Archive for March 2018
For the final race of the season we went out all guns blazing with the largest genoa up and high hopes but these did not last long. Our first mistake was being too low on the leeward end of the line and getting a header in the last 20 seconds. That left us pinching to make the mark in very slow mode while the more conservative fleet reached away to Onion Point.
The breeze through Humbug was a bit stronger than forecast so we and the tail of the fleet caught the leaders who went in a bit close to Greenwich point into the doldrums. We skirted the fleet and were sailing along to leeward of Lisdillon when the fleet sailed into the breeze all at the same time. Jackpot, Joli and Meridian did best being to windward of the returning breeze but at this stage the fleet was well bunched. Fireball managed to come between Lisdillon and ourselves but we eventually pulled out from below them in a less windy patch.
When the breeze was stronger our 140% genoa would have been better suited to the windward conditions and not much slower downwind. Much Ado V was within striking distance but they made no mistakes and with the soldiers course there was not a lot of room for passing. Lisdillon kept a healthy lead from Passion X while we had Fireball right over our shoulder all night with Soundtrack and Sweet Chariot very close behind.
Out in front there was plenty of action with Joli catching Meridian and Jackpot for line honours and taking out the daily double with a first and fastest. Joli also took out the series scratch prize for the black fleet. Fireball finished second on Handicap while we scored an eight which became one of our drops. That left Lisdillon out in front on the handicap series from Passion X and Fireball in equal second. It is tradition not to break the ties at Greenwich Flying Squadron but Fireball would have bragging rights if we did break the ties. I was surprised how far Joli finished in front of Much Ado V and Passion X. Both Much Ado V and Passion X had to tack away from Goat Island to clear the rounding mark and perhaps the leaders sailed through without a tack but they were well gone by the time we rounded Goat Island. I was also surprised how close Fireball, Soundtrack and Sweet Chariot were at the finish and they fared well in the handicaps with Soundtrack fourth and Sweet Chariot fifth.
It has been over a year since we launched Passion X and while we do have the hull scrubbed regularly there was quite a bit of growth around the waterline on Wednesday night. However in other fleets yachts with similar growth did OK so I am lost for words. The raft up after the race was equal to the most I have seen and the 340 members and guests enjoyed a fine BBQ and a very successful end of season function. There are lots of photos on the Greenwich Flying Squadron Facebook page.
The forecast for Wednesday evening was a bit challenging with up to 28 knots predicted for Sydney but west of Goat Island we had a much gentler sail in not more than 15 knots and often much less. The rain too stayed light during the time we prepared the yacht to sail and only returned at the start of racing. Then as the fleet started the rain abated leaving us with a very pleasant sail in a much reduced fleet.
In deference to the forecast we set the No 3 jib and during a few of the stronger gusts we were grateful for the reduced sail area but as the race progressed and the breeze lightened we missed the power of the bigger genoa. At the start Joli and Passion X approached the line on starboard and tacked to clear Onion Point. A big header had us both heading for the shoreline and Joli ahead was forced to tack first calling starboard on Much Ado V. That left us with clear air and a sudden lift to clear the point and gain a small early lead. For a while we hung in to leeward of Joli but they eventually sailed over the top and lead the way up the river to Goat Island.Much Ado V had a reefed main and in that configuration we were holding them in the light patches.
Past Long Nose in stronger winds they accelerated and also picked up a very handy shift off of the western end of Balls Head which gave them a big break from us and gains on Joli. The photo from the chart plotter shows our tack into Balls Head to be out of phase with the wind shifts and that is where Much Ado V got their first big break on us. Lisdillon was lurking close behind by the time we all rounded Goat Island and we had to concentrate on keeping them at bay. The run back to Cockatoo was pretty quiet and we were not pulling in the leading yacht who both had full sail area working now.
Around Cockatoo Island Lisdillon kept challenging but we managed to stay clear ahead and free up for the reach back to Humbug with a small lead. A spell of fresher air on the reach back helped us establish a small safety margin over Lisdillon for the tight squeeze back through Humbug and a 15 second gap across the line. We were exactly 2 minutes behind Joli and a further 2 minutes behind Much Ado V.
Meanwhile back in the fleet Soundtrack, Fireball and Sweet Chariot were having their own close race with only a minute and eleven seconds between the three. Handicap honours went to Passion X by a mere 7 seconds over Joli, with Lisdillon only 19 seconds further back and another 23 seconds to Much Ado V.
Some good some not so good tacking angles on the way to Goat Island
What a perfect night for a twilight race! The rain cleared up early in the day and while a few clouds hung around we had a pleasantly warm rain free evening for the race and the BBQ on the deck back at Greenwich Flying Squadron.
