A nice day on the Harbour except GWhizz is in front
Well the crew has finally done it. After eight years of racing on Passion they have got me to break the start line. Fortunately the two minute penalty that is applied cost us only two places so we dropped from eleventh to thirteenth which hopefully will be a discard at the end of the season. It was a good day to be on the water. While the temperature was down to 16 degrees there was no chilling wind which resulted in a pleasant afternoon. The wind angle meant there was a tight work for part of the first leg until it freed up towards the heads and a broad reach back to Steel Point followed by a square run the the shortened course finish line off Point Piper. The dying breeze at the finish strung the fleet our time wise which is why we lost only two places.
Geoff as Wild Oats XI ducks our stern
The luckless Rainbow sailed into a hole on the first beat and Kevin was able to sail around her on our own private lift. That left Rainbow well behind and gave us our fourth time win over her. The lucky Gwhizz was only yards in front of us in Rose Bay when they found their own private lift which took them higher and faster to the Rose Bay mark while we were slow and low and had to tack to the mark. While we almost caught them the record will show the additional two minutes premature start penalty. In the absence of any tacking to windward except for a one to clear Bradley’s Head and the one mentioned above to make the Rose Bay mark there is not much point showing tracks up and down the Harbour. Off the water I have been enjoying a little wood work preparing bulkheads for Passion’s big sister. The photo shows a typical bulkhead with fiddly little doublers around the slots for the hull stringers and some triangular cleats to which will be attached shelves. There are over 200 of these fiddly little doublers to make and fit to the bulkheads as they go on both faces and on most stringers This bulkhead is the last one before the transom. On the right are the cleats for lockers that go alongside the huge quarter berth which is larger than a queen size. To the left is an opening for access to the space behind the bulkhead where the rudder post and auto steering links will be fitted.
A bulkhead for Passion’s big sister