited while the race committee looked for wind. It looked like there was some breeze down towards the harbour entrance past Ward Island. We drifted listlessly around and enjoyed the opportunity for lunch and refreshments.
Still no wind. They then decided to go back up the harbour north of Somes Island where we were blessed with some light breeze. The marks were set for the new course.
Race 3
Start time was set as 1320 hrs and consisted of the W2 circuit: Start – X1 – 3 – X1 – 3 – Finish.
Once again we started on starboard tack, clear of the bulk of the fleet, and headed out east in clear air until we could lay the mark in one tack.
For the downwind run we hoisted the maxi spinnaker for a nice broad reach down to the bottom mark before turning back upwind.
The second loop went well with Funny doing a great job on another spinnaker hoist as we sailed down to the mark and then back up to cross the finish line at 1421 hrs getting 5th place on handicap.
Race 4
After a short break we started the last race of the day at 1442 hrs. The same course but just one loop. This time we started on port tack once we had let the faster boats get out of the way.
All the boats were struggling in the light airs but we managed to get to the top mark in three tacks and then hoisted the spinnaker for our last run of the day.
We finished at 1514 hrs, neck and neck with Grenadier. In fact it was hard to tell who crossed the line first. The results showed it was Halo by one second, and we won second place on handicap!
Regatta completed and we dropped the sails and motored back to the marina for teas and biscuits on the boat. We were pretty pleased with our performance and at the prize giving back at the clubhouse we were excited to learn that we had won second place overall.
Well done Marion and her crew, Patricia, Libby, Vivien, Funny and Leah on Team Halo and congratulations to Angela and her crew on ZigZag who took out the top place.
Marion and I then did our delivery trip of Halo across the harbour from Seaview in the dark, berthing at Chaffers Marina at 1915 hrs.
Thanks Graciela for coming down to collect a couple of rather tired but happy sailors.
Halo Log Book 