During the week I had a very minor modification made to our old faithful carbon genoa off Passion. We had been flying it from a short hank on the tack to get the clew up higher so that the sheets were further back on the tracks. This allowed the foot to skirt the side stays without too much interference. I had the short hank replaced with a wedge of sailcloth tapering from 250 mm at the tack to nothing at the clew. If nothing it makes the sail look like it was designed for the yacht, it does look good and the new tell tale window in the luff was also handy. This was the perfect sail for the breeze.
We made a good start to windward of Meridian and matched them to Onion Point. We poled out the genoa to port and made good progress along the Cockatoo Island shore before gybing to starboard to head up river. The fleet seemed to be going in a different direction from the course forty eight we were sailing and no other yachts had gybed so I asked Stephen what course he was sailing and thought I heard forty eight. I went below and radioed the starters and again I thought they said forty eight. As no one followed us I checked again and was told four zero A. Looking back over the Gopro video I can hear one of the crew saying that they thought they heard forty A. Post race John said that they always designated one crew to double check the course as they crossed the start line and Stephen volunteered that we should have used the binoculars. All very true in retrospect. That was a big oops moment for by now we we had to drop the pole an head back to the tail of the fleet.
The whole episode was captured on the Gopro camera on the transom and from the time stamp it was well over five minutes before we were back to where we deviated from the proper course. By a bit of luck Ausreo, Soundtrack, Sweet Chariot, Fireball and to a lesser extent Joli were becalmed in the lee of Cockatoo Island and we were able to sail low and wide to make up a bit of ground.
The chase started in the lee of Ausreo who were fast but a few degrees off our pointing angle which eventually let us get clear air. Soundtrack was not going to let us get through easily and after a few calls on the edges of the sailing course for room to tack she picked a very nice lift along the Balmain shore to prove the point. Only a bit of interference to Soundtrack from another fleet yacht gave us the opportunity to sneak ahead. I don’t know when we passed Sweet Chariot and Fireball. Perhaps it was one of the several large shifts on the way to Long Nose. Joe Walsh was out on the course with a potential new Beneteau 40.7 we are encouraging to join Greenwich and while he kept well clear of the fleet I did try to see how they were travelling or if they matched Fireball for speed. A few shifts in our favour and we were up near Joli for the Goat Island rounding.
On the run back to Cockatoo Island we did slightly better than Joli and did a bit of match racing around the end to keep them behind. It was probably not smart sailing as we were both slow in too close to the wind shadow but at this stage we were going to try to keep any place at any price. For the beat back to Humbug we had eyes only for Joli but they were a bit quicker through the tacks up Humbug and managed to slip though our cover right on Onion Point.
Back in the fleet we lost track of the competition up front between Meridian, Much Ado V, Dump Truck and Jackpot. The Ker 11.3 twins had a birthday party with ten potential sailors spread over the two boats and congratulation to the winning team of five youngsters on Much Ado V.
The handicap results were a surprise as we managed fourth place despite our over five minute excursion. Once there is this much gap comparisons are difficult so the five and a half minutes we finished behind Much Ado V is not the same as the five and a half minutes we dropped with our course mistake. I am however happy that we matched it with Meridian on the way out and matched it with Joli on the way back.
Lisdillon had another win on handicap and beat us by three and a bit minutes. Perhaps tonight was to be out night and we lost it in translation.
Meridian to leeward at the start
Good progress down the Cockatoo shore oblivious of our course mistake
Starting the chase in the lee of Ausreo
Following Joli around Goat Island
Joli catching up to leeward through Humbug
It was indeed a pleasant evening for a BBQ on the deck back at Greenwich Flying Squadron but first you had to endure some pain on the water. The forecast had been for wind fading from 14 knots so it was marginal No 1 genoa conditions and those who set the largest headsails in their wardrobe would have done well.
Our start was good enough and we followed Jackpot into Humbug and drew alongside. Unfortunately for both of us the wind disappeared from the middle of Humbug and favored those yachts that went low along the Onion Point shore and wider out from the Greenwich point.
Joli went low and wide and was soon a speck in the distance. Jackpot picked up a bit of wind and took off while we sat and waited. While we waited everyone except Ausreo sailed around us.
Once we were out in the breeze we started to catch everyone except Joli and Jackpot. By Goat Island we had caught Fireball and Soundtrack and were closing on Lisdillon but the flow of the breeze was not in our favor as we took the sterns of Soundtrack and Fireball when the tacked to starboard to round the island and then took a header all the way to drop another 50 metres.
Now we had the long run back to Cockatoo where we passed Fireball and Soundtrack and caught up to the transom of Lisdillon. Again we missed the first tack back to Cockatoo Island and this time it was the turn of Lisdillon to get a 50 metre break. Soundtrack and Fireball were close behind having been the recipients of some freshening breeze from behind.
