WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!

You can go here: http://www.balmainsailingclub.com/Results.html to see the official results or put on your magnifyers and see it here.

Sunday started out a beautiful day in spite of predicted thunderstorms and high winds. Jenni (on helm) Julie, Terina Dayna and I set out with the shiny new bottom feeling very fine indeed.

Jenni got a great start, first over the line or near as damn it, and we kept close to the front runners for some time. It was certainly nice to see boats behind us for a change. We must have been going at least a knot faster than last race. Who would have thought a skungy hull would make such a difference. And great team work as well.

After our pass of Goat Island we headed for where the Ball's Head mark should have been and it was nowhere to be seen. With the rest of the fleet we shrugged and set our sails for Cockatoo and beyond. Amon Re, a boat we are sometimes near but rarely ahead of, was beside us so after a chat they rang the race committee to alert them to the missing buoy which is a rounding mark on the next leg.

Meanwhile Julie and I set the pole and we cruised west. By this time we were in a pack of four boats and all vying for advantage. Nice not to be at the back on our own. A tack East past the club and then a rounding of the missing mark by using a nearby buoy from anotehr club with the committee boat standing by to let us know the plan, then up goes the pole again and back past Cockatoo. Halfway west Jenni wanted to gybe and so Julie and I tried a clever trick we had seen on another boat to gybe the pole - and it worked!

We were still very close to Amon Re and Duet and by the time we rounded the last mark off we were match racing Amon re to the finish. and we won by a whisker - 14 seconds to be exact. And there were three boats altogether behind us. What a thrill.

It had started raining and we heard the odd thunderclap but nothing close. By the time the tender picked us up we were wet but happy.




We got back to the club so early that the sausages weren't even cooked yet. An when they were ready I burnt my mouth they were so hot.

The icing on the cake was that we won on handicap. Hooray! And won a bottle of red. And that brought us from 11th to 5th overall for the season.

Last again

Maybe it's me but we came last again. We got diverted just before the start with one boat in trouble with their sails and then another pushing us up as I tried to get a good spot on the line. So we started badly and then stayed last from then on. But it was another nice day with wind from 10-15 knots most of the time and we tried sailing with the jib furled a bit to reduce some overpowering. This worked quite well although in hindsight maybe it was a tad too furled for the conditions. Also we had only Julie, Jenni and me on board which meant the girls were a bit worn out towards the end. But our handicap continues to drop and that can't be bad.

The only sour note was that the Balmain race officials managed to remove the last mark before we got to it and then neglected to collect us from the mooring so we had to drop Julie off at the pontoon to ask them to come. It took the edge off the day but after some abject apologies and denials that they didn't want is racing with them, and a cold beer, all was forgiven.

More Balmain Races

I've been very slack about posting. but we have been racing. And I have been boating elsewhere as well.

First the races. One on 30th September where we came 12th out of 12. Julie and Adelaide friend Sonja were among the crew. Sonja who has sailed as a kid, sailed with me on my first boat Sisterhood, a little Hood 20, and taught me lots about sailing. So it was nice to have her back on a bigger boat. And to know a little bit more about what I was doing.

Another race on October 14th saw Jenni as skipper, Malcolm, Lea and Roger and me aboard. Roger has a natural ease and ability for sailing which helped newish boy Mal to learn to hoist the pole and generally learn the ropes (yuk yuk). This time we did really well. We came second last over the line instead of last (hooray) and 11th out of 13 on handicap. We're getting better!

October 28th was the Balmain Regatta. I was away but Jenni, Roger and Lea went out and braved the light winds interspersed with 25 knot bullets. With only three that must have been pretty trying. After a great start they came 23rd over the line (second last) which betters our performance of last last year, and 24th on handicap.

Then on November 11th with Jenni, Mal, Lea and Julie we set sail with three hangovers on board. Jenni did the start cos I felt in my condition I would not be a steady hand on the wheel. She got us well placed on the line just at the gun. Then once the heat settled I took over. It was a perfect day and we cemented our improvement by coming 5th on handicap. Still last over the line but handicapes are a great thing. At this rate we'll be amongst the prizewinners before you know it. Balmain gives two cheap beers for third, two expensive beers for second and a bottle of wine for first. Can't wait.

