Valmadre Race 4 25 July

A wonderful day on the water. Good breeze for a change. Clear skies but a bitterly cool breeze. Wooley hats and thermals were the common amongst the crew. Wind averaged 12-14 knots instead of the 40+knots or <2knots.

A brief hiccup before the race when Tactician bugs showed off his new gadget only to realise he had forgotten the batteries and USB cable. Never mind we would just have to use the tablet and PC to work out were we were going.

The approach to the start was good with the gismos telling us that we were smack on for the start, one problem , other boats in the way. The longboat were between us and the line and we had to get around them somehow. We had to jam ourselves up for maximum height to climb over them and this killed boat speed but enabled us to get over the line and then tack early to get into clear breeze. We opted to stay out on port tack where the breeze looked stronger, unfortunately it was lifting inshore on the other tack and we were third around the top mark behind occy pot (OP) and Knee Deep.

Kite up and the tactical duel commenced. It was a great race with us and OP going head to head and within 20 feet at times around the course. Sometimes they were higher and faster , sometimes we were higher and faster. It was like match racing lasers around the course and Knee Deep were always there waiting to pounce on any error but had a poor kite selection costing them dearly until they peeled to a bigger one. Close racing. On the beats cross tacks to see who made gains. At one stage OP managed to get out 100 metres in front of us but we managed to climb back to within a boat length. OP did a great job of covering us by dumping on us ,and matching jybes. This was match racing at its best with each of us using the other as a bench mark to see were we could adjust the trim to get better boat speed.

At one stage we were next to each other with OP holding us out less than 15 feet to windward as we headed for the beach until we were forced to call water on them when we nearly ran over some surfers, Matt says he could read the quicksilver labels on their boards and the Nav started to squirm uncomfortable when we were quickly approaching the shallows off cottlesloe beach. In the end it came down to one poor tack by OP that let us get an edge and gain a boat length over the top of them which we managed to keep until the finish.

We finished 20 seconds in front of OP with Knee deep another minute or so behind. The NeXt factor were doing their usual good sailing and were only a few minutes behind that and looking in good contention to take out handicap honours but its always difficult to tell how the smaller boats are travelling until all are in.

Unusual for a Valmadre race we were in before 1pm and sat in the pen and had lunch before the trek to the bar for refreshments and the wait for results. In the end as we thought Next factor took out overall honours with us as second and fastest but happy that we had another great day on the water. For the first time we have hit the lead against OP and are now 7-6. We are sure they will hit back next time if we are not on our toes. Stay tuned for more stories of boys and their toys with nothing better to do.

Results will be here shortly:

http://www.fsc.com.au/2/343/1/_valmadre_cup_series_results.pm

Nav out

Mark E has been removed

Fremantle Sailing Club haved removed Mark E from all winter series courses. This is great news for us and many thanks to the new Rear Commodore of Sail for quick action on our concerns. The marks could not be moved as we suggested as they are on the charts and the process for moving them is long and drawn out. The only option the club had was to remove them. I'm sure many of the larger boat owners are happy to hear this, I hope it doesn't upset any of the smaller boat owners and hope it doesn't cause to much inconvenience. Apparantley there is an official process that we should have followed if we have any concerns, so we will have to watch for this if we have any concerns in the future. Nav out

