Audi Regatta 2009
Last weekend was the Sydney Audi Regatta for 2009 - two days of hardcore racing, with several hundred yachts racing across 15 different divisions and courses. Fun!
Tigger was entered into the general sports boat division (our skipper is having an argument with the Flying Tiger 10m class association and declined to enter the special Flying Tiger one-design division) so were up 18 other hot sports boats with experienced crews.
Saturday was sunny with moderate breezes and we made a series of dreadful errors that saw us consistently in the last few boats across the line. It was a shocker - stuffed up spinnaker drops, slow on sail trim, steering issues. We stank. The less said the better really.
And then, come Sunday, everything seemed to miraculously come together! Sunday was much windier, dark rain clouds threatened all morning, the wind was heading towards 20 knots.
Our first race we sailed smooth, we reacted like lightning to tack calls, the downwind spinnaker runs went smooth as silk and we placed 3rd!
The second race, into a freshening breeze, was going fairly well too until, on out last downwind run to the finish line, the spinnaker failed to properly gybe across - on the very last gybe, of course - and the halyard ended up wrapped out the fore-stay - no way to drop the damned thing down, with a rocky lee shore advancing very quickly! Happily, team work came out, the kite was quickly gathered into a sausage on the foredeck, tied up, and then the unwinding was worked out before it could be dropped. We went from placing in the top 5 boats in the race to finishing stone cold last, under mainsail only (not the recommended sail configuration for racing), but finish we did, and the starting vessel was very complimentary to us for making the effort to get across the line!
Final race went pretty smoothly too - our fatigue was really kicking in now. Muscles tired, everyone that little bit slower to get off the rail for each tack call. To top it off, the rain kicked in and wet weather gear made an appearance. However, the race was done, the spinnakers hoisted and no major problems occurred.
Well, except for nearly losing our fore-deck hand overboard… we copped a gust just coming out of gybe under spinnaker, the boat rounded up and over she went - deck angle 70 degrees! Craig, who was standing one moment in the middle of the cockpit, next was pitching through the life-lines on the low side of the boat, which were themselves already three inches under water. With all credit, he wrapped his feet and arms around the lifelines and held on, much like a money on a trapeze, one the outside(!) of the lines as the boat dragged through the water! After sticking his head up to breathe a few times we managed to drag him back on board, just as the boat righted herself.
What was really encouraging was how well we reacted as a crew. We calmly rode out the round-up, Craig hung on, two crew members managed to pull him back on as we righted and the other trimmer & I were already filling the spinnaker and getting us back in the race as he came back on board. No time lost, no crew lost and no panic! That’s a nice feeling.
The intensity of the regatta was far above a normal Saturday’s racing, and led to a great deal of crew improvement - and it was great fun! Now, Sail Port Stephens is only a month or two…