But we do love getting the results on the day, the open bar at the clubhouse after the race, the tender service and this week a sausage sizzle!!! I conned everyone into doing the Balmain races on the basis of sausage sizzles but this is the first day there's been one apart from the regatta.

My reason for missing the Regatta was that I went north to Mission Beach to visit the set of TV series Sea Patrol 2 and spent a day aboard the new patrol boat HMAS Broome.
She is masquerading as HMAS Hammersley for the series. She is a lot bigger than the patrol boat used for series one. The navy crew love it because they all have ensuites in their cabins even if they are mostly 4 to a cabin. And the film crew love the space on the bridge. It was incredibly calm weather and the scenery around some small islands was lovely. I jumped ship to Mourilyan Harbour and got a lift back to the hotel with the runner in time for a swim before dinner.

Then I flew to Hamilton Island to board Mathilde, Peter and Michael's lovely Grand Banks to travel to the Gold Coast with John and another Peter.

Its a very different style of boating. Pushing buttons on a preset tracking computer takes the stress out of getting from a to b. I did have an exciting moment when, with john below taking a nap, we found ourselves on a collision course with a fishng boat. Following John's instructions I took evasive action and then reset the tracking computer without anyone leaping up from below in fright. 7 great days cruising by day and moored at a series of marinas by nght. Much "naughty table" practice in the evenings.

BSC Official results

Yes we came 12th out of 16. The results are on the Balmain Sailing Club web site

2nd Balmain Race

Sunday the 16th saw us out again with the Balmain Sailing Club. And yes we love the tender service. The race started at 2pm and we were up with the first across the line. Well - in the middle actually but starting with 16 boats is sure different to the three we are used to with the ASCC. On board were Julie, Karina, Malcolm amd Lea, plus Anni on the helm.

The weather was gorgeous and the wind varied from about 5-6 knots to gusts of 16 knots. We manged to stay in front of one boat almost til the last rounding of a mark near Balls Head. The course took us round Goat, Cackatoo, Spectacle and Snapper Islands and back to Balls Head before rounding the islands again with the finish in front of the clubhouse.

No time for lunch so we have to work that one out for future races. We ended up last again but only minutes behind the next last boat this time. And on handicap we were about 12th I think. So we're improving!

And the bar was still open and the tender service still running when we finished so its all good!

Days Like This

Karina took this photo on the way home from the winter series.

Lovely!

Our First BSC Race

With Karina away, Jenni otherwise occupied and Lea with a crook kneck Julie, Terina, new boy Malcolm and I set off for our first race with the Balmain Sailing Club since our rather tragic last place in last year's Balmain Regatta. Just to be consistent we came last again.

The weather report said the winds would be light 5 to 10 knots. By the time we were at the start line it was 15 knots gusting to 18.


This is the wind for the day. You can see the peak as we started at 1pm and the drop off while we tried to finish

But we started well, right on time and in the heart of the pack. From then on we gradually fell behind the other 8 boats til we were struggling under the Harbour bridge in 3 knots of breeze and definitely last. However we did not give up! We ghosted across the finish line minutes before the 5pm cutoff.

The tender service had long since packed up and gone home but Alan kindly fetched us in his tinnie. And we had a well earned beer at the clubhouse before heading home. It was a long race but the rest of the series is up the Balmain end and should not be quite so gruelling.

But with much stiffer competition we hope to improve our skills and our place. Meanwhile at least our handicap will be low for a while!

Winter Series

4 races in two days would have been a bit hard going except that the winds were light and the weather fair, especially on Sunday which was just gorgeous.

It was misty on the harbour when we motored to the start just off Kurraba Point. We had a start boat thanks to Maria in Holy Spirit, Dayna as PRO (Principle Race Officer) and Glen as the crew. Jenni was skipper for the first race as she was leaving us at lunch time. Also on board were Terina, Julie, Karina and Lea - one of our ACON girls. The race was uneventful for us and also I suspect for Alcyone but poor little Topknot, with Neil on the helm and Mike as crew, again had engine troubles and so was sailing to the line in light winds and had a very late start.

