Awesome day on the Bay

Last Sat was probably one of the best days we have had on the water for many many weeks. The day  started off with a long, slow row in my tender Little Eddy into a stiff Nor'wester and sharp chop....ok, a couple of rows for Daz. By the time we reached RW, the old arms were feeling like little chicken wings!

During the day the 25 knot breeze slowly abated to a pleasant 20, 15 and finally 10-15 SE by late arvo. Daz, Dani and Liz were all keen to get amongst the racing fleet, unfortunately racing was cancelled due to the forecast wind earlier in the day.......more so I suspect the PSYC were extremely tired, as they had been hosting and competing in the PACRIM Regatta.

I certainly appreciate having Daz onboard now he is becoming more familiar with RW, as we can be set up and underway in very quick time. As a bonus, his video 'enhancement' skills also make me look slimmer and 10 years younger!! Thanks buddy!
We setup with a #1 reef and a metre furled off the Genoa. Scooting along at around 6 knots we had some beautiful sailing. A few tacks to get the crew warmed up before we shook the reef out and increased the speed up to 7.5 knots and the crew were starting to gel together. Its always fun watching the crew do the cockpit shuffle at tack or gybe time and it doesn't take long to figure out who needs to do what when or move where and when.

Later in the day the wind veered and dropped so we christened the Assy Spin. I have only had this sail out of its Turtle a couple of times to set it up and haven't bothered with it when shorthanded on the Bay. It doesn't take long to setup, crew and trim the Assy when there is four crew. In hindsight, I should have given Dani on helm a bit more of a heads up on what to expect after the sail fills, as she did grip that wheel a little tighter and quickly followed up with a request for her beer ration!! More excitement was to come at the drop. With the tack run and the clew gathered and stuffed down the hole, the halyard was run just a tad bit early. Sort of like a stretch and blow style spinnaker takedown, but without the stretch!  A good recovery and quick hands saw a dry spinnaker without any tears (or skippers tears) down below in short time. Practice makes perfect. 

So well done guys n girls, thanks for a very enjoyable day and I hope you can join me this weekend for the offshore gig.

Offshore Sailing 31 Mar and 01 Apr 12

Offshore sailing on RW is still on for this weekend. Looks like this weeks favourable NE-E winds will veer SSE onto the nose by Sat. Will update this post again Fri morning once the forecast is in.

31 Mar 12 (Sat) - Offshore Port Stephens to Newcastle. Meet at Salamander 0830 h and arrive at NCYC around 1800h for some well earned drinks and some excellent nosh.

01 Apr 12 (Sun) Offshore Newcastle to Port Stephens. Depart NCYC at 0900h and arrive Salamander around 1600h.

Inshore and offshore sailing

Time to ramp it up a gear and head offshore in the coming weeks. If your keen for some excitement and want to race, now is the time to throw your hat in the ring as we work up to some more challenging offshore events.  You will need a wet weather jacket and pants if you have them and a polar fleece as it can get cool offshore. I have all the safety gear required. If your worried about seasickness there are plenty of natural and pharmacy drugs, ointments, bands etc, so just take what works for you, take it early and regularly and don't sweat it....we've all been there.

Crew positions available for:

24 Mar 12 (Sat) - Inshore Sternchaser race. Meet at Salamander at 1100h so we can do some more practice. Our Handicap should be 1.000 which equates to equal time, so we should start racing at 1300h.

31 Mar 12 (Sat) - Offshore Port Stephens to Newcastle. Meet at Salamander 1000 h and arrive at NCYC around 1800h for some well earned drinks and some excellent nosh.

01 Apr 12 (Sun) Offshore Newcastle to Port Stephens. Depart NCYC at 0900h and arrive Salamander around 1600h.

Wind.....what wind

So much for Saturdays forecast 30 knots.....blew about 20-25 tops, but it was a miserable sort of day. Can't for the life of me remember when I last spent a FULL day at home! Made a change to relax and read.......ok, it was about sailing! At least I managed to get some work done on RW today.....helped along with some cold ale. I have finished installing the Solent Stay deck fitting and some more non-slip tape. All I need now is the removable turnbuckle (read expensive) and then its back down to Doyles Sails for a #4 battened Heavy Weather Jib to maximise my rating when I finally get RW measured and weighed for IRC.

The Solent Stay is used when the wind strength increases and a furled genoa can no longer hold shape without the possibility of damage. RW has a 135% Genoa, equivalent to a #2 headsail. The Solent Stay  connects to the strengthened deck fitting about a metre behind the forestay and is easily tensioned on its turnbuckle prior to hoisting the Heavy Weather Jib or Storm Jib. I will also be installing separate sheeting tracks to ensure the sheet lead is spot on.

Sigma 36 video

Well I have to say Decky Daz has stitched together one outstanding video clip of Rogue Wave! The GoPro Hero cameras certainly deliver excellent quality images and the young fella has a knack of filming without the feeling of cameras shoved in your face.

Great job Daz, look forward to punching out offshore and juicing up the shots with some white or green liquid over the bow!

Check out the clip here Sigma 36 video

Solo Trans Tasman 2014

The Solo Trans Tasman Yacht Race http://www.solo-tasman.co.nz/history/ is a 1380 NM race across the Tasman Sea and is held every four years between New Plymouth on New Zealands North Island and Mooloolaba in Queensland Australia. The Catergory 1 race foundations were laid in the late 1960's and were based upon the famous Observer Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) format. The quickest race was just over 6 days in a racing trimaran and the slowest a very long 35 days in a 5.8 m ferro yacht. My goal is to complete the race in under 10 days.
I submitted my entry as an expression of interest late last year after observing how quickly the 2010 race positions filled. Yesterday I received an email from the organisers and they advised my entry has been received along with 14 other skippers - the number of yachts is limited to around 15 yachts, as Port Taranaki is very small. I happily confirmed I am still a starter and will be putting down my race entry deposit to secure my provisional entry position. Exciting times!

Rogue Wave trailer

Decky Daz Productions