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13 boats in 2 divisions and wind. Exciting strategies. A great thanks to the sponsors
HSBC International
Zaks, Hemingways, Sahara ® the ecological barnacle management, the Gold Coast Club
and the magnificent reception paid for and organized by the Marina Club.
A thanks also to Bevin Brakespeare for the work well done on his committee boat, Outsider and Andy Kung for setting up the start as well as Janine and Stephan with the admin and Andy, Jan, Torben and Jim with the handicapping, Faye - organizing our beer and dinner in the last minute - and all the other volunteers who contributed.
The legendary Garry Smith gave prize giving a new meaning and then accepted the toilet seat gracefully. He has now officially become the prize giving entertainer.
The HSBC International Photo competition was won by James Oliver and here is the photo. Well done and enjoy your Ipod-touch.
After a (very) slow start where Andy Kung and Bevin Brakespeare on the committee boat Outsider did a magnificent job Authority took the lead with Intrigue Plus in pursuit and Bliss hitting a rock. The wind picked up from the SE and we decided not to shorten the course. Rosemary was last over the line but soon was in front of most of the fleet with only Authority and Intrige Plus in front. Rigel radioed the Safety Boat For Play in panic that they had an emergency which turned out to be the absence of a cork screw on board. (Later they discovered the wine on board was all screw caps - much later, they discovered the cork screw as well) At Cheung Chau Rock it was Authority, Intrigue Plus, Thea, F.C. Bart, Rosemary, Xakanaxa, Koala, Epic, Bliss and Rigel.
After Cheung Chau Rock the wind was almost from astern and the apparent was down to a trickle and on Thea we could not get the spinnaker pole off the mast because it was stuck. Authority and Intrigue Plus. disappeared into the mist with their Symmetrical kites up and Thea was third with Xakanaxa in close pursuit and then F.C. Bart, Koala, Rosemary, Bliss, Epic Sipadan and Rigel
Thea was going deep while Xakanaxa was tacking downwind, both with their asymmetrics and Xakanaxa tacked too far out and got into the strong ebb current that slowed her down considerably. Thea went deeper at a slower speed but avoided the current; the strategy paid off. F.C. Bart would have had the second division wrapped up but got into a spinnaker tangle and Rosemary, Koala and Bliss took advantage and passed her. Bliss is definitely sailing well this year.
All in all a very exciting race in about 8 or 10 knots of wind with a lot of different strategies with Rigel and Sipadan entering the motoring division.
After the finish it took the small boats a considerable time to get to Gold Coast against the current where we had the dock party and exchanged tall stories and gossip. Dinner was postponed to 8pm at the Gold Coast Hotel where we finally relaxed and enjoyed the fine food. Unfortunately we had to postpone the prize giving due to the lack of a mike and so we missed out on the Garry Late Night Show.
The following morning the small boats were understandably anxious to leave early in order to get to the start line on time and Koala had an engine problem so the briefing started a few minutes early. Even so Koala did not make it and retired and Bliss started 22 minutes late.
We had a one division pursuit race.
From the start to Kau Yi Chau we had 18 knots from the SE and everybody was flying. This was Rigel and Epic weather and when we saw them go we thought we would never see them again until after the finish. The small boats except Rosemary were all behind Kau Yi Chau by the time Thea started. Rosemary had the winches in the water and this was definitely not her best weather but she kept on slipping away and nobody ever managed to pass her in spite the lack of a spinnaker. Xakanaxa was catching up from behind. Sipadan was moving along well in the strong wind. We found out only days after the prize giving that several boats did not round Datum Rock but because they were not amongst the winning boats we left the provisional results untouched.
As usual rounding Hei Ling Chau brought light winds and holes. Bliss got into a kite-jybe tangle and Rosemary racing without a kite took advantage and passed her. To our amazement Rigel and Epic were still there in a hole and we were all till in the race. As Rosemary passed Epic, Rigel slipped through the forbidden zone off the high explosives depot but Rosemary in a final sprint managed to pass them on the finish line being not more than a second ahead. Epic and Thea had a similar duel with Thea finishing meters in front old Epic. Next was Xakanaxa with Authority closing in on her but not fast enough. Bliss and Salona were next. As usual pursuit races almost guarantee exciting finishes.
The nature of pursuit races is such that unless you guess the exact time the race will take then the time differentials at the start are wrong. So we thought the fast boats had been punished and I said so at the prize giving. But I was wrong because when we went to the spreadsheet and ran the race by simulating a normal race with everybody’s ET and CT the results were almost identical. (Less than 14% fleet spread and totally unrelated to size) So we left the provisional results untouched.
