Richmond Summer Series: Race 2: Long Way Round

After the first night out ended in a disqualification, we were determined to do a lot better. The wind had been building over the past few days and we had a long course with a big fleet.

A beautiful evening to be sailing

A beautiful evening on the Waitemata harbour saw us manage the prize for the most sailing again. Because the wind died out the night was quite long and we came in to the finish in the dark, but well before the 9:00PM close out.

The Crew

John (Captain), Tim, Ian, and Nicola.

With Tim back we had an extra hand and after trialling a few tacks and gybes were quite happy with our speed out of the tack. We did a bit of a run up and down before our start to get the feel of the wind and tide.

Course 4

Yeah we know where Rough Rock Buoy is... yep... approaching from the Leading Light side it was real obvious and certainly easily spotted next to the cardinal buoy - lucky we didn't run over it last week...

Another big loop this week, with the wind dying out in the later stages and leaving us well behind the fleet.

The Start

We practised our start with a timed run to the buoy and were feeling quite confident. Then the 5 minute gun went and we headed over the the start box - however we got stuck doing a tack just uner the Harbour Bridge, and got stuck in irons... getting out of that we made a dash for the pin, but were about 1 minute off the pace - bugger.

Progress

We tried catching up to the fleet but with us pointing rather badly we couldn't make up our deficit, and trailed the fleet home.

The Result

We had a fleet of 16 boats which is our strongest showing - we came in 16th.

The result at the Clubhouse was again excellent, with Tim and Ian taking beer home.

JHS