Today, I sit in front of my PC, trying to take stock of the events on the weekend. How can so much happen in just 3 days.
Coppelia – nearing the finish
I took Friday off work, to prepare myself mentally and to help prepare the boat. In some what windy conditions, I loaded the last of the sails on to the boat, and Rob and I fuelled up.
We left Gulf Harbour around 6:30 and were immediately faced with waves at the entrance. Once we finally made it to the harbour we found out that SSANZ had made the call to sail the shortened heavy weather course, only 27nm. I felt a little worried as a shorter course meant less time sailing upwind, our strong point, and less time to recover should we have any gear damage.
Coppelia after the start – struggling with our jib (SSANZ)
My fear was well founded. We hoisted the mainsail late, as the first leg of the course was downwind, and we wanted to sail without a reefed main, hoisting late meant less time with our precious EXPEDITION mainsail flapping in the wind. We hoisted our jib even later, well inside the 5 minute gun. And that is where it is started to unravel. Once I had the jib clipped on, I went to the mast to help bounce the halyard for Rob, in the breeze, he can easily do it, but I thought I should give him a help. The luff tape of the jib caught on the foil feeder ripping the tape of our brand new #3 jib. We had no headsail up and started under main. We both tried to feed the jib into the track, but without success.
Nearing Rangitoto Lighthouse - Panacea in the foreground, Coppelia far right (Crew.org)
Finally we were forced to bring the much larger #2 on deck and Rob connected it up, giving me a break from the foredeck. We hoisted the #2 and started to chase the leaders down, who were ~ 20 minutes ahead of us at this time.
Once we rounded Rangitoto lighthouse and headed for the Haystack at Rakino, the wind had eased and we felt slightly underpowered under full main and #2 jib – phew! As the wind direction went aft, we hoisted the “whale catcher” kite, named because we are pretty sure if we dragged it in the water and caught a whale it would still not break. Our kite run did not last long, before we rounded the Haystack, with Rattle ‘n’ Rum. We fought hard on the leg to the eastern end of Motuhine with Danadie, then rounded with Pahi.
Bean Rock - Ellysium
Upwind, the boat felt good, even with a lot more canvas than the boats around us. We slowly found our legs passing Witchy Women, Hornblower and keeping Pahi at behind us to finish 1st on line.
Nearing the finish
After an eventful trip home under storm trysail and storm jib, we made it to Gulf Harbour where we received a warm welcome from Tim and Paul off Surreal. We then shared “war stories” with them and Dean and Pete off Witchy Women. I soon realised that it was not just me spilled blood (all over the #3), sweated profusely from being totally physically over worked and finally been close to tears on the way home when I got trapped head first in a locker like Pooh bear in a honey pot.
For Rob and I winning a division in the B& G SIMRAD triple series for a second year in a row has once again reassured us that while we are finding it hard, everybody else is as well and we are doing OK. I was asked why I sailed with Rob after the race, and I realised it is because we make a great team. Everything that frustrates him about sailing, is what I find easy, and things I find very difficult to cope with, especially the physical demands, Rob excels at. I am truly privileged to have found such a great skipper. Next weekend we will celebrate our win, then back into boat work the following.
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