The course took us around Fort Dennison and Clarke Island to Taylor Bay. Nice and short. Having finished we skipped off to Double Bay to drop Jenni and saw Topknot still stuggling to get to Clarke Island so we offered them a tow, which they happily accepted. Having started so late ending with a DNF wasn't the end of the world.

The second race of the day started at Taylor Bay, slowly, and finished at Quarantine after a rounding of Shark Island and a spin past Obelisk. The we picked up Topknot on tow again and headed for 40 Baskets Beach north of Manly. We were fortunate to find three empty moorings all close together so deposited Topknot on one, picked up one for us and pointed Maria at the third. Drinks and smackerells followed on Cheshire Cat.
Then the others left us to get on with our duck in hoi sin sauce. And more wine.

Sunday we collected Simon from 40 Baskets Beach having lost Terina to partying in town. We again towed Topknot to the start line but made ourselves late in the process. The start was delayed to give us some time but it ended in a bit of a scramble. The course took us to Grotto Point, Lady Bay and finished at Obelisk where lots of boys had themselves on show. Still light winds but we were moving. We had lunch at anchor and because the start line was right beside us didn't have to tow Topknot anywhere. Very light winds due to the cliffs all around us made the start a bit of a challenge.

Then Julie dropped her sunglasses ( a very fine pair) into the water and Simon leaned so far over to try and retieve them I was sure he was going to fall in. Only his feet were above the deck it looked like. But we hauled him back on board and finally crossed the line. Alcyone, a little to the north got wind first which meant she was seriously ahead and almost got run down by a very smelly tuna boat.

But she still led the way and when Topknot passed us we thought we were in trouble.
Topknot

However rounding Shark Island we caught Topknot and passed them well and truly. Finally across to Athol Bay from Clark Island we got the 10 knots of wind I'd been hoping for and finished in style.

We tranferred Simon to Topknot for a lift home, picked up the dinghy from Holy Spirit and headed home. The final drama was when the dinghy rope snapped just near the Harbour Bridge. With the boat hook Karina picked up the trailing line, added a new one and we arrived safely at the mooring after a lovely, if wearing, weekend.

Two Firsts and Two Seconds!

Cheshire Cat won the 07 Summer and Combined series and came second in the 06 Winters and Spring series. And the winter series we only lost on countback. So we are very proud of ourselves.


And Julie, Karina and Anni (Dayna was somewhere in the Simpson desert) did a show-and-tell of our adventures at the Chicago Gay Games and with the ACON Girls as the dinner speech. (To know more visit the Sisterhoodlums blog). We have now inspired a few of the others ASCC members to join us in Barcelona!

Team Sisterhoodlums at the dinner.
2nd place trophy - thanks Commodore Roger.
The big one for the Summer Series Anni with Roger and Vice Commodore Neil.
And the bigger one for the Combined Series, no discards allowed in the score for this one.

Last Two Races

Race 5
We had pretty much the whole team together for the 5th race. Jenni on the helm, with Terina, Julie, Karina and me doing the work. It called for the new caps Jenni had made. And gorgeous they are too!Jenni is very happy at the helm

We had the first full fleet of the CYC's winter series crossing our path and Jenni managed to stay on starboard for most of the times when we were in close proximity. We had a one or two close calls and exericised our lungs with cries of "starboard" now and then but no dangerously near misses.

We sailed well and finished hot on the heels of Mercedes who passed us on the last leg to Clarke Island. We even put the pole up and took it down again without mishap.

Lunch was Moroccan spiced lamb with roast vegetables, salad and rolls. A few fruit cakes and a little turkish delight rounded off the meal. Another triumph for Julie.

The trip home was one of those lovely cruises into the setting sun. Sydney Harbour looks gorgeous in the late afternoon. I was pretty relaxed about it all.

Race 6
The last race of the season and mainly light winds were forecast. Jenni was packing for her overseas trip so Cat came instead. She is a beginner but learning fast.

We did the same course as race 5, westerly from Taylor Bay, again with no wind to speak of so a very slow start. We were first across the line but it was slow going until we got clear of Bradley's Head. Leap Frog and TopKnot were the only other boats. No sign of Mercedes and although we saw Saitama she wasn't racing.

