Crew: Geoff, Jamie, John, Murray.
Forecast: N 9 knots decreasing to 7 knots.
It’s the 100th anniversary of EB’s America Cup this year. In 1925 the United States Pacific Fleet came to Wellington on a goodwill visit and enjoyed the EBYMBC dances so much they presented an ‘America Cup’ to the club for future competitions.
Jamie and I rigged the heavy genoa #1 and motored Halo round to Evans Bay to tie up at the wharf. We checked out Isabelle who was sailing for the first time on one of the larger Quest boats. Well done! Jenny and Graciela were having fun on the support boat.
At the race briefing at the clubhouse Phil Williams made a nice presentation talking about the America Cup as well as the history of the ‘Limbies Cup’. This originated after WWI when many of the club members returned from the war with a range of physical and psychological harms and EBYMBC conducted special events for them. After WWII the numbers grew so they divided the races into two divisions, ‘Limbies’ for those with missing legs and ‘Wingies’ for those with missing arms and other injuries. A sad reminder of the horrors of war.
Race 1
The first race was for all divisions together sailing over to Mahanga Bay.
We had a great start right on time near Shoal Pile on starboard tack. We beat our way up Evans Bay being careful to avoid colliding with the many other boats big and small.
We rounded Pt Halswell just ahead of Grenadier and John hoisted the medium spinnaker for the reach. We sailed past Kau Bay and over to Mahanga Bay where the committee boat, Pania, marked the finish line.
Race 2
For the next race the keelboats had the choice of sailing over to Falcon Shoal and back to the finish at the clubhouse (the Limbies Course) or sailing across to a laid mark at Oriental Bay and then back to the finish (Wingies Course). We decided to do the latter. All divisions once again would start together.
An exciting start as all the boats converged on the small gap between Pania and the pin.
Three keelboats, Upcycled, Black Mamba and Halo continued on the Wingies course while the rest of the fleet turned back towards Falcon Shoal. John took the helm while Jamie and I moved the jib car forward four notches to get a better sail trim for the reach.
Upcycled proved to be faster than us on the reach and overtook us but we kept ahead of Black Mamba.
We were joined by a large pod of dolphins as we headed back towards Pt Jerningham.
Once we were back into Evans Bay Murray took a turn on helm and John quickly hoisted the maxi kite for the run down the bay.
We looked over the bay and saw many of the ‘Limbies’ (including Grenadier) coming round Pt Halswell behind us.
We gybed the spinnaker about half way down the bay to lay the finish line.
A fun day out on the water to celebrate the ‘End of the Summer Time’ Evans Bay events.
Halo Log Book 