At the corner of Cockatoo as we turned for the tight reach home Lisdillon stalled and we again were on their stern but could not break through their defensive moves.
We bided our time for the drift home though Humbug and went inside Lisdillon only to be forced out be a barging blue fleet yacht. The heavier blue fleet yachts were coming through with momentum and we had to wait until they ran out of that momentum before we could recover some ground. In the windless hole around the blue fleet we watched as Soundtrack and Fireball came back with a nice freshening lift. Soundtrack carried the lift all the way to the finish line beating Lisdillon by a few seconds. When the puff finally reached us we accelerated ahead of the blue fleet yachts and Fireball to finish well behind Lisdillon. What could have been a third fastest ended up a fifth and a lonely last on handicap 2 minutes behind the second last placed Ausreo.
A photo from the Greenwich Flying Squadron facebook page perfectly captures the moment through Humbug with Passion X surrounded by Worlds Apart to leeward, Aggrovation in front, Fireball to windward and Soundtrack chasing Lisdillon to the finish. Also shown is how close Sweet Chariot caught up. The only missing Black fleet yachts are Joli and Jackpot way out in front and Ausreo not far behind.
We paid the price for not getting out of Humbug cleanly and for missing two tacking opportunities and while the Onion Point shore was the right way to sail back into Humbug we were perhaps one boat width too low and that was the boat width that Soundtrack and Fireball sailed into. We were never going to make up the time that Joli and Jackpot had on us but we might have secured that third place if we had sailed better.
It was a night for the front runners Joli and Jackpot who seemed to get further and further ahead while we battled it out in a dying breeze. I am sure they enjoyed their battle but we were too far away right from the exit from Humbug to see the battle. Soundtrack made a spectacular passage through Humbug to join them on the podium for and all J boat success. Only Fireball sneaked in by 13 seconds to stop it being a J Boat 1, 2, 3, 4.
The drift through Humbug to the finish
Last year we took Passion X to Port Stephens just a month after launch and she was very much still a work in progress. We sailed well in the light airs but were no match for the fleet in heavier conditions. On the square runs our small spinnaker off Passion was undersized for the competition and the asymmetric off Passion could not be flown from the bowsprit.
Our trip home from Port Stephens in 35 knots was a bit difficult with the No 3 jib and triple reefed main so we dropped the jib and proceeded on triple reefed main alone.
This year we are better prepared for a wider variety of conditions. We have fitted the bowsprit which can now carry the asymmetric off Passion and a new headsail set flying which is a generous 60 m2. We have a larger mast head symmetric spinnaker of 130 m2 which is the largest we can fit on the rig and may even be too big if the air is really light.
For heavy air beating and cruising we have a No 4 jib which we used quite often over the winter in the RANSA Winter Wednesdays and in the Balmain Friday afternoon pursuit races. For light air we have a 149% No 1 genoa and the 140% No 1 off Passion is now officially our No 2.
All the sails are measured and the updated measurements are with the rating office waiting for the shock result to come out. I am over rating shocks as both the IRC and ORCi Club ratings seem unreasonably harsh and we have been unable to sail to the polars output from the ORCi VPP program except for light conditions beating and heavy air conditions off the breeze.
Our non spinnaker OSN rating is in between the rating of the Ker 11.3 twins, Dump Truck and Much Ado V, and while we have had a few rare wins against them it has generally been because of a lucky wind shift or a drift through the fleet. In a fresh breeze when they are well sailed they are significantly faster. A few data points from the ORCi certificates show why I have been perplexed at the rating. Dump Truck is 500 kg lighter and because it has no cabin and a lower centre of gravity bulb it has an overall centre of gravity half a metre deeper than Passion X. She has less wetted surface area, a carbon mast and laminate mainsail. Passion X only positive factor is 9 cm longer water line length I doubt that is much of a contributing factor since when the rating office by mistake used a longer water line length for Passion X by 70 cm the rating hardly changed. The sail areas are almost identical although Dump Truck gets their genoa area with a longer J and I measurement while Passion X gets hers with more overlap.
But back to Port Stephens where I hope the wider range of sail options will be a plus and let us perform over a wider range of wind conditions and wind angles than last year. If we are lucky there will be a lot of very tight reaching in light airs for our furling jib set flying to do its magic.