We crossed the CYC fleet while heading for Fort Denison but managed to be on starboard for most of the way through them. Then we tacked to find that Topknot had got a great lift and was close behind us. But we left them for dead and they got a big hole in wind behind the Fort as we ran down the harbour to Rose Bay.

A few big gusts kept us on our toes but we finished first and because the wind had turned southerly we headed for Topknot's more protected mooring in Double Bay to have lunch and wait for them to arrive. It gets dark early these days so we didn't stay long but headed home to Balmain in the certain knowledge that we at least had a place for the series even though we have had no results since last sunmmer.

Please Neil can we get the handicaps sorted or revert to the old system.

BROKEN BAY

This is very belated but the pictures are such fun I thought I'd do it anyway.
Cheshire Cat ready to roll

On Friday 16th March Julie, Terina and I headed off on the good ship Cheshire Cat for Pittwater and parts beyond. Most of the fleet had departed on Wednesday but work commitments kept us in Sydney til Friday.

We motored to the heads and then hoisted the sails and headed out to sea. With wind on the nose it looked like being a long tack seawards before turning north. Behind us a pod of dolphins were jumping out of the wtaer to say farewell. And the sun was shining (it seems to be always shining these days) and not too rough. After an hour or so we heard Elessa log on to the coast watch. That meant Maria was behind us. Then Saytama logged on so the three of us chatted a bit on the radio as we headed for the rendezvous at Halletts Beach. Mother Ship Mathilde

A few hours sailing and a few warships off our bow til the wind started to drop and we decided on a motor sail. It wasn't long before we reached Broken Bay and got in touch with Commodore Roger to find out where the fleet was moored. It turned out that most of them were aboard Roger's cruiser coming back from a late lunch at Brooklyn.
Roger's boat for the week

Given the predicted wind we decided to go straight to Castle Lagoon and the others agreed to meet us there. We were in luck because we arrived to find one empty mooring. Hooray. With the anchor windlass not working we hate using the anchor.

Another Catalina owner was in the Lagoon and came over for a visit. Topknot followed us in and anchored near the shore. Shortly thereafter Laine and Neil came over for a drink.

There were great big squat legged jelly fish everywhere so swimming was not very attractive to me.

And so began the Broken Bay cruise for Cheshire Cat. That night we did boat hopping, much drinking, and generally started what I love so much about this event, mucking about in boats. I had sensibly made my bed as asoon as we arrived so could crawl into it at the end of the night and sleep comfortably. Others who shall remain nameless were not so smart.

Saturday there were some sore heads about. Karina was joining us at Cottage Point so we went over for lunch in Mathilde's very speedy tender. Then we all relocated to just past Akuna Bay in preparation for the Commodore's cocktail party. It rained in the afternoon so John in the jet tender had to take precautionary measures.
The theme for the party was pink. In keeping with the environment Julie, Terina and I went as pink jellyfish. We were supposed to sing a reworded version of the Kookaburra song while we did the jellyfish dance (you had to be there) but lack or rehearsal meant it was spectacularly unsuccessful. Karina, who was supposed to be the dooof doof music for us got the giggles and proved useless.

Other performances were much more clever and practiced including Ruth's poem about her trip so far. And almost everyone wore pink.
Hosts Peter and Michael deservedly won the costume prize for Michael's pregnant outfit, complete with Marge Simpson wig, and Peter's sartorial splendour.
More sore heads Sunday and a slow start to the next stop at Warratah Bay. Morning After Flowers

We anchored watched by a skeptical fisher bloke holding a can of beer and were cheered by the thought that he was about to be surrounded buy a big bunch of poofs and dykes. Karina, Terina and Julie had to leave so Michael took them back to Cottage Point in the speedy jet boat.

The rest of us joined the Mathilde team for roast dinner. Towards the end of the evening Michael decided we should make a field of flowers on the outside table. It looked gorgeous. One doesn't normally expect such art installations in a place like that.
I had a lovely night on my own on Cheshire Cat. Not that I don't enjoy the company but having the whole boat to myself was great. However I did need help to pull up the anchor in the morning so Jenni, who had arrived the night before to stay with Peter and michael came over to help. As Mathilde was going on a circuit of Broken Bay Jenni went back on board the mother ship and I set off for Refuge Bay in the certain knowledge there would be a mooring I could easily pick up single handed.

