Yachtyakka

Yachtyakka Trip report



Simrad 1 2008

Zora

At last a breeze! Zora as you know is a cruising yacht from the Salona range. Built solid and no match for the Kiwi reaching machines, we need a breeze.

A week before the race I checked with some of my favorite weather sites and they say it’s going to blow, 20-30 West South West, it’s a week out and things change. A few days before and the weather is looking still to be in our range still predicting 20 – 30 west going SW. Thursday and there is a gale warning 20 rising to 35 gusting 45, Friday 25 rising to 35 gusting 50! Saturday 20 rising to 35 some rain and easing Sunday. The front predicted last week is still coming. Great. At the Briefing Cameron describes the weather as at the top of the range and asks that if anyone gets into trouble like a cat flipping could those near by please offer assistance and apply for redress. Great this could be our weather, Whar who.

Double check a few things and set up for the number 3, pack an extra set of clothes and thermals, it’s going to get cold. There is already snow in Fiordland and snow expected to be down to 1500m at Milford Sound, that means rain, hail and lightning is also predicted. Great caravan racing weather. Can’t wait!








167 yachts have entered with 16 in our division, Touchdown, Zen, Peppermint Planet, Sudden Impulse, Tour De Force, Zora, Room To Move, Smak, Riada, Second Nature, White Bait, Perchance, Truxton, Nosaka, Demonstrator & Sure Thing

Ourselves, Second Nature and White Bait are back from the RNI. With other yachts Carenza, Danaide & Oracle sailing in the Shorthaul Division and Nevenka sailing in the cruising Division ( wonder if they are going to stop for some home brew and an Orion this time? )

Friendships made on the Round North Island are rekindled and the inevitable banter is in fine form.

Friday is a bit blustery and a few rain showers but the 50 knots predicted only stays on the wish list. The afternoon is very pleasant with lots of sunshine at Westahaven. Set the boat up for a quick bit of genni practise. The rum race turned into a nice sail for those who turned up, still no 50knots.

Enter Eunice K a 96 year old Bridgedecker. After a nice steak and a settling red on Zora we decided to be neighbourly and invite ourselves over for a beer. As I said the MV Eunice K is heading for a big birthday and owner Craig and his mate are camping on board for an early departure for a fish off Issy Bay somewhere, a good night was had by all, Thanks guys, it was a great evening.

During the night a few showers pass over and by early hours Saturday morning the wind gear at Manukau is reading 40 something and Bean Rock is around 30. Great stuff the breeze we have been waiting for is here, just hope it’s not in the squalls and we get some decent pressure. Richard got held up buying torches in Henderson (that didn’t work), so our planned genni practice was booked for an early start while we head down to the start.

0600 but a bing, but a boom, time to sparkup. Bacon and Eggs a few dawn breakers and we're off at 0645. Unbeknown to us, no internet on the boat, the race had been cancelled.

Heading out of Westhaven one of those little squalls comes down the harbour. Cold and wet, this will sort a few softc*cks out, I say to myself. Head over to the Hilton to hoist the main and tidy up the stackapack strings.
Ease away in about 12knots and head down to Orakei Wharf. Genni is on deck ready for an airing but it’s a bit flat for the genni so, flag it, breeze is soft should be fine. We are first out, well, can’t see anyone else coming out, still it’s a bit early.

0745 no start boat, said they would be on station by 0800, oh well head over to North Head see what the breeze is doing, see if its still forward. Way forward it’s almost on the wind rather than a beam reach. Looking back at the start area and still no start boat. Better call up and see what’s up. Due to the afternoon forecast they have cancelled with an update on the website by Tuesday. Coming to town from Waiheke meant I came up on Wednesday night for a meeting with David on Thursday morning then a rum race, which was also canned, a briefing and some Real Entertainment business on Friday. Away from home since Wednesday for the race, so it was not hard to call SSANZ to say that Zora would sail the course and report back the true weather conditions.

As Jim Young told me the other week, “A true yachtie likes to go sailing, trim as hard as they can, racing is great and has its place, but the true sailor likes to go sailing.”

Off we set to Rangi light then a genni ride down the (north side) back of Rangi. Two sail reaching in 10 -15 was pretty effortless. Nice wee slide, as we reach the light the breeze is bending forward and cracked sheets was about the best we could do. Marginal genni conditions. A bit later as the breeze dropped and the sun came out, big blue skies. That’s a corner, time for morning tea. The first Heini is always the best and gently sailing towards the Hay Stack. We left genni in the bag to enjoy the dolphins, some of the biggest I’ve seen, they stayed with us for about 10 minutes riding along side us at 7-9 knots.