Inshore Race 5 - 18July 09

Wind. what do we do now? At last we had some decent wind. Forecast was for 25-30kt NW increasing to a front later in the evening. The wind on the start was 18-20knots NW so we went full main and No.3 heady. Out on the water an hour before the start as we had only raced this boat once before at these wind strengths, and severe lack of wind over recent races meant we were somewhat rusty in these conditions. Course 9 : NW, We pinged the line so we were able to read the start quite well and nailed it. Hit it at almost full speed at the boat end with a couple of seconds to spare. We stayed out to the left with X factor underneath us dropping below and over onto port searching for clear air. We decided to stay out to the left with OP down and to to the rear we could do some serious match racing enabling us both to learn a better sail set up. We were lower and faster learning how Charlotte handles in a bit of chop (this is new for us). Everyone was geared up expecting it to get very wet but apart from a bit of spray we stayed surprising dry, apart from those up front, in frontier land but then they always get wet (because they can). Trim trim trim and the speed was gradually building, OP much higher so we had a retune of the main to try to find the groove. On the lay line and over to port ...bloody hell theres the mark 200 m away. The boat moves very fast in a bit of wind. The angles look to shy in these conditions so we opted not to fly the kite and were happily reaching at 15 knots. OP behind went for their kite but were being hindered by Syrenka from sailing their optimum angle and had trouble carrying it. Around Lygnern "kite up" and set. Down to F mark, pretty good drop with Bill deciding to drag the kite down in a rather unique way....by falling in hatchway with it. Luckily a nice soft landing but neary collected poor Trev who was already down there. Navs instruments went crazy (murphys law again, instruments never work when you most need them). Looking a the tablet but then noticed nothing moving and no instruments showing. Dived downstairs to reboot the main display but back in seconds "TACK" we nearly found Charlotte's bank again and the depth showing 3.4 m shortly after. A 40 knot squall hit us with the full main flapping in the breeze but the boat handling it quite well. The Tablet put away , can no longer trust it, reboot of the PC " Is that the mark , the call coming from upstairs" Oh crap are we there already says the nav "Yes" Some mild expletives coming from upstairs and downstairs. Wind is shifting, Can we carry a kite?, whats the angle?, whats the wind strength?, Crap Crap Crap.. We will have to wait and see still running blind, "go that way" (technical jargon for have no bloody idea). Around the top mark and settle everything skipper calling for an angle, the nav still trying to get everything working again after the reboot, skippe losing his cool and briefly sacking the tactician. No kite was the call. OP behind us opted for the Kite and went way off course to leeward, too shy in this wind strength but they had to try something, and probably had a great ride, they were fairly moving. Nav thinking..... now have we done one lap or two? as the PC has lost all history and doesn't know where we are. Do we go to E mark or F after Lygnern? When all else fails. Consult the manual, checking the course "E mark then finsh" the call from nav. Ummnn suppose its too late to call a bear away set as we round Lygnern... Kite up and away. Nav calls "at the bottom mark in 3 minutes" and the eyes of the skipper widen somewhat. . "Oh and dont forget its E mark, you know the shallow one that was removed from course 6 because its too shallow. Oh and we have a lwer tide today. We cannot go past it, and will have to tack on it to get into deeper water but we are likely to touch ". The skippers eyes widen alot more. We have to gybe, get the headsail back up and the kite down and away and tack on a 49 foot boat in 3 minutes in a strengthening wind. But somehow we did it. We hit the bottom at E mark (not surprisingly- 2.7 m plus 0.6 tide gives 3.3m, and we draw 3.6m hardly rocket science) but our strategy payed off, and it didn't slow us down but we were NOT happy at all about this mark being in the course. This is not good for the boat. The club is forcing us to seriously consider retiring from future races with E mark on the course or knowingly hit the bottom. We cannot understand why the club removed the mark from only one course!! (There were some informal discussions after the race and I am told this issue is due for discussion at the meeting during the week. If we can move the mark even 50 metres North would greatly assist, 100m would solve the problem. ) Race time 66minutes. Didn't see much else out on the course Someone said there were other boats out there , as a matter of fact someone said things were happening on our foredeck but I didn't see much , it was all a little too busy. First and Fastest IRC 1. Great race guys.... apart from the abuse results http://www.fsc.com.au/2/281/1/_inshore_winter_series_results.pm

Real score 6 all with OP

Nav out.

Mayflower float (Race?)

Last weekend was the Mayflower float. one of those races without any wind at times and when there was it was very hard to read, more luck than anything else. And we didn't have any luck. If we went one way to chase some wind, the wind went to other. OP on the other hand seem to be in the right place at the right time on each shift. Sometimes it happens this way. The wind came from every direction on the compass during the day, except from where it was forecast. Not having a go at the forecasters as looking at the synoptic chart my prediction was the same, thats just nature I guess. We driftead around for hours and for about an hour we headed directly towards the mark at 1 knot in current and zero boat speed. OP anchored for 30minutes at the mark so they didnt continue to drift past it in the wrong direction. Great to be out on the water but the race was not fun, we were just lucky there was no alcohol on board or it could have been very messy by the finish. Oh well another one to to OP making it 6:5 in their favour. One to forget.

We actually had a sail

After the Foul weather over the last 2 weekends it was great to get back on the water. Well I nearly didn't. I was off playing with OP only to find out the boat have left without me, thankfully they realised and came back for me. I managed a flying leap from the dock back on board. Could have been a wet start to the day. They did leave 60 minutes before the start thats how eager everyone was to get back on the water. Or was it because they wanted to have a look at the US carrier sitting off fremantle. Our youngest crew, Junior Babel was left behind when he decided to sleep in that little bit more and was looking quite dejected when we returned after the race.

It looked like a NE course with the weather forecast NE and the wind blowing a light NE. But alas not to be. Hewy decided to throw a curly just before the start and we had 7 knots from the SW come in against all odds. Oh dear course 6, the shallow one only 0.75m of tide. This could get interesting at E mark.

A shocking start with us not quite together after a 3 week lay up. Wedged in behind 3 boats much smaller than us and forced to hold the handbrake on until the traffic cleared costing us dearly in time. Bit of a soldiers course as we really had no chioce of where to go due to depth dictating where to go. This allowed a number of well sailed smaller boats to go where the wind looked best. Syrenka, OP and a foundo 36 (yep well sailed guys) to beat us round the first mark. Popped the kite and thats about the last we saw of most. OP stilll in front and some really great match racing with them around the course until the depth alarm sounded "loudly". E mark is always interesting and with 0.75 m tide by me made the depth at the shalloweset point around 3.25 m (we draw 3.6m). Hold on boys 3.9, 3.8 , 3.7 , 3.6 .....OP stopped just in front of us. We aimed between them and the mark and I could fel the sand ripples touching the keel as we sailed past OP and off to deeper water. OP managed to hook some sort of occy pot or similar and ended up behind Syrenka again. The race for us was not a challenge after that and we cruised around to finish with line honours. Had a great shy kite run to the finish managing 50 AWA in 10 knots of breeze, good numbers for the polar updates.

We finished with 3rd and fastest on IRC, 2 minutes behind the "Terns" in first. The start killed us. Well done boys on the Tern, it would have been a big night for them last night.

Oh and the results from Race 1 were announced we did finish first on IRC.

Till next week. Naviguesser signing out.