And that's when disaster struck. Luckily I am in the habit of checking the guages every now an then and when I looked the temperature was sky high and the volts were down. The engine cooling water was not hot which was a puzzle I thought but I turned back to Warratah knowing that there was a mooring empty (fisherbloke had left) and that it was the closest place to stop. This is why my significant other hates boating. Something always goes wrong and usually just when you're feeling confident.

Jenni saw me come back and came over. John, my knight in the shining dinghy, was in the shower and hence unavailable so we opened the engine compartment and stared at it. Then I twigged! No fan belt. Or rather a broken fan belt lying on the floor of the engine compartment. Since we had been through this two years ago we had a spare. I guess this is why people say cruising is just fixing boats in beautiful locations. Being resourceful girls we wrestled it on. And hey presto fixed!

Or so we thought. I left the engine idling while returning Jenni to Mathilde then came back to find the temperature guage way too high again. As Mathilde set off for her cruise I put my head in my hands and pondered what to do. I didn't want to ruin everyone else's day. Maybe the temperature would drop after a while. Or something. But as always other people save the day. My distress was recognised and John came over. Is it fresh water cooled he asked. Der! Dummie that I am I had no idea. Turns out that apart from salt water flowing around the engine it has the equivalent of a radiator full of fresh water. At least it was until I ran it dry when she got hot. A few kettles full of boiling water and all is well at last. John speeds off to join the Mathilde cruise and, with the stereo on and the fridge working again, I motor off to Refuge Bay. Nice.

Arriving in Refuge Bay I found Topknot but the wind had swung around and the spot they were in was rather blowy so I went to see what conditions were like on the other side. Again there were heaps of jelly fish everywhere. I found a more sheltered spot picked up a mooring all by myself (yay) and the boys joined me.
Topknot and friend in Refuge Bay

Later Maria in Elessa and Mathilde all arrived. I had been invited to dinner on Elessa which was lovely and then stopped by Mathilde on my way home to bed for a nightcap. I love this life!

Next morning was still and peaceful. I slept late, had breakfast and waved off Topknot and then Elessa. We were to meet later at Coasters Retreat in Pittwater. Then while I was below Mathilde left too and I was all alone and felt rather bereft. But I quicly got a grip of myself and finshed sorting myself out before firing up the engine which started thank god, dropping the mooring and heading off myself.
Elessa

On the way to Coasters I passed a fishing boat followed by hundreds of seagulls and three sedate pelicans all waiting for the spoils. Plenty of moorings at Coasters made stopping for the night easy again. I was still feeling rather clever being sinhgle handed. Neil and Laine came over for lunch. By this point it is a competition to get rid of all the food left over. I made them promise to bring over nothing but cake.

A new potential new club member Simon arrived on the ferry. I had been a bit concerned that the volt meter was not reading as high as it used to so after lunch we all went and looked at the engine again. Images of boys, bum up in their cars. It turned out that the fan belt which is on a complicated route around several wheels was the wrong way around one of them. It's supposed to go over not under. So we fixed that.

Mathilde arrived after dropping off some visitors and it started to rain. Rather heavily in fact. Before we knew it we were surrounded by roiling grey and green skies and lightning in every direction. And absolute buckets of rain. Roger and David, who were on the bus to join us for the evening and the sail back to Sydney rang to see what was happening. John, Sir Gallahad again, offered to go get them from Palm Beach in spite of the wet.

