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hundred metres. Without much breeze, motor sailing
was the go. We called up Point Lonsdale as we neared
the Heads to see what shipping movements were
likely, as we certainly could not see anything. We then
established radio contact with the Tassie ferry, and
they confirmed they had us on radar - comforting, as
we had no reflector up and a carbon rig. We also had
a visit from Club Member, Dave Ellis on a pilot boat
going out to a ship outside the Heads. Nice to know
that he knew we were there.
The delivery trip was very easy. The wind was never
forward of the mast, and it was only as we approached
Sydney Heads that we got into winds less than 15kn.
It took just over two-and-a-half days, and we set a
new speed record for Laurelle of 18.6kn.
What a great place Sydney Harbour is to sail into on a
warm Saturday afternoon, just a magic sight.
In Sydney, we cleaned the boat up and developed a
job list before some of the crew departed for home
that night, and then completed the work Sunday.
I stayed on for a safety inspection I had scheduled
for Monday. It was not possible to have the safety
inspection done in Melbourne as our safety inspectors
are not recognised in NSW, even though I had an
inspection done for the qualifying race only week’s
prior.
The CYCA inspector said that as I was a Melbourne
boat I would need a full inspection and not just an
audit. This was a serious activity. The inspector picked
up a few items that were subject to interpretation of
the Blue Book, and some items that did not comply,
and I did not argue. The big issue for me was how to
fix these things in Sydney where I did not have my
workshop, contacts or transportation. Amazing how
$$$$ seem to fix most things.
Most of the crew flew in to Sydney late on Christmas
Day, having spent at least some time with their
families.
Race day was busy with briefings, final preparations
and agreeing the basic race strategy following receipt
of the latest weather and ocean current advice.
However, I just wanted to get out and on with it.
We had a SSE at about 20kn in the Harbour, and
headed out as early as we could just to settle down and
get sailing. A few minutes before the warning signal,
an improperly-installed batten started coming out of
the main, but we dropped the sail, too late and
it went over-board.
We had a good start, third boat in from the committee
boat along side Nips & Tux and AFR Midnight
Rambler. After AFR went across out of control trying to
set a shy kite, we settled down and put up a fractional
asymmetrical and reached to the first turning mark.
There we dropped the kite and went for the No 3 to
beat through the slop out to the next mark. As the
breeze moderated we changed to the Heavy No.- 1 and
pushed on.
By nightfall we were well down the coast and punching
into a short, sharp wave pattern that brought on some
seasickness and caused our whole watch system to be
changed. This is a serious issue in such a race because
the workload on the rest of the crew increases and
important tasks have to be dropped – in our case,
monitoring currents and other boats in the fleet.
By midnight that first night we were ahead of the pack
we started with, ahead of the eventual winners, and
twelfth overall on IRC, so we were happy with the boat
speed. The wind was 20+kn and the seas sloppy.
Sometime before dawn, when I was asleep, the crew
decided with a softening breeze to tack inshore. This
was a departure from the previously agreed base race
strategy. The decision had two effects: - first, it caused
us to head West, away from the desired course South,
and second, it took us out of the southerly current.
(That we had been enjoying.) The yachts around us,
Challenge, Chutzpah, Bacardi and AFR, - all continued
on starboard tack and with the southerly current (up to
4.5kn offshore). By the 07:30 sked it became apparent
that we had lost between 30 and 45 miles to these
yachts. So in one tactical decision our race was run.
The seasick crewmembers were not improving and one
of them was throwing up blood. This really concerned
me, and I was all for taking him to Eden and getting
him to hospital. Our onboard Doctor said that it was
probably only some burst blood vessels in his throat
from all the throwing up, and not to worry about it,
but monitor it. He was right, as it came good over the
next days.
As we had lost the stronger southerly current and
seemed to be in more variable winds, the yachts that
had continued offshore were now more than 60 miles
ahead of us. This was very disheartening. On top of
all this, the head blocked up and had to be unblocked
several times. Finally, we had to resort to the “bucket
Newsletter of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria • June 2007