EBYMBC Summer Series 8 Feb 2025

Crew: Geoff, Peter, Murray, Jamie.

Forecast: Northerly 10 kts rising to 15 kts in the afternoon.

The heavy #1 genoa and full main were working well as Jamie and I sailed Halo from Chaffers round to Evans Bay in another beautiful Wellington day. We tied up at the wharf at 1155 hrs where Murray and Peter joined us.

Isabelle was just finishing her first Saturday morning sailing lesson. She’s going well!

The keelboat division course announced as: Start – Mark #6 Front Lead – Somes Island – Finish.

We slipped our lines from the wharf and hoisted the mainsail and #1 genoa. When doing a close-hauled practice into the wind, which was now gusting 20 kts, the port winch was not pulling properly when under tension. We did a quick sail change down to a smaller #2 jib to be on the safe side. The jib sheet winches now seemed to work OK as long as we used four turns on the winch rather than just three. Mmm, needs further investigation.

The race was delayed with the AP flag flying from the start box but eventually started at 1315 hrs with the fast TYO boats Bonkers and Fine Entry joining us. We crossed the start on port tack near the clubhouse just behind Bonkers, Fine Entry and Upcycled.

By now the wind had died down to 10 kts and we were regretting our decision to take down the big genoa. We enjoyed a nice lift as we neared the headland below Shelly Bay but were soon losing ground to the other boats.

Tamerlane overtook us before we rounded Pt Halswell and went off into the distance as we sailed on a close reach to Kau Point.

Jamie on bow then hoisted our medium spinnaker while Murray took over the helm for the broad reach to the Front Lead. The northerly was now down to 10 kts. No ferries to worry about this time!

Peter helped Jamie douse the kite as we approached the Front Lead light house.

After rounding the mark the boats ahead of us took the tactic to tack away and head west. We decided to continue north up the harbour and east of Ward Island. Seemed like a good idea at the time as as we were already well behind the most of the fleet. What did we have to lose?

Peter took a turn on helm as we sailed close hauled up to Matiu/Somes Island.

After a few more tacks we rounded the island, keeping clear of the rocks north of Mokopuna.

At the last minute we decided to use our bigger maxi spinnaker rather then the medium kite for the run back to Evans Bay. With Murray back on helm we made good progress in the light northerly, gaining on Tamerlane and Upcycled.

We were joined by a pod of beautiful big dolphins as we sailed down the harbour.

As we passed Pt Halswell we gybed the kite to get a straight run down Evans Bay. We were doing about 6 kts and crossed the finish line at 1630 hrs. Third on handicap.