At the height of the storm we saw Bernie arrive in Xantippe. In spite of the fact that she is a beautiful boat not one of us envied the crew on the bow trying to pick up the mooring in those conditions. For some reason John had the windscreen wipers on on Mathilde. Because he could, I guess.
Commodore Roger undaunted

The ASCC had planned to hold the social meeting on shore accompanied by a BBQ. So we all went ashore. I discovered that washing a rain jacket reduces its waterproofing to zero. But we fired up the barbies, opened the wine and had a great if soggy night. ASCC Coasters' Retreat Social meeting

Jenni and Sophie came back to help sail back to Sydney harbour. Thinking we should get a bit ship shape before their arrival I started the motor. At least that was the plan. Nothing. Totally flat batteries. Not because we had been using the starter battery for the stereo or anything like that. Probably because the altometer wasn't working cos the fan belt was on wrong. Topknot offered to lend us one of their batteries to start us but we didn't have jump leads. I phoned John to ask him if there were any on Mathilde and if not could he get us some at Palm Beacch. No and too late he was on the way back.

But of course he had another plan. He towed us to Mathilde, we plugged in our 240 volt shore charger and after 20 minutes, during which time we got the dinghy on board, the outboard stowed, and all the wet clothes from the night before out of the way, bingo, she started. I am learning more and more about Cheshire Cat every time I go cruising. Stuff I should already know but still. I guess its why I go in company. There's always someone there to ask or help.

Finally we ready to set off about 10. No wind to speak of and the sea was glassy. So we motored. Roger took the helm so I could play, read and make the lunch. Jenni and Sophie watched the passing shoreline

It was a lovely day. When we gave David the helm he was in heaven. He didn't step down til we were surrounded by three fleets of racing yachts well inside the harbour. Am I having fun yet?

When we got quite close to Sydney we saw Mathilde way way in the distance. Beyond Collaroy at least. So I radioed them and bet them a bottle of the dreaded pink sparkling wine they had been trying to get rid of since the cocktail party that we could beat them to the heads. Silly me. Suddenly she came towards us on a huge wake of white foam. And passed us. But not willing to take back the pink fizz she then turned seawards claiming maintenance required before passing the heads. So we won by default.
Too fast to focus!

With some breeze now behind us we unfurled the head sail for the first time in nearly a week and sped up the harbour at over 6 knots. We were back on the mooring by 3.30, a record for us.

ASCC Summer Series

Its been way too long between posts. Too much to do and so little time. And work gets in the way! So apologies if there's anyone out there reading. A Broken Bay Cruise report will come soon.

ASCC Race 4 Sunday 15th
Sydney really does turn on the weather at this time of year. Another warm sunny day. Terina, Dayna, Cat and I were the team. Predicted light winds meant we didn't have to work too hard. Well they didn't have to work too hard. For me in what Julie calls Fantasy land its never that hard. A little scary sometimes oin big winds but rarely hard. We motored to the start in Taylor Bay not a moment too soon. Laine and Neil in Topknot were still putting up their sails as we crossed the start line at noon and headed north for Lady Bay. Mercedes arrived ready for their 12.20 start.

We tacked up the harbour without incident. The CYCA's first winter series race came by us on the way back to Double Bay but not in great numbers. It was Ladies Day so while it was great to see lots of women on the helms of some serious race boats I am pretty sure many boats didn't bother to race. Probably not willing to trust a mere sheila to the wheel.

We sailed pretty well and Cat learned a bit about tacking. A nice run to Clarke Island was followed by another tack slog to Easte Channel off Watson's Bay then a final run and chicken with a Manly ferry to the finish in Taylor Bay. Lunch at anchor with Topknot hanging off the back.

The trip home was lit by lightening flashes all around us, some rain and then clear with a spectacular sunset. But I was too tired to take a picture.

ASCC Race 3 Sunday 1st
Julie, Karina and I needed some help so we took advantage of the enthusiasm of our ACON girls, 3 of who were very eager to join us for the race. And did they get a work out. Executive crew gave much instruction whil our novices ground those winches.

The noon start in Taylor Bay was well executed if I say so myself. Good timing and good speed across the line. The tacking up the harbour as the girls learnt how to race as opposedf to plonk about the harbour. The weather was good and the wind not too strong. And we had both Topknot and Leapfrog starting with us. Mercedes and Saytama - Jo's new boat started at 12.30.

The race was rather uneventful except for one spectacular mis calculation on my part which saw us nearly T-bone Topknot near Shark Island. Quick thinking by Neil and David plus a quick tack by us aaverted disaster and we were able to demonstrate the practise of penalty turns for our ACON girls. And Neil didn't have to ring the absent Laine and explain why his boat had a big ding in it.

