Richmond Summer Series: Race 8 The Washing Machine

The wind was up, against the tide, and the region around the Auckland Harbour Bridge was like a washing machine! Later on Auckland turned on a great sail back home, even producing a cruise ship - which didn't get in our way (as per usual).


You can also see the winch handle which was a Christmas present for the boat from Ian - so a handle on each side - very nice, thanks Ian.

The Crew

John (Captain), Nicola, Tim and Ian.
After a few days where the weather had been a bit grey and nasty, there started to emerge some fine stuff again - with a nice Westerly wind to match. With the wind against tide however, we had a real churning sea around the Bridge - and coupled with a good sized fleet, made the area around the start box entry rather challenging.

Course 12

The Westerly had us down the harbour to a laid buoy at Devonport to Rough Rock, up to Orakei and home. We were flat off a couple of times with the wind going a bit South giving us a better than expected ride home (although a bit wet for some on the rail - Tim).

The Start

We were up the harbour trying to get ourselves together, and ran out of time for a 'timed-run' on the line. We hit the starting box a little late, and didn't cross the line for 90 secs after the gun - terrible - but there were boats behind us. We said at the time we were being careful, but really we should have been there - as Nicola had been saying 10 minutes before.

Progress

We decided on the North side of the harbour run down to Devonport. Overall just hanging with the fleet. We had Blackstar ahead of us and we tried (in vain) to pass them - all the way back to the line.

The Result

We were 5th on handicap and if we had of started when the gun went, we would have been 2nd. No prizes in the clubhouse - but I must get the hull cleaned for the next race!

JohnHS