Richmond Summer Series: Race 1: Rough Rock Buoy Protest

Time to hit the water again for the 2010 Richmond Summer Series on t he Waitemata, and from the turn-out there have been quite a few looking forward to this fortnightly treat out on Auckland's harbour.

Around the ship, but not the Buoy

We had to go around this ship, and discretion being the better part of valour, we slowed and ducked around the stern - unlike some others who had a series of toots that communicated the pilots obvious concern about how close they were getting to the Wednesday night tail-enders.

One short blast “I am altering my course to starboard”
Two short blasts “I am altering my course to port”;
Three short blasts “I am operating astern propulsion”
Five short blasts "I am in doubt as to your intentions"
Twenty short blasts then, probably means "Get the yacht out of my way" or similar sailor talk.

The Crew

John (Captain), Ian, and Nicola.

The core crew, and hoping to see a few new people on the water this season. And Dave the source of our best and rudest quotes... playing hard to get. Our quote this week comes from Margaret "There is a protest against you..."

Course 8

Yeah we know where Rough Rock Buoy is... right??? At Rough Rock buoy... NO. At the buoy that has been laid called "Rough Rock Buoy" that we are using this year for racing. Most of the fleet rounded the cardinal mark and not the racing mark and so two divisions were protested. We'll see what comes of the hearing on Monday night. I am uncertain whether we went around the required buoy - I didn't notice it, but then I was concentrating on the very large ship also coming into the harbour as we were trying to cross the channel.

The racetrack was a circuit taking in two new racing buoys... Rough Rock and Bean Rock.

The Start

We went up and down the harbour to practise our gybes and tacks and were last over the start... but not by much. We were pretty much in the action.

Progress

Great wind from the north meant that everyone had a blast up to Rough Rock and back. We were doing 8 knots at one point, and still didn't spill the beer or lose the cheese from the crackers. (thanks Nicola - well done!) We made an excellent rounding of Rough Rock mark in terms of timing, wind angle and tide, and sailed well on all points.

The Result [Under Protest]

We had a fleet of 13 boats tonight, very good showing, with some regulars not out. We managed to scrape in last on the line, and 10th on handicap.

The result at the Clubhouse was excellent, with the skipper taking out a $50 spot prize - so we have started THAT part of the proceedings very well, at least.



JHS