Although invited to join Jo and her team on Saytama I was worried about our anchor so we stayed put and just waved our prawns at them to make them jealous.

We all headed home tired but happy.

Just another perfect day

Sunday was the second race for the ASCC summer series. Jenni, Julie, Karina and I set sail in beautiful sunshine with a predicted breeze of 8-13 knots ahead of us. Again no start boat although Dayna had hoped to rent a tinnie. We found out why she couldn't later in the day.

We started from Taylor Bay and we were the first across the line having taken care to stay out of the notorious dead zones further in to shore. The we encountered a windless hole which stopped our progress somewhat for a while. But fortunately before Laine in Topknot and Scott in Leapfrog could catch up to us we found the wind and cruised off. Tacking up to Lady Bay we dodged ferries and a big freighter heading into the harbour. And a fleet of Lazers zipping around off Nielsen Park.

Jenni as preventer

On the run to Clark Island we put the pole up which we had almost never done before. Unfortunately when we came to take it down we discovered it had gone up upside down so took a while to unhook. Still, you live and learn. Then a couple of tacks back to the wedding cake of Watson's Bay where we found several of the aforementioned tinnies fishing off the lighthouse. Resisting the temptation to scare the sleeping fellow in one of them we rounded the mark and reached back to Taylor Bay well ahead of the other two boats. Nice!

For a picnic on board we were joined by Laine and crew but not by Scott whose crew had too many hangovers to stay. We decided to fill the fuel tank on the way home in preparation for the Broken Bay trip on Friday. Turns out D'Albora marina fuel service closes at 4.30! not very boatie friendly at all. So we filled the water tanks, emptied the spare fuel tank and found that was enough to top up the main tank.


Then a motor home to Balmain in the dying day. Too lazy to put up the sails.

One of these days we may get some results. But don't hold your breath as we are still waiting for the Winter Series places much less Spring or, heaven forbid, Summer results.

ASCC Regatta

I had the great pleasure to sail in the ASCC's Annual Regatta with two very talented sailors, skipper Gavin Dagley and crew Dee Mason.
They are both from Melbourne and are incredibly good sailors. Gavin has won the ASCC's regatta every time he has entered except last year when he and Dee, without their regular third member Dale, came second. With Dale deciding to skipper his own boat this year I was the lucky to be asked to be the third team member. I was very nervous in case I was the result of another 2nd.

It was a beautiful day with winds predicted to lift during the day from the early 8knots. Because we were a light weight team (in lbs not talent) compared to our main competition we expected to have to hike pretty hard. I had been doing sit ups in preparation for this challenge but feared it wouldn't be enough.

The first drama was that our headsail has a broken top batten. We were given a replacement sail and it too had a broken top batten. What rare the chances. Rather than change the sail yet again Dee as foredeck, removed the batten completely.

Gavin can pick wind gusts that a normal person (me) can't see. He was always exactly where he wanted to be on the start line and ready to power off as the gun went.
Seconds to go... We are third from left (and right)
And we're off
Instant speed, (we are now in the lead on the far right)
And we're way out in front.

We had three other boats to watch out for. Dale's team, the boys that won the regatta last year (Nik and David) and the girls from Adelaide who won the non-spinnaker division of the Gay games both here and in Sydney (Julie, Julia and Meredith). Gavin clearly has a friendly rivalry with Dale and so we kept a very close eye on him at all times. And the need to hike was quickly realised. Dee is a champion at it.
Look at that girl go! And I realised that sit ups for a couple of weeks is definitely not enough.

Although we were not always in the lead the downwind legs were always good for us. Upwind the weight told a bit I think. But downwind we were awsome. We passed Dale and the Adelaide girls more than once in the five races.
Here we are on the left of the girls
getting the all important inside overlap
and first around the bottom mark!

We won the first four races which assured us the win but couldn't quite overtake the girls in the final race.

The boats came from the CYC's Youth Training Academy under the watchful eye of the very patient Jenni Bonnitcha.

It was a fantastic day and the race committee did a really great job

in between wines!