Crew: Geoff, Eduardo, Murray, Emma, John, Jamie.
Forecast: Variable winds changing SE in the afternoon. Low tide 1351 hrs.
A beautiful Wellington winter’s day. As we were rigging up Halo, RPNYC Race Control called over ch. 62 that they were flying the AP flag with racing delayed waiting for wind. We decided to get out on the water anyway and have some fun. We cast off at 1130 hrs.
We have the loan of gennaker (asymmetrical spinnaker) which I was keen to try out on Halo. After securing the tack over the bow roller with the spinnaker downhaul (thanks Emma) and tying both sheets to the clew, John hoisted the sail. The test was reasonably successful and we moved along nicely in the 2 kts of wind. We did find that our spinnaker sheets were too short for the gennaker to set properly. Also the tweakers were short – probably not even necessary. After completing an outside gybe we dropped the sail.
Eventually Race Control announced that the race was cancelled due to lack of wind but they would run a short fun race within the inner harbour. The course was Start – Mark 16 – Special laid mark – Finish with the 5 minute countdown starting at 1235 hrs. Jamie, who has recently gained his VHF Radio Certificate, called in on ch. 62 to confirm our 6 POB for the race.
We did some more practice sailing to optimise sail trim with our light genoa and full main. We rehearsed our approach to the start and decided to start heading toward the line about 4 minutes before the start.
We crossed the line about 15 seconds after the start doing a massive 2.5 kts 🙂 and in the lead (!). The MRX’s, Zimmerframe and Whistler, as well as 88% and Zigzag soon scooted past us but we maintained our lead over the rest of the fleet as we rounded Mark 16 at 1253 hrs.
Then it was a beam reach across to the special mark near the container terminal. Only a short leg but we hoisted our medium reaching spinnaker which worked well pulling us along at about 3.5 kts.
As we approached the mark we decided to keep the kite flying and gybe as we rounded the buoy. John and Eduardo on bow did a great job with the spinnaker as we did a 180° turn to go back to Mark 16.
As we sailed towards the mark the Young 99 Xena came up behind us doing well with just a genoa. Mmm, the wind had veered. We quickly hoisted our genoa and doused the spinnaker to sail close hauled to keep pace with them.
We rounded the mark at 1307 hrs.
We were now on a beam reach for the final leg back towards the Port Nick club and we hoisted the kite again. We crossed the finish line at 1320 hrs.
Race Control then offered to run a second race which most boats agreed to. The same marks, just in a different order. Start – Special mark – Mark 16 – Special Mark – Finish, starting at 1345 hrs.
We adopted the same tactic as last time and had a great start ahead of most of the fleet.
After a couple of tacks we rounded the laid mark at 1356 hrs and then hoisted the spinnaker as we headed towards Mark 16. The wind had dropped and we were only doing 1-2 kts as we edged past Xena.
After we rounded Mark 16 the wind died out altogether and we drifted for a while until Race Control called on the radio that the race was abandoned.
The fleet motored back home and we tied Halo up at our berth at Chaffers at 1450 hrs.
We found out later that we came third on corrected time for the first race. Well done Team Halo!
Halo Log Book 