The new 130 m2 symmetric spinnaker is ready for the light air runs at Port Stephens
The No 2 genoa and Passion X with the bowsprit fitted
Tight reaching to the heads with the Code 0 set on the bowsprit
The new 149% LP genoa poled out for the run to Cockatoo Island
Last year our small symmetric spinnaker could not match it with the regatta competition
Crew with new crew shirts posing on the back of Passion X on our first race day in 2017
It has been a year since we first raced Passion X in race 5 of the Autumn series. In that first race we were second across the line to the old Meridian, the 44 ft Dehler yacht, that usually took fastest time. We had a few second fastest as last year came to a close and were pretty happy with the performance. This season in the first series we were one point out of second place on the most fastest times with the good places shared around among new yacht, Much Ado V, and old ones sailing better including Flashback and Lisdillon. Jackpot returned with new owners and after a tentative start they now have her back near the front of the fleet. In the more casual summer series we were second on the fastest times table with some average results and were helped by the absence of some of the better yachts. After four races in the Autumn series we are second on the fastest time table but other have a big number to drop and we will end mid fleet unless we can pull a rabbit out of the bag. Our target in building Passion X was to be somewhere near the J122, Jackpot, and while we have had a few narrow wins while they were getting used to the new yacht they have had many more wins by a larger margin. Based on handicaps the pecking order appears to be Much Ado V, Dump Truck, Jackpot, Flashback and then Passion X with Joli and Meridian yet to have enough races to establish a base reference. As of now we still have not hit the target of matching Jackpot and the improved Flashback and new starters Much Ado 5, Joli and Meridian and a more consistent Dump Truck will make difficult to stay near the front of the fleet. It is hard to know if we have learnt anything over the past 12 months. The overall improvement in the fleet and the generally heavier air conditions mask any changes. We have now four races in what should be lighter airs to see how we go compared to last year.
Passion X enjoying first use of the new breeze in a good December race
The title has little to do about one of the gun boats, Much Ado V, and much to do about the fickle winds that lead to the all the black fleet, and the majority of the green and blue fleets, failing to finish the course within the 8:15 pm time limit. The forecast for the waters around Cockatoo Island was for 15 knots and it was blowing 20 on the harbour and at Sydney Airport so we set the old No1 which is now the No 2 genoa. We were reluctant to use the new No 1 which we are keeping for light conditions and as the No 2 is a big step up in area from the No 3 in our minds it was a good choice. We won the start and were first into Humbug but with Much Ado V right on our stern. Soon Jackpot and from memory Meridian or Lisdillon had smothered our wind from behind allowing the rest of the fleet to catch up. Out of Humbug Much Ado V, Jackpot and one other picked up the breeze first and bolted away. We had a private battle with Dump Truck which was to go on all evening and at the west end of Cockatoo Island we made up some ground as the fleet slowed in the wind shadow. Unfortunately there was more than one fleet there and making use of the following breeze was difficult. It became more difficult as we started working towards Goat Island in a breeze that was flicking from North East to South East in very rapid succession. Lisdillon with a short footed genoa was taking full advantage of their rapid tacking ability and soon had a handy gap from us as they went off chasing the three lead boats. Neither Dump Truck nor ourselves could take a trick. We would tack on a header and have the breeze flick back so that we were going back and forth across the course and making little forward progress. At other times we would be heading straight to Long Nose on port tack while Much Ado V far ahead was pointing at Long Nose on starboard tack. Kevin and I swapped places a few times but with the same result as the wind was changing too fast for tactics other than sailing on what we had. We were on the favored tack a few times so that at the navigation mark at Goat Island we were level with Dump Truck and after rounding Goat could see the front runners ahead. As we emerged from the Goat Island wind shadow Joli came up on our lee and almost passed us while Dump Truck to windward picked up the freshening breeze first and shot ahead. Around Long Nose I poled out the genoa and insisted that we stay in the gust we had even though we were a bit by the lee. With the breeze flicking so much I figured it would come back soon so we could make Cockatoo Island and that was the case. Perhaps it was the only thing I did right on the night but it gave us a small lead on Joli and narrowed the gap to Dump Truck. The second work to Goat was also frustrating but we did pick up a bit of breeze more from the north that allowed us to make a straight line to Long Nose. We stayed in this breeze making up time on all the fleet becalmed ahead and at 8:05 pm with not enough time left we all gave up the race and started for home. With Kevin on the helm short tacking on the shifts and me calling the wind on the genoa we did a lot better on the second leg. I found it easiest to roll under the genoa for the tacks. This seemed a lot safer than trying to jump genoa sheets in quick succession and I recommend it to the crew. We had light genoa sheets on with stripped leads and these pulled through the spinnaker pole beaks quite easily so poling out the genoa and gybing the pole was pretty efficient. In this respect the double ended pole is the only way to go so I should think about a longer one for the drift conditions. That was the last race for the summer. We still have racing for the first month of Autumn until daylight saving time ends on 1st April so there is a good chance we will have at least one more frustrating race in dying conditions for our enjoyment. May it please be in a steady breeze.
Fickle wind at Fort Denison is similar to what we had in the west harbour.
An abandoned race