Crew: Geoff, Murray, John.
Forecast: S 11-15 kts, gusts up to 18 kts (Predictwind).
John met me on Halo at Chaffers and after preparing the boat we cast off at 1120 hrs. The wind was already gusting up to 25 kts as we sailed round to Evans Bay with the small no. 3 jib mainsail with one reef. We rafted up next to Tamerlane at the wharf.
The course was announced: Start – Mark 6 (p) Front Lead – Mark 18 Days Bay – Finish. On-the-water start from Pania. Murray joined us and we cast off at 1240 hrs and headed for the start line.
We got off well in the downwind start with about 20 kts of southerly pushing us along. We were a bit under-powered with our small no. 3 jib compared to the boats with furling headsails who could “let it all hang out”. We averaged 6.5 kts up the bay.
We rounded Pt Halswell inching past Tamerlane who was leeward of Halo. We could almost reach out and touch them!
Then it was a fast and furious beat up to Mark 6 at the Front Lead light. Tamerlane and Upcycled powered though the big seas ahead of us.
We passed Upcycled on the mark rounding before settling in to a broad reach down towards the next mark at Days Bay.
We shook out the #1 reef in the mainsail which got our boat speed up to 7 kts at times.
First Protest
During this leg we gained on Grenadier who was sailing west of us closer to Ward Island and the steered across our bow to come up on our windward side. Presumably this was to steal our wind however the two boats started getting closer as we overlapped them. At this stage Phil on Grenadier yelled out that we can’t come up and luff them. He then announced “Protest” and raised his red flag. Well, that’s a first for Halo! I wasn’t quite sure about the rules that cover this and we continued past Grenadier towards the next mark.
Second Protest
As we neared the Day’s Bay mark Upcycled was passing us to windward so we assumed that as the inside boat we would have right of way. By the time we got to the mark they were ahead of us and did a sharp turn to gybe around the mark. There was no room for us between them and the mark. We we had to quickly turn up behind Upcycled to avoid a collision before we turned. We called out ‘Buoy Room’ and raised our red protest flag.
(See PostScript below for our ‘Protest Hearing‘ to learn who was right and wrong).
We then sailed on a beam reach across the harbour towards Pt Halswell. The wind was 20-25 kts. It would have been nice to have the reef back in the mainsail but decided not and followed Tamerlane and Upcycled to the point.
We came in as close as we dared to Point Halswell but Grenadier passed us as we entered Evans Bay. To avoid their wind shadow we tacked away.
One last tack and we were across the finish line set by Pania. We then sailed back to Chaffers berthing Halo at 1540 hrs. A full-on fun sail and pretty exhausting day!
Back at the club results were announced: Halo came 4th on line and 2nd on handicap.
RaceQs Replay: http://raceqs.com/event/1774242
Postscript – The Protest Hearing
On Tuesday night for the race debrief Phil organised for Brett Linton to come along to conduct a mock protest hearing.
Grenadier vs Halo
Phil correctly filled in the protest form and this was discussed. He alleged that Halo broke Rule 17 of the Racing Rules of Sailing which states that ‘when two boats are on the same tack and overlapped, the boat that is overlapped must not sail above its proper course. This rule applies when the overlapped boat is within two hull lengths to leeward of the other boat. The exception is if the overlapped boat promptly sails astern of the other boat.“
Halo’s defence was that we were sailing our ‘Proper Course’ as evidenced by the stop-motion video recorded from Halo:
After viewing the video Brett determined that Halo was sailing its proper course and the protest was disallowed.
Halo vs Upcycled
I didn’t have a chance to fill in the protest form but we discussed that we allege that Upcycled failed to give mark room under Rule 18 Giving Mark Room: When boats are overlapped the outside boat shall give the inside boat mark-room unless rule 18.2(b) applies. Rule 18.2 (b): If boats are overlapped when the first of them reaches the zone, the outside boat at that moment shall thereafter give the inside boat mark-room. If a boat is clear ahead when she reaches the zone, the boat clear astern at that moment shall thereafter give her mark-room.
We watched Halo’s stop-motion video:
Brett then determined that Upcycled certainly did have right of way as they were clear ahead and not overlapped when we entered the zone. It was Halo‘s duty to keep clear as per Rule 18b.
We all agreed that the mock hearing was a most useful exercise. Thank you Brett for your expert guidance and to Phil for organising the debrief.
Halo Log Book 