DBYC Results: TMR #10 - Race 1

The first race of 10th Tsing Ma Regatta, on 28th April 2007, got off to a very good start with a fresh easterly breeze and 15 entries. Read on to see how it all played out...

Race 1

If the start was less than perfect please put the blame squarely on your Commodore, not on the committee boat. It’s my belief that our club races should not be overly bureaucratic and I specifically told Bevin to keep it simple. Nobody understood that the buoy near the Marina was the upwind mark since the wind was coming form Kau Yi Chau and the start line could have been shorter. I could have phoned Bevin but by the time we arrived it was 6 minutes to the start. Still most boats got off at (about) the right time. I’ll do my best to get it right next time.

In that fresh easterly wind Sabi Star took the lead with Little Sunshine, Shockwave and Rosemary following. Koala was following and at this point was a dangerous boat. Little did I know at the time that Steve Metz was solo. Epic was moving fast but not pointing very high. Sotally Tober was following with Bliss in the rear.

When Div A started we saw Wizard pass like a rocket and never saw them again. Rosemary went up current toward Disneyland while the rest of the fleet chose either a direct course for Kau Yi Chau or even tacked south of it, a dangerous tack because if the wind had decreased the boats to the south (down current) would have been at a disadvantage having to fight their way against the current.

After Kau Yi Chau the fleet broke up into three groups Wizard, Authority, Kolwezi and Shindig far in the distance, Wizard with the Kite up. In the middle were Rosemary, Little Sunshine, Sabi Star, Thea, with Epic and Koala not far behind and Sotally Tober and Bliss in the third group. (Xakanaxa Skellum where were you ?)

On Rosemary we thought Sabi Star was behind us and that the boat to beat seemed to be Little Sunshine with Shockwave coming up fast. Rosemary with 22 feet waterline could not go any faster and so we decided to go inshore towards Disneyland and hug the coast in order to have a little less current. The strategy paid off and we arrived at the Bridge Far ahead of Little Sunshine and Shockwave and the rest of our division far behind. Or so we thought.

Normally there’s a hole just after the bridge in which you can win or lose the race. We were determined to get through the hole quickly. On the right, where the current was strongest was a big boat Probably Xacanaxa and behind them was Thea both with kite upand both in a strong current and weak wind. The advantage of coming up from behind is that you can see in front who is doing the right thing.  Rosemary opted for the left side   and  decided to postpone hoisting the kite in case we had to tack our way out of a hole. We goose-winged and zoomed through the potential hole never doing less than 3 knots. There was another boat, probably Sabi Star, just in front and when they were through the hole they shot off and left us behind. Again, from behind we could see two bigger boats in front and nobody was using the kite so we decided to wait. Behind us most boats got bogged down in the hole but Shindig   was moving while the rest, only 30 meters away were standing still. We thought  Shindig was Thea  and with her shorter waterline Rosemary found it very difficult to maintain the lead.

Meanwhile somewhere behind Epic had problems with the kite and Neale had to  go up the mast to untangle something. I don’t exactly know what happened.

Up front at the finish Wizard, first across the line, found the finish line inverted with the committee boat to port.  Wizard had kept the kite up all the way from Kau Yi Chau to almost The Brothers with a little accident when the pole-end broke. Authority passed the line after two minutes but noticed the committee boat to port and went around it and came back in order to pass the line with the committee boat to starboard and the mark to port as in the sailing instructions 1.1 Unfortunately the same 1.1 in the S.I. also mentions the RRS 2005-08 in which is written:
RRS 2005-08 define a boat finishing as when it “crosses the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark”.
I’m honestly not sure whether the S.I. or the RRS have the final word when they contradict each other. But I know that it was not a matter that  we could place on poor Torben’s shoulders to bear. I personally admired the spirit and the sportsmanship  even if technically he may have been in error. And in a club like ours the substance should matter more than the small print.  And it was a decision that cost him time in order to do what he thought was the right thing. As race chairman, had it been my decision alone I would have rewarded his spirit by taking a few seconds off his time.

In the end we decided to leave things as they were and move on. But Authority proved to be about as fast as Wizard beating although slower off the wind (for now, until they figure out how to nail it). So the rating committee had to punish Authority more than other boats in race 2 and she went from 910 to 888, a 2.4% change while most of the other changes were less than 1%. And judging by how she performed in race 2, perhaps it was not enough……….

Bevin, Bevin where art thou Bevin…..apparently the finish was inverted because of a request from Fragrant Harbour in order to get better background on the photos.

Somewhere back in the race Skellum had a historical first for the TMR; Stephan fell overboard and  when they didn’t recover him he started walking on water and got back to the boat on his own. (this is what I’ve been told)

Shindig was slowly gaining on Rosemary  and by the time we got to The Brothers  Shindig was only 100m behind us.We knew that, with the change of direction, the apparent wind would be much stronger after CP5 but the time wasted in reefing would not make up for the advantage over such a short distance remaining and so Rosemary  took some pressure out of the main and continued on, hoping and praying but she was overpowered and heeling too much.  Al on Shindig did the smart thing and reefed the main before CP5 and started coming down on little  Rosemary lke a charging bull. With only 200m to go Jan who was at the tiller was determined to push them upwind into the committee boat. Now  Shindig was bow to stern and 3 m to windward and Jan was continuing to go up pushing Shindig out of the finish line. In a master maneuver Al let out a bit the jib sheet and slowed  Shindig down just enough to go hard down and miss Rosemary by a few meters, accelerating as he was doing this and passing us  on the lee to finish a few second in front. Brilliant stuff Al! What an exciting finish.

We thought we were first in our division so you can imagine the disappointment when we realized that one of the boats in front was not Xakanaxa like we thought but Sabi Star  with the devil himself (Jug Thornton) and the fox (Richard Winter)  together conspiring to beat little Rosemary and earn a well deserved 1st place in Div B. Shockwave taking 3rd place a few minutes later followed by Little Sunshine, Epic, Skellum, Sotally Tober, and Koala. No sign of Bliss.

The problem was that the beer for the dockside reception was in the committee boat and the festivities could not commence until Bliss arrived. Your commodore asked Bevin to call Bliss and ask them where they were. They replied: “we’re not lost; it’s just that we don’t know where  the f… we are!” Eventually Erik on the safety boat “Sea Ray” found them on their way to the airport.

The only crew that had never done the TMR  didn’t bother to come to the race briefing. Or at least the skipper didn’t. Oh well, we’ll put it down to experience.

Another day another race. All in all a brilliant day.

Results

Race 1: