Crew: Eduardo, Jamie, John, Paul and Geoff.
Forecast: Northerly 20 kts gusting 30. An ominous forecast from MetService although other models were more optimistic.
The Island Bay race is always fun and we were looking forward to the challenge. The Evans Bay keeler fleet joined with Port Nick for a combined race. A staggered start sequence was used from 1000 hrs up to 1100 hrs. Halo’s start time was set at 1010 hrs.
The wind was all over the place from 10 kts to over 20 kts as we rigged up the no. 3 jib and one reef in the main. We called up Port Nick on ch. 62 and advised our intention to sail with 5 POB. We cast off at 0920 hrs and did some practice sailing. Paul on mainsheet and keys, Eduardo and John on sail trim, Jamie on bow and me on helm.
Race control called on the VHF to announce the race was on. The course to be number 84: Start – Mark 6 Front Lead – Mark 7 Barrett Reef buoy – Island Bay Virtual Mark – Mark 7 Barrett Reef buoy – Finish.
At 1005 hrs race control signalled our 5 minute countdown on the radio and we set our race timer. We had a a good start, first over the line just ahead of Tamerlane and Revenue Cutter. We headed towards Pt. Halswell on a beam reach. The wind however dropped down to around 10 kts and the other two boats with bigger jibs and full main soon overtook us.
We shook out the reef in our main – better late then never – then sailed much better. By now we were well behind the leaders.
We rounded Pt. Halswell and eased the sails for a broad reach towards the Front Lead light. Paul took a turn on helm. Jamie rigged up the medium spinnaker but with the wind now around 20 kts we decided to to hold off hoisting until after rounding the mark.
After gybing round the mark we hoisted the kite. It flew well giving us speeds up to 8 kts SOG as we surfed with the waves.
Unfortunately we had to steer west of the layline to keep the sail full. Do we now gybe the kite or drop it to head towards the mark? We decided to gybe. It didn’t go well. A quick decision was then made to drop the spinnaker. Jamie and John did a great job on bow, stowing the pole and kite without incident in the gusty conditions.
We gybed round Barrett Reef light and headed west towards Sinclair Head. Nice to be out in Cook Strait again!
As we neared the Island Bay virtual mark we crossed paths with Tamerlane.
We then did a 180° turn at the mark and chased Tamerlane back towards Barrett Reef buoy.
The wind was getting pretty gusty now. At one stage we were heeled over when a big wave washed over us and filled the cockpit with seawater. Eduardo was quickly on the case and bailed out the water that couldn’t drain though the scuppers.
We crossed paths with Grenadier who looked like they had reduced their mainsail to two reefs.
The sea was pretty rough and we decided that for the beat back up into the harbour we would keep close to the west shore by going back up though Chaffers Passage.
We passed the Barrett Reef buoy and tacked. Unfortunately the boat slowed right down on the tack and started drifting right onto the buoy. We quickly tacked back again and did a loop to avoid a collision with the buoy.
We later realised that our life-ring drogue had come loose and was dragging in the water acting as a sea anchor. That wouldn’t have helped our tack!
We then sailed close-hauled up Chaffers Passage keeping a careful lookout for the rocks and then rounded Steeple Rock light to sail past Worser Bay. We tacked again in front of Scorching Bay as Slingshot sailed past us.
Our last tack took us easily round Kau Point and then Pt Halswell.
Then it was a nice beam reach past Pt Jerningham to the finish line in front of the Port Nick yacht club. Incantare were gaining on us but we just managed to keep ahead of them to cross the finish line at 1350 hrs.
A great day out on the water, lots of fun and excitement and as always, more things to learn!
eStela Race Replay: https://estela.co/en/tracking-race/16438/rpnyc-island-bay-race-6-dec-2025
After docking and packing up the boat at Chaffers Marina we walked over the the Port Nick bar for a beer and chips before prizegiving. Halo came 12th on club handicap. A great result for Tamerlane who gained third place.
Halo Log Book 