Some yacht race pics from the weekend

[John B]

The Coastal Classic up from Auckland to the Bay of Islands. ( about 120 NM).I go as crew each year. The last few years has been on a couple of glass boats owned by friends .. the boats we winter race on.But this year one of our crew, Suzy, has stepped out and bought a 42 ft kauri cruising yacht with her husband .So we went in luxury.
Bad forecast with 45 to 55 expected( didn't happen where we were)but it still blew hard.

before the start..
Iorangi, a 1901 52 ft boat owned by a friend of mine and one I race on sometimes next to Zana/ Konica Minolta, the eventual line honours mono.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p039ac42f5e226e817519c6ef0db2db1b/f1bc597c.jpg

The start was as exciting as usual with many boats completely out of control.
The red boat is Montego Bay... about a 50 ft ply boat I beleive.. she was fine although later on under kite she did multiple broach /round ups
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p75fa7de91379fd4062f017de2057f25d/f1bc597d.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p0b1b8b53af9852054ca6c542faeb368f/f1bc597e.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p12a39d999942f49e175ae41ed65de1a7/f1bc597f.jpg

[ 10-25-2005, 08:59 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[John B]

That pink looking boat just broached numerous times in that early part of the course but that was happening all around us.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p4f857eb9323a971597e827b3f86bf258/f1bc5940.jpg

these guys were clicking along past hull speed
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/pca996059987f72dd04b77a145a5e23ee/f1bc5939.jpg
Stewart 34's AKA Patiki's will plane in the right breeze and plenty of them did exactly that over the race once they had their kites set.Patiki's were designed in the 50's and built out of wood but later the class allowed glass versions. I'm not sure if thats a wooden or glass one. Up until the 1990's they ran all the citizen cup match racing in them if you ever watched any of that. patiki means "flat".

As I predicted in my last thread....( talk about invisible!) one flipped cat. the coastguard rib in the background had 400 hp and the 80 ft motor yacht had 2600 hp. they spent 3 hours trying to flip the cat back but she wouldn't go.Gary on the motor yacht told me that the 35mm anchor warp they used to try and turn her fused and welded itself with the heat generated. They left her for the salvors in the end
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p41ddb247c3d31c51ae17ffa82d8b8bf0/f1bc5913.jpg
several dismastings
one of them....
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/pba7702ba423f15c23a82ba633f7b03b6/f1bc58fb.jpg

[ 10-25-2005, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[John B]

But we were quite comfortable most of the time. My mate races on a boat where they weren't even allowed spare clothes to save weight. :rolleyes: we had beef stew off the stove.
There was the vang fitting that broke off the mast, the accidental gybe and the two broaches before we crumpled the ( very underspec) spinnaker pole when we were surfing at 12 or 13 knots but apart from that it was a nice ride. A good test for the boat as she's new to us.
The moon didn't come up until after midnight and the overcast stormy sort of conditions made it literally pitch black. Not that that was really an issue because there were 200 other nav lights around us.. probably 50 or so to chase. We just made sure we had some rock hoppers and depth sounders travelling along between us and the hazards. LOL.
In at 2:12 AM

[ 10-25-2005, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[John B]

Destination, the 42 ft Lidgard we took up there.photo taken yesterday morning.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid192/p2952859fec301a4eb88b26f3992a1e1a/f1bc588a.jpg
3 skin kauri cold moulded built circa mid 1980's, she's cruised all over the pacific.Verrry comfortable.

[ 10-25-2005, 11:46 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[Jase]

thats what I have been waiting for. Knew you would post the eventually smile.gif jeeze you guys are nuts!!

[skuthorp]

:D :D Looks fun!!

[John B]

It was fun. And the weather we got wasn't really a problem but the threat of the 45 plus at Brett was a worry. Especially as we had phone contact with Auckland ( where we had started) and they had 60 knots at manukau heads. I doubt if we had more than 35 maybe 40 in some gusts.. mostly in the 30 knot range. We rounded up a few times on the wind going into the bay when the gusts hit us. we'd just get snugged in and footing fast and in the black we'd just get smacked. In daylight you have a much better idea of what was coming.

Iorangi had a close call tacking with another boat John tells me.

[John B]

Oh, Dennis Connor was on a cat( Isis, owned by Murray Ross) and won the multihulls on handicap.

coastal classic website (http://www.coastalclassic.co.nz/default.asp)

[ 10-25-2005, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[John R - Kitenui]

We were out on the windward side of the fleet and got a superb start but got held out rounding Nth Head by boats broaching and threatening to broach under us. Unfortunately our tiller cracked before Rangi light so we withdrew. The wind gear had a max reading of 54kts at that point. Attached the replacement on Saturday and spent the week cruisin Coromandel

[John B]

I heard you had a bust tiller, John. 54 at that early point? really...I thought it was a bit windy.
I was talking to a guy who was on the Beale 33 that broached by north head and was held down by the kite. He said he was hanging vertically from the lifelines as the boat was being dragged sideways through the water by the kite for about 3 minutes!( probably 30 seconds expanded by 10 as it all went into slo mo for them :D ) someone else commented that they had done a nice job of the finishing on the keel. they had done a visual inspection as they went by. :D :D

[ 10-29-2005, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[John R - Kitenui]

Ron Copeland was watching from Nth Head and said someone was one their side for about 5 mins so the 3 may not be too inaccurate. We were over near Rangi when that lot hit. The majority of the fleet was closer in to the bays. Had really great weather in Coro though.

[igatenby]

Did the guys with the inverted cat release the sheets before attempting to right her?

Ian

[John B]

That'll be him then John. You had a great week for it. I went to work wednesday.

Ian , the cat pitch poled and lost its rig in the process apparently.