This fun event was also coined the “Impromptu Pursuit Race”, since it was thrown together at the last minute by Nik von der Lühe, ably supported by Nigel Easterbrook. Great to see keen volunteers stepping forward to join the Race Committee...
Unfortunately, the light & variable weather forecast wasn’t kind to Nik and initiated him into the uncertainties of race management. Electing to slip the start was the right call, though, and allowed the possibility for sufficient sea breeze to build a race around.
The first boat, Yellow Bolero, set off from the mouth of DB marina at 1300 hrs into a 4-8 kt SSW’ly, perfectly adequate for a beat outside Sunshine Island and down to Cheung Chau rock. Indeed all boats went well, picking the shifts, as the wind oscillated and slowly backed to S’ly by the rock. A couple of boats were caught out by the persistent shift, though, with Sandmartin over-standing the lay-line by a fair margin.
The run from Cheung Chau back to the finish, off DB, was a different and painful story.
It was all looking good, as the fleet rounded the rock pretty much in handicap order, with everything to play for in a straight race to the finish inside Hei Ling Chau. However, with wind-strength still generally under 6 kts, boats needed to sail high to keep moving (see Tip of the Day, below) – especially through the frequent wake from Macau hi-speed ferries.
The fleet thus effectively split in two, with the chase on between Shockwave, Rosemary, Authority and Wizard – all spinnaker equipped, although Torben had left his spinnaker pole behind on the hard-stand, in his rush to launch in time for the race!
Paolo, racing Rosemary solo, slowly overhauled Shockwave by the finish and was not to be caught. He had to work for his Line Honours, though. Wizard crossed third, throwing a jibe just 50 m short of the line, accompanied by some dramatic gymnastics on the side deck by the skipper. The international jury awarded straight 10’s for the dismount, in particular, as Jim ran head-long (and head down) into the jibing boom. The subsequent award of the toilet seat was a fore-gone conclusion.
Authority crossed fourth, manfully overcoming the lack of pole in the best Viking tradition. The new Bavaria 42, Xakanaxa, then goose-winged her way to the finish, with owners Pickles & Huggins already on the phone to invite tenders for her new spinnaker…
Mid-field, Little Sunshine, Shindig, Sandmartin and Skellum had a right old tussle, each learning a little more about how to make their boats ‘go’ downwind. The back-markers didn’t give up, either – still racing each other, and the clock. Tsuru, racing for the first time, just managed to beat the 1800 hrs cut-off. Unfortunately Yellow Bolero missed the cut, but still made it to the party in time!
The Sailing Instructions allowed for PN correction to elapsed times, as the assumed finish time was very much a ‘best guess’ given the conditions. The corrections thus resulted in the following overall placings:
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You will note that only the top three placings were effected, with first place being split, to the second, between Rosemary and Wizard. Well done to both crews, but the moral victory must go to Rosemary for sailing solo and taking Line Honours.
However, given the ‘fun and friendly’ nature of the race, and the generosity of sponsors Private Label and DB Marina Club, race organizers, Nik & Nige’, were able to award a prize to every participating boat, which left everybody with a pleasant glow of achievement.
The Private Label prize bottles turned out very well, with some sporting specific DBYC ‘place’ labels, and others advertising “Save the Sokos”. We will be pushing out more info later, should you be interested in ordering your own, privately-labelled bottles of wine or bubbly for Xmas.
Thanks, as always to all the support crew. If anyone has any piccies, please send to info@dbyc.net.
Next event for your diaries: DBYC Middle Island Regatta on 11 & 12 Nov 06. Routing DB-round Lamma-ABC Middle Island for lamb-spit party and overnight, followed by breakfast and race back the next day. Spread the word!
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Tip of the Day (Basic). We do try and include suitable racing tips, when relevant to the event. This time we have two, both related to racing downwind towards a mark (or finish)…
Most crews are aware that, for best performance, although it’s fine to point straight downwind in a stiff breeze, you have to point progressively higher as wind strength reduces to achieve best progress to your downwind target (VMG). Indeed, there is a bit of a ‘cliff’ in most polar diagrams at 6 kts true wind, below which you need to be pointing no lower than 140 degs off true wind direction for best VMG.
What few appreciate is, if you do the sums, that 140 degs true equates to about 85 degs apparent*. That’s right, almost on the beam! It doesn’t feel quite right, but try it next time – it might just work!
[* If you’ve prep’ed your boat, cleaned your hull and stripped all that un-necessary gear off. Ed.]
Tip of the Day (Advanced). One of the problems of sailing downwind efficiently is that it is far harder picking up a wind shift, since a small change in the true wind whilst running has far less impact on your apparent wind than on a beat. It’s tricky to tell a lift from a puff, too. Yet capitalizing on the shifts is just as important downwind – maybe more so, as many of the competition will be ignoring them!
Whereas on the beat, you’ll be looking to tack on headers in order to ‘climb the ladder’ most efficiently to the windward mark, on the run you’ll be jibing on a lift for the very same reasons. Once you’re comfortable with that concept, think ahead and try and put yourself in the same stretch of water as the next expected lift and hey presto… ride (jibe) that magic carpet to the finish!
