Monday, August 24, 2009

The great card robbery

Magic Numbers! We have had the first Charlotte card night and some interesting stories can be told from the happenings of the night, although maybe not all the happenings……eh paddy! Must admit though the flying Irishman has new meaning for me now……lol The night started well and Navigator made an appearance showing off his latest scar from the shoulder operation, although he was making the most of it with us having to deal on his behalf. We all stood in awe of the piles of silver to which Brenton placed in front of him creating the scene of an impenetrable fortress. Mattman arrived with a marble bag of silver which underwent full inspection to ensure the cheap currency had been removed. Somehow Odam managed to stake a claim to some New Zealand funding which soon got withdrawn when it was realized that Odam could no longer make out what the pretty pictures were on the cards, this strategic maneuver by Mattman was timed perfectly as shortly after Odam had passed out of the couch! The ever so cautious Capt Blow Hard slowly let funds out whilst trying to read the opposition but after half a carton of Wild Turkey and coke forgot what he started so reverted tactics to just handing cash out. Navigator joined forces with Brenton’s impenetrable fortress of fear, but it was BJ and the little Irishman we call Paddy that reduced the castle to a mere shadow of itself, in fact I would say it resembled a paupers shack! There was a particular hand where the betting got confident to the point where there surely would have been a leprechaun whispering in someone’s ear and whoever took notice would take the pot, onya Paddy! Best hand of the night went to BJ for the four of a kind she had hidden away springing a trap on many newcomers to the game (not me). The thoughts of many turned from winning a great size pot to how many hash browns one could afford for tomorrows breakfast . On that note we called it an early morning and money bags were filled by some and not by others. All in all it was a great night which seemed to just fly by like the Irish exchange rate and looking forward to the next card night. Capt Blow Hard Nav note: Meanwhile poor Paddy is feeling guilty taking home $100+ more than he came with, but the rest of us don't mind as we just had a great time. Cheaper than a night club and You didn't mention that Paddy displayed his fine pole dancing characteristics at the end of the night. Mind you he may not remember, and don't want to!

Race 3 winter rerun

Time for the race report for all those intrepid followers of this blog site! As we were heading out to the start line we had our usual debate as to whether the keel was fully down or not, as for the past few weeks every now and then felt a movement within the yacht that just didn’t feel just right but everything we checked seemed to be alright. Well shortly after the gun OP seemed to have just slightly better height with the boat speed to go with it, our speed log seemed to be out which required us to double check how the log was inserted “just to be sure” but alias it was plunged correctly so it forced us to revert to using speed over ground to get some more accurate numbers which has its obvious inherent problems. During the first windward leg some discussion was going on as to if the keel was fully down as an out of sequence shudder could be felt every now and then, this resulted in various crew members going downstairs to press the button that lowers the keel. By this time OP was getting to the second mark ahead of us with their kite up in quick time from some good crew work, making it hard for use to make any inroads on the distance between the two yachts. Then the fun started as we were coming to the jibe point as the stand in navigator seemed to have a moment as the navigation system we use suddenly went deceptive and changed our boats position by some 800 meters. So the call came to get down to OPs line as we must be too high, unfortunately this proved to be incorrect as we shortly found both OP and ourselves trying to find a mark that was 800 meters to the West of us. By the time we rounded the mark we were at the back of the fleet playing catch up. On a good note we managed to successfully deploy the kite using the sock technology twice and with a few more practices under our belt look out! After the race and with a successful mission being achieved of missing all land we managed to locate Australia again! As when trying to pen her we found the keel would not lift up, so with reverse gear being used parked her alongside the re-fueling jetty, whilst some hydraulic oil was being purchased the crews fluid level needed topping as well, so some crownies were purchased. After fixing the problem and finding out the keel hadn’t been fully down all day, which could explain the log issue, decided a few quite drinks were needed prior to us heading home. Capt Blow Hard
(Nav note: sounds like a list of excuses to me!, Could have just said you stuffed up and you miss me)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Inshore Winter Series Race 7

Unfortunately the weather forecasts were not correct (how unusual). We were hoping for the wind to be around the 23 knots and decreasing in pressure but found it to be more like 30 knots at 10:30am with a good possibility of it greeting stronger.

 

However, we decided to head out and tackle the elements and if we were not joined by other yachts then at worst it would be a good training session.

 

As soon as the main was up 40+ knots was being felt and with the 4 to 5 meters of swell we knew this would be a good training day, as we have not had the opportunity to experience Charlotte in these conditions.

 

So out came the Offshore Musto Wet Weather gear and the inflatable lift vest/harnesses were taken out of their packaging and issued to the crew so all could get use to fitting them, reefs were put in the main and small head sails came out.

 

After about an hour and a half of tuning the gear it was about time to head in and pack Charlotte away, with sails down we found ourselves with an uneasy 15 degrees of heel from the near 50 knots of pressure hitting the bear stick as we were coming into the pen.

 

There was no need for worry as the man on the wheel (crewmen of the day) parked her without any hesitation and the boys got the lines on with plenty of time to spare.

 

So that’s all till next week when we can look forward the re-run of Inshore Winter Series Race 3.

 

Yours Truly

 

Capt Blowhard

 

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Photo's

Latest photo's courtesy of Vanessa from Fremantle Sailing Club.
Stop press: Well todays weather looks interesting with seas of 5 metres and gusts of 40-50 knots overnight abating and the chance of a sail looking better by the minute. Depends on what is happening offshore I guess with Rottnest just getting another 30 knot squall. Not that it matters for me because nav is safely tucked up in bed at the moment after a successful operation on the wing to repair the damage from Geraldton last year. Off the happy juice now now and on to simple pain killers. I'm expecting race reports from the crew for editing later today (if they go well) or in a day or two (if they don't).

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Saturday 1 Aug winter race 5

If there is nothing written here for a few days you can pretty much guarantee that we didn’t have a great race, or more importantly that we didn’t rank in the top few.
Saturday was one of those days, were well we just couldn’t get it right. We choose one way the wind chose to go the other etc etc. We didn’t do too bad but OP kept going the right way and we kept going the wrong way, add a couple of stuff ups and its all over.
Had an interesting start with a few boats playing bumper cars on the port end of the line and us hard on the breeze looking like we weren’t going to make the line, we had to throw over to port tack to clear the line. It would be safe to say there was a major bias in it. Crossed the line around 20 secs after the start but so did everyone else. Pretty much us verses OP up front from the start but they were higher and stayed that way. We were forced to try different tacks to get some ground back but as mentioned this just put us further behind. Think its best to stick with them when this happens, as it has never worked for us to separate.
Tried to use a retrieval line but that got ditched quite quickly after a couple of poor drops. We tried the new sock for the kite and after a couple of slow hoists we think we got it right and it could prove worthwhile for the shorter races.
Good sail selection but some poor jybes and kite work left us a few minutes behind OP at the finish and mid fleet on handicap. Touched to bottom again at M mark! We are pretty good at finding all the shallow spots that are not marked on the charts.
Put this one down to a training race I think.
That’s Nav out for at least 3 months now. Off to get the shoulder fixed from Geraldton last year, so hopefully there will be willing contributions from others for the next 4? weeks, until I can type again.
7 all with OP but whos counting?