Big black cloud is building over the North Shore and City. Just as we round Hay Stack the first wet one arrives. Not much wind in it only high 20’s, full main #2 cruising headsail just need to bear off a bit during the worst of it, then gone just some pathetic line squall. Even the rafts would have handled that one.

No point going all the way to Gannett Rock and the longhaul course. Just do the shorthaul since they would most likely be the divisions less able to handle the 40something predicted. Lay course for Park Point. Pushing a bit of tide. Before the rain the breeze was at 330 then after switched to 240, so we are back on the wind in about 5 knots. There’s the Eunice K again, drifting with a line or 2 out. Tighten up we’ll go over and say hello. Sure enough the boys are haven a pleasant day out on the harbour, didn’t see much action with the rods, doesn’t matter, at least they are out there.

As we pass Matiatia the breeze slowly backs and pop the genni time. That’s better now making 4knots in 6knots of breeze. Big tide so it’s a bit slow past Church Bay. At this point the small yachts would have been heading up to Motuihe Green with some turning left for Passage Rock and the smaller ones heading home to Orakei wharf. Breeze is swinging a bit more, now back to 300, gybe time just off Park Point and perfect angle for Passage Rock. Blue skies again with some more black stuff over the city. Small building pressure and Zora’s hitting 9’s. Keeping a weather eye on that black cloud, I watch as Rangi slowly disappears then Browns Island and Motuihe Island. Still not a lot of breeze before the cloud but the horizon is getting whiter. Rain. Ok let’s sock this genni and stuff it down the front hatch. Tidy up the sheets and hail, the decks are soon covered with icy hail. The sea is whipped up with a max of 37knots on our wind gear as we surge our way towards Passage Rock and time to turn the corner, roll out half the headsail and tuck the first reef in. All systems are controlled from the cockpit under the dodger. Within a few minutes we are settled down making a good 6.5 into a steady 25knots, the odd puff to 30 and then settling down to high teens low 20’s. The small boats might have had a few moments of excitement but nothing a well sailed Piedy couldn’t handle. For us at 45ft and 12tons it was a cake walk.

It wasn’t that cold either. I remember sailing back from The Barrier in a Berocca with Trevor on his 1020 Navaho, must have been the second race, 30 knot southerly from there before dawn is cold, discovered the benefit of thermals in that race.

Still very shifty breeze between 240 and 280 as we tacked our way up to Browns Island. Put a dig into Beachlands and then lay thro to Issy Bay Red. As usual as we tacked up the channel the breeze swung again to give us a good beat back to Orakei Wharf. The breeze is settling down a bit off Northern leading so roll the rest of the headsail out, leave the tuck in, not loosing anything, after all, don’t want to spill me tea, eh Shapie! We had been invited over after the race for a settling rum on Second Nature. Wonder if the soft…. , I mean wonder if he is still onboard?? We passed the Orakei mark about 1515. line and handicap by my calculations but should get markm to confirm my corrected time, still think we were far enough ahead of Danaide to nail that cow farmer and his Sparky  mate!

The forecast was for a lot more than we got and SSANZ made the right call for SSANZ. We made the call to sail around the track, Zora is still in cat 2 since the North Island Race and with some more water and another packet of biscuits, could go again tomorrow. The skill level onboard was not as good as some but better than most. Richard Potter sailed with me on Saturday. Richard has many thousands of offshore/coastal and around the cans experience so we had exactly the kind of experience needed for handling any yacht in those conditions with the forecast that was issued. There was never any doubt that we would get home without incident. I called SSANZ to let them know we had completed the sail, but alas no reply. So, I called Coast Guard to say we were back on the marina.

But wait there is more. When we parked up, I had a peak over at Second Nature and sure enough the party was still going and a setling rum was enjoyed 





Happy Sailing



Steve Alloway


Real Entertainment Ltd
Sally-Anne and Steve
18 Te Makiri Rd; Waiheke Island, Auckland 1081, New Zealand.
Ph: (+64 9) 3723411 mob: 021 300300
real-entertainment@xtra.co.nz or alloway.sa@gmail.com
www.realentertainment.co.nz