Race 5 Summer Series

The cabin fever finally broke with the forecast 10-15 knot ENE breeze. A mixed fleet of 19 yachts started and a couple fell away with breakages. We have not raced for a couple of weeks so early Sat morning I went for a little swim to wipe down the hull. Barnacles tend to grow quickly around the prop and shaft preventing the folding prop from opening.

Ruth was my sole crew and she had been away from the boat for about 5-6 weeks, so expectations were not over ambitious. The course set was two laps of Wedding Cake, Salamander and Middle Island. My preferred summer course as windward leeward courses do no suit displacement yachts.

 

We positioned nicely for the start and were wary of the strong ebb tide that would carry us over early. Arriving 15 secs early we reached down the line at speed and blasted away for a clean start.........problem was so did everyone else resulting in a general recall. The next start we duplicated our starboard track but had a couple of tacking hangups that saw us arrive late after 90% of the fleet had crossed the line. This is not necessarily not a bad thing, because we immediately tacked onto port and ducked under the fleet knowing we do well to windward. Back on starboard we took off with the strongest part of the current and quickly rounded up the fleet. By the time we hit the first mark Chilli (Corsair 24 Tri), Watch Me (Melges 24) and Knot Working (Etchells) were only just ahead.

                                                                                                     

 

The breeze was now a consistent 20 knots apparent so I opted for a white sail reach on the next two legs. The majority of the fleet did the same ......except for Anneliese (Northshore 33) who like clockwork hoisted the orange spinnaker and started recovering ground. They were hot on our heels by the end of leg three but we still managed to keep ahead such was the windward lead we had made. Rounding Middle Island mark and back on the beat, we had another tacking hookup that cost us time and allowed Goodlife 2 (Beneteau 39) to slip past......but only briefly. Anneliese were still sorting themselves out from the spinnaker drop. We also managed to pass Knot Working!

By the time we had rounded Wedding Cake we had opened up a big lead however the nimble Knot Working slipped ahead with a quick spinnaker hoist. This second lap strategy was to hoist the 1.5oz Assy and scream home on a beam to broad reach. Ruth on the helm did a great job steering a fast and steady course. As we neared Salamander we setup for the make or break gybe. Gybing smoothly through 120 degrees at the mark we pulled it off to perfection, maintaining hull speed throughout the gybe. Great effort for a crew of two.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                          Rogue Wave

 

On the final run to the line we hauled in Knot Working but ran out of course to pass her. Anneliese was not a threat, however Goodlife 2 with their big masthead kite was sailing very fast and slowly closing the gap. We managed to hold her off and crossed the line 4th outright and 3rd on handicap.

Knot Working leading Rogue Wave to the finish

Fantastic day on the water with a steady breeze and course that suits RW to a tee. Just one or two more crew and we could fly the spinnaker on all downwind legs. To finish off a great summers day on the Bay, we settled back with a couple of Stone and Wood Pacific Ales on the sail back to the mooring. The pics were taken by Relle from shore with her Galaxy pad ....thanks Relle, nice surprise and great to see RW under spinnaker......from the otherside.

 

Rogue Wave is now equal second with Chilli in the Summer Series whilst Anneliese is still holding onto the lead with 3 three races to go. In the Club Championship (Spring/Summer series only), we are sitting on 6th position from 29 competitors......well done crew.

Results - Race 5 Summer Series
1st - Chilli
2nd - Goodlife 2
3rd - Rogue Wave

Sail Port Stephens 15-21 Apr 13

I have just entered Rogue Wave in the 2013 Sail Port Stephens Regatta to be held 15-21 Apr 13.
Leave is booked and RW will be raring to go.

Newcastle to Port Stephens Race 14 Apr 13

I have just entered Rogue Wave in the Newcastle to Port Stephens Race 14 Apr 13.

Sailing/motoring down Sat 13th and overnighting at the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC) and racing back Sun 14 Apr as a feeder race to Sail Port Stephens. This passage and race will be good traing for the regatta. I hope to have crew T-Shirts printed up in time.

No more hangups!

Rogue Wave did not race in the PSYC 42nd Anniversary Regatta this weekend as the crew were spread around the countryside (and globe) so RW had a little more maintenance done.

I spent a solid three hours up the mast on Friday arvo drilling out rivets on the 20+ mast steps that were fitted below the forestay. These steps were a real pain in the butt as they continually fouled halyards, grabbed the spinnaker threatening to shred it to pieces and trashing the genoa on every tack. They are now history and life will be less stressful for old skip! The only downfall is the 60 Stainless rivet carcasses that fall inside the mast and eventually find their way out the sheave box and under a bare foot!! A good pressure wash should help blow them out......but be warned, wear shoes! Now all I need to do is perfect my solo mast climbing with ascenders!

 

The HF radio also burst into life last week. I listened to both the NZ and Australia weather channels and they came through loud and strong..... and I was only using the emergency HF antenna.

A squillion settings to ponder and the backstay antenna to hook up tomorrow followed by a voice/range check. 

 

Whilst I was running my new gas pipes I had to access the fuel tank filler pipe area so I thought I may as well replace the hose clamps. Well, they were stuffed and so was the hose....a split at the top of the hose would pass fuel when heeled. So a new 2" filler hose (ouch) goes on tomorrow.

 

At this rate I am glad I entered the Tasman race 3 years out.....I needed that long to do the task list!!

Race 4/8 Summer Series

Race #3 was a write off due to weather.

