Crew: Geoff, Murray, John, Jamie, Juliette.
Forecast: Predictwind NE 6-14 kts, Metservice: NE 10 kts easing to variable 5 kts this evening.
Last week’s EBYMBC Barton Marine Winter Series race was cancelled due to too much wind. The RPNYC Fully Crewed Waitoa Winter Series runs on alternate weekends. Signing on for both clubs’ winter series should give us better chances of some good racing through the season. Or so we thought…
As we cast from Chaffers at 1115 hrs the wind was barely getting up to 2 kts. We hoisted our lightweight no. 1 genoa and full mainsail and cruised round towards the Port Nic clubhouse to check the course. Crew positions were: John and Jamie on sail trim, Juliette on bow, Murray on mainsheet and me on helm. The sign in the start box said Race Number 23. Start – Mark 25p (in Evans Bay) – Finish. The race was timed to start at 1200 hrs.
A good sized fleet of boats joined us (we counted 13) around the start area in front of the clubhouse. We manoeuvred Halo into what we thought was a good position for a perfect start, woohoo! Move over Pete Burling 🙂
Then the dreaded call from race control over the VHF on channel 62, “Seven boats are over the line (OCS)“. Ouch! Each of the seven boats boat were individually named, including Halo, and we all had to turn back behind the line. The other five boats sailed merrily on ahead.
Once we had turned back behind the start line Race Control called “Halo clear to start” so we could restart. By now we were at the back of the fleet.
The wind was a very light southerly as we sailed on a beam reach across Lambton Harbour. We worked on getting the best sail trim we could by easing halyards and sheets, good weight distribution, and holding the genoa clew out with the boat hook. We squeezed a massive 1 kt boat speed out of Halo and were able to overtake some boats who were struggling to get moving.
We eventually rounded Pt Jerningham at 1305 hrs with five boats now behind us. We were hoping the the wind would pick up as we entered Evans Bay but it was not to be.
Where was that northerly breeze the forecasts all talked about?
We spent the next hour or so mainly drifting. One-by-one boats started withdrawing from the race. We took the opportunity to have our lunch and I put the kettle on for cups of tea and coffee. Murray spotted a little blue penguin splashing about.
At 1415 hrs race control eventually called over the VHF that the race was abandoned.
With the sun now shining we motor-sailed back to Chaffers, with a detour around Oriental Bay, and tied up back in our berth at Chaffers at 1500 hrs.
After packing up the boat we all went round to the Port Nic clubhouse for a beer.
We all agreed it was an enjoyable day out on the water even if the race was cancelled.
Halo Log Book 