The scene for the first race of the Simrad :
From Northern Leading mark around Waiheke, Rangitoto and finish off Orakei. Sort of a long rounded triangle. The wind had been howling all week, but took Saturday morning off (absolutely completely for a short time) before building again as we reached (with our big kite ) then ran around the end of Waiheke in a nice 20ish knot southwesterly that stayed pretty stable for the rest of the race. From the end of Waiheke we return to Auckland on a long lay back to Motutapu, short Beat to Rangitoto light then tack and lay the finish.
Coppelia not long after the start. source crew.org
So firstly it felt very pleasant and comfortable to be racing again with Sally. After the miles we have done now we are quite relaxed and prepared for whatever may come, a really nice feeling to have.
This series is good for us because we are racing in close proximity against a lot of boats that are technically faster, so we will take the opportunity to test sails and systems above our normal limits, “expanding our envelope” it’s a great testing ground for us and we really will be using it to lift our game higher.
We had the opportunity to test our new (for the RNI) spinnaker and code 0 in excellent conditions, Sally getting the opportunity to press (drive hard) on the spinnaker, reaching at wind strengths higher than we had used this sail in before. The result was extremely pleasing. By the end of the run , (not considered to be our strong point,) we were in very good company.
On the wind for the rest of the race, sailing by the seat of our pants (without instruments) was also great training. A quick inline sail change to the #2 (so much easier in daylight and flat water) a really great tussle with old friends on Force Eleven (a very fast Young 11 we have both sailed on). Scott and Jarrod on The Force truely sailed out of their skin, in conditions that did really not suit them and only let us past near the end of the beat. Thanks guys, we know what you did… you did bloody well!
What worked well ?
- The Big Spinnaker
- New Mainsheet/Traveller system (Lewmar size 2) donated by Charles Stutz owner of Halberg Rassey 48 Dreamcatcher. The Mainsheet is very important on Coppelia, especially reaching, the new system updates original equipment and is a significant improvement allowing us to trim with much less effort.
Charles has very generously donated a lot of near new Lewmar deck gear that we will be installing as soon as possible. This will really upgrade and modernize Coppelia making her easier to sail- more on this later
Our program for the next year is exciting for both of us. We have many good projects to do on Coppelia, I can't wait to get the instruments sorted. Like all boat jobs, it takes longer than we would like but that confirms our decision to commit to the Silva Nexus system in good time so that we can have them fully sorted for the big race next year, so watch this space we are ramping up the effort again now in the countdown for Round NZ 2012
Well done guys. I'm so envious you're doing the series again. It was good to hear from you the other day. Like all of these races Matt said it was a good day out and a bit of an adventure.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the preparations. There's no substitute for time in the boat and several thousand miles together seems to be doing the trick!
The new mainsheet system sounds good. I can relate to trying to drive and trim at the same time and if it's less effort you can get more out of the boat.
I look forward to following the next few events - keep up with the blog because there's quite a few of us who love to hear what you're up to.
We'll be doing the Coastal crewed this time. It will be good to see you up there.
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeletewhen I first started sailing with Rob, I could only pull the main on using a winch, now with all the new blocks and the traveller it is like a big dinghy. Strange really it is like it is becoming a smaller boat everytime we race.
thanks for your support