Race #4 - The forecast had the fleet setup for a windy race only to be fooled at race start by a lazy 5-10 knot breeze. I say fooled because about 10 mins after the start the 25 knot NE blew in with gusto!

 

Max joined me for a double-hander so we settled in for a conservative start at the back of the line and toward the windward end of the line. We had some good air and made Wedding Cake mark looking in good shape as we pulled down the first reef. Poling the genoa in 25knts we had a good 7+ knot run against the tide back to Middle Island for the starboard rounding. That's when things went from great to not-so! Shorthanded in a strong breeze, I prefer to furl away the genoa, gybe the pole, gybe the main and unfurl the genoa on the new side. Whilst slow, its safe and effective without the need to wrestle with sheets and the pole.

 

Well the genoa decided to unfurl from the belly of the sail in lieu of the clew resulting in a complete wrap of two genoa sheets around the forestay! The only way to fix the problem was to luff up, take the genoa leads completely out of their cars and back around the forestay. Those sheets can do some damage if let fly, so we took our time. Our race went from sitting pretty at around 3rd back to last in the 10 mins it took to get back on course and up to speed.

 

So with the race beyond recovery I turned the race into a training day, putting in a second reef, furling the genoa to #3 size and tweaking adjustments to demonstrate the change of sail shape and performance. With the reduced sail area Rogue Wave was nicely balanced with a hint of weather helm......the downside is reduced sail area downwind = slow.

 

Enjoyable day on the water with Max picking up some good training all washed down with a couple of ales from the 50 Lashes cellar.

 

Despite our poor result we are still holding second place in the Summer Series (by a point over 3rd), and we are running 7th in the Club Championship (only Spring/Summer series combined - excludes Winter for some reason).

Race 4/8 results:

1st - Hanini Bay

2nd - Rainbow

3rd - Kindred Spirit

13th - Rogue Wave

 

Oceantalk AIS 700

The Oceantalk AIS-700  system has now been installed on Rogue Wave. So what does that mean you ask? Well now I have visibility on my chart plotter and PC Nav system of commercial ships and pleasure boats also fitted with an Automated Identification System (AIS). What I get is the ships name, heading, speed and description. The system came with its own GPS antenna and stubby VHS antenna and interfaces via NMEA 0183 with the Raymarine e7 Multifunction Display and/or laptop based Nav program.......in my case OPEN CPN and SEA PRO 3000 (my weather routing software).

The setup was straightforward and required the software CD to be loaded onto my laptop, then connected to the AIS system via the RS232 cable. My unique MMSI identification number and Rogue Wave's details were uploaded and the system burst into life.

So how sensitive is the Oceantalk AIS-700?......well sitting in Salamander Bay on my mooring in Port Stephens, just  to the north of Newcastle NSW, and hooked up to the laptop OPEN CPN navigation program (great user friendly user interface) I picked up ships at 260NM south of my location! Plenty of time for a course change one thinks!

Summer Series Race 2

Pudz and Ruth worked the deck of RW for race 2 of the Summer Series. The breeze was forecast to be a 25 knot stiff southerly, so we reefed the main from the get go and ran with the full #2 genoa (135%). Our start was reasonable and we were quickly amongst the leaders on the way to Salamander Mark. It was great racing as 5 or 6 boats all converged and rounded the mark within just a couple of boat lengths. Hasn't been any racing like that for a long while. We gained a few places upwind keeping ahead of Tanami only to lose ground to them on the broad reach/run back to Middle Island when they launched their spinnaker.

I opted not to use the 0.75 oz symmetrical spinnaker as the breeze was gusting above its limit of around 22-25 knots and my preference was for my crew to spectate broaches and round-ups instead of be participants!! The 1.5oz Assy spinnaker limit is 15 knots on the tack without a pole and the upper limit is scary pants stuff when used with the spinnaker pole, so next race in a breeze the Assy will fly and we 'manage' the broaches. Apart from being a stronger material, it is also a tad smaller in size with a wider wind angle range. The tactics combined with use of the correct sails can be the difference between 1st and 6th. For the trip behind the island we kept wide and on the breeze whilst others floundered in the wind shadow. Fortunately we picked up some of our lost ground.

Back on the beat to Salamander Mark we pegged back Anneliese, Tangier and Young Pretender.  Meanwhile, Chilli and Watch Me were having their own high speed duel way out ahead and were most likely already at the bar!!  Rounding the mark to port we eased sail for the run down to Wedding Cake with the headsail poled to starboard. Good speed of 7.2 knots kept us in the game although once again, those with spinnakers gained good ground....in dramatic style! A wide rounding by Tanami, with spinnaker still flapping, left RW with a nice inside line close to the mark to execute a slam dunk and regain the advantage. On the reach to Middle island we edged back into the game.

Back on the breeze for the final beat back to Salamander and Ruth and Pudz had RW humming. We caught and overtook Anneliese and Tangier all the time stretching the lead over Tanami and gaining on Young Pretender. After rounding the mark the breeze looked good for a beam reach and a good race to the finish. Kites went up and we struggled to keep up with only our whites. On the final dash for the line we held off Anneliese and Tanami, but Tangier slipped across the line half a boat length and 4 secs ahead of RW!

Ist on handicap were Doug and Dim who sailed a great race in the Nolex 30 Tangier, followed by Ken on his Northshore 33 Anneliese and Gerard had a great day on the big Pacific 39 Distant Drums to come away with 3rd place. Rogue Wave slipped into 4th with only 2min 45 secs separating 1st and 4th on corrected time.

Follow the link to Race 2 Summer Series Results