Crew: Geoff, Murray, John, Jamie.
PW Forecast: S 9 kts decreasing to 7 kts.
We had an extra crew member wanting to join us when we went to board Halo at Chaffers Marina!
After stepping carefully around the little seal, John, Jamie and I rigged up the boat and cast off at 1032 hrs. We hoisted the no. 1 HW Genoa and mainsail and sailed round to Evans Bay in a gentle 10 kts southerly breeze. Jamie was on helm. The showers cleared leaving us with a beautiful rainbow over Wellington city.
After tacking our way into Evans Bay we dropped the sails and rafted up next to Tamerlane at the EB Wharf. The course was announced as: Start – Mark 5 (s) – Mark 12 (s) – Finish. Start time 1215 hrs.
Murray joined us and we sailed out towards the start line in about 15 kts of wind. Crew positions: John on bow, Jamie on sail trim, Murray on mainsheet, me on helm, with Murray taking over helm for the spinnaker run.
We didn’t have much time to practice our start timings but we got it spot on and crossed the line just a couple of seconds after the gun. John did a great job setting up the spinnaker pole and quickly hoisting the kite and we were away!
We had a good lead over most of the boats with only Usurper and Incantare ahead of us. Jesse James soon passed us with their new asymmetrical spinnaker before gybing away to the west.
Upcycled, Craig Slack’s Pettit 28 with the blue spinnaker, was hot on our heels but we managed to keep ahead as we sailed out into Wellington Harbour.
After passing Pt Halswell the wind backed to the east and we were now on a beam reach. We eased the pole all the way forward and with Murray’s steady hand on the helm and John controlling the sheet we kept up good speed over 7 kts at times.
As we neared the Somes mark Jaime and John hoisted the genoa and neatly dropped the spinnaker down the hatch as we rounded the mark at 1251 hrs.
Upcycled were still close behind us as we sailed close hauled up towards Ward Island. No sign of the wind easing off yet.
We beat our way directly to Ward Island rounding the mark at 1313 hrs. Behind us we saw Upcycled had now been overtaken by Grenadier who was closing in on us, closely followed by Tamerlane.
We then sailed on a broad reach across the harbour.
We went fairly wide round Pt Halswell to avoid getting stuck in the Kau Bay wind shadow. Then it was a close hauled beat up Evans Bay for the final leg.
The wind was still blowing 15 kts true (20 kts apparent) at times. We were getting overpowered with our big genoa but no time to change sails. Grenadier flying a smaller no. 3 jib made good gains on us as we tacked our way up Evans Bay. They snapped this shot of Halo as they closed in on us. Thanks Phil.
As we neared the finish line we did one last tack to keep out of the way of the dinghy racers and crossed the finish line by a margin of just 10 seconds ahead of Grenadier.
RaceQs Replay: http://raceQs.com/event/1739614
We dropped the sails and pulled in to Evans Bay wharf to drop Murray off then motor sailed back to Chaffers, docking at our berth at 1455 hrs.
Our friendly seal had now moved over to Pier D. After packing up the boat and relaxing with teas and coffees, we all went over to the EB clubhouse. Prizegiving was announced with line results only, as Rowdy was away. Halo came 4th on line.
Confirmed official results on corrected time:
Halo Log Book 