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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
 Posted - 28 January 2006 : 08:52:05 AM
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Last night we raced at Manly YC in their twilighter race. We have been doing reasonably well and they had penalised us for coming second a few weeks ago. However last night the Hagar was almost in its element. With 15 to 20 plus knots and stronger gusts. Rod & Pete had installed two new Clutches in the afternoon for the main & jib halliards. Now these have been a bugbear for some months and at times have cost us dearly when racing. However the new clutches worked well and there were no failures.
Rod was helming & I was up the bow. We ran down some of the little boats by the bottom mark which is just south of the Wedding Cake. We then revved her up and tramped upwind passing all but one of the lead boats. The Hagar was motoring at from 5.4 to 5.8 knots and at the finish we were catching the leader and was just taken by a fast finishing Adams 10. We were third over the line in a fleet of about thirty yachts.
Chris. |
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David
Helmsman
Australia
232 Posts |
Posted - 28 January 2006 : 10:48:52 AM
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Chris,
With the upwind runs i am the same.
The past few weeks i have done a couple of races without a spinnaker and upwind i catch and pass the other boats running without a kite, but downwind they are faster.
Maybe to do with the hull shape, but this has been 2 times the first in about 5-10kts the second 12-20kts, the only boat that stays in front is a 31' we catch him upwind but not enough for the downwind where he pulls away.
Also when you say "motoring" upwind you mean sailing fast don't you?
David. |
If vegeterians love animals, why do they eat their food? |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 28 January 2006 : 11:30:52 AM
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Yes David, I do mean sailing fast. Sasha is just pulling you leg.
Do you pole out your jib when sailing down wind? We do it quite successfully and adjust the jib using the kicker, which you ease before bracing the jib around square. In the gusts and heavier stuff we ease the braced jib sheet & pull down on the kicker. This makes the boat very stable off the wind and gets you up to maximum hull speed in flat water.
We beat Rhumline in one heat doing this when it was up to & over 20 knots without hoisting a kite. They were just behind us and even with their small kite they could not overtake us and at the bottom mark we just dropped the pole & sheeted the jib to the other side, came up on the wind quicker than them while they had all the problems of pole as well as kite drops and then hoisting their jib. This gave us a few boat lengths & we tacked on top of them to the favoured side of the course.
However, having bragged on with all of that, remember that our boats are built heavily and most of the time me are racing against light-weight harbour craft. Its a matter of getting your boat up to its maximum hull boat speed and remember we are sailing as handicap boats.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 28 January 2006 : 11:43:42 AM
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In framing our sailing report for Friday nights twilighter, I omited to mention that while "truckin" upwind in the sound last night one of the light-weight flyers in our fleet who was on the opposite tack & below us lost their mast overboard. Don't know yet what caused it but the mast collapsed at the spreaders in fine fashion which will be an expensive little number to replace.
We saw the boat back on its mooring when we came in and the mast is totally finished.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 29 January 2006 : 6:39:14 PM
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What a beautiful days sailing we enjoyed at North Harbour today. It was a moderate north easterly and slowly built up to 12 & gusts to 15 knots at times. We finished in the top end of our number one jib range. It was a good afternoon with myself up the bow, Rod steering & Sailing Master Pete calling the shots. We successfully carried the big kite twice & gybed it once with the new double brace & sheet system.
The race was a handicap start & we were off last on 30 minutes. We passed the leading boat on the final work from Taylors Bay to the Manly YA marks & won by a few minutes.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 02 February 2006 : 3:05:08 PM
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This weekend sees the Hagar again in the Friday night twilighter at Manly. While checking the adjusted handicap, which now puts us back to 6.14pm, I was surprised to find that we came second last Friday and not the third as we had reported. We must have been edged out by seconds from the quick Adams 10 who just got us on the line & the boat in frount did not feature.
We will be working on the boat on Sunday and I'm sailing in the Old Buffers 16 foot skiff race on Saturday with Dads'Army, and of course the skiff, which is owned by Rod is named,...the Hagar, what else could it be???
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 03 February 2006 : 11:01:15 PM
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This evening was a letdown after last weeks twilighter. The breeze was a shifty light southeaster with lots of holes. We were supposed to start at 6.19pm but with us messing about were went off closer to 9.21pm with a bunch of forty footers and the biggies. We went OK upwind and with Rod steering we managed to hold some back when they went the wrong way. However the inevitable overtaking took place off the wind and we came in the back of the fleet at the finish and would have bettered only about six craft.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 04 February 2006 : 8:57:35 PM
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Today was the OLD BUFFER RACE at the local Manly 16 foot Skiff Club. Both Rod & Andy own and race 16s' with the club, while they house their boats at North Harbour. Andy sailed with his two boys, both 21 & 18 year old footballers. They went well and finish in frount of us. Today I steered which is now a once a year event. I'm now too old to sail compeditively in the skiffs & never liked the 16s', prefering the amature more lively 14s'.
We had a combined age of 159 years aboard the 16 - Hagar. We did not swim and did not come last. I am now bone weary and ready to crash.
Tomorrow morning is with the family and then off to work aboard the Hagar.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 06 February 2006 : 3:51:52 PM
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This coming Friday will see us continuing to do battle with the Manly YC fleet and on Sunday there will be another North Harbour SC race. Having won the previous weeks race we have been penalised six minutes by of Handicapper. The solution will be to stack more crew on and carry more kites.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 10 February 2006 : 10:09:02 PM
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This evening we again raced at Manly in the MYC Twilighter Race. We were sent off a minute earlier than last week but still in with a lot of the biggies. It was a lightening south eaterly breeze and there were only three aboard tonight. We finished in the last third of the fleet and were not dissapointed with the result holding back a lot of the bigger faster boats and only a few slipped through. Next week we will be given another minute and hope for a big north easterly.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 13 February 2006 : 7:05:34 PM
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After checking the results of last Fridays twilighter we came 15th out of 33 on elapsed time in a mixed fleet which ranges from 24 footers through to 60s'. Andy was steering for the first time. The scratch boat is a Sydney 36 named Local Hero, which is quick. Next week we go off on 6.17pm in 24th position out of 42 starters .
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 17 February 2006 : 10:34:11 PM
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| This evenings Friday night twilighter at Manly saw a good sized fleet in the thirties. The Hagar was off at 6.17pm and we were again in the second half of the fleet. We had a great race in a 10 to 14 knot northeaster. We think we came in at about 11th place over the line and took most of the boats who went off before us and kept in frount of most of the biggies. We had four bodies on board and could have used one or two more. We miss Sasha! Rod was steering and outsailed most of the yachts upwind. Many of the biggies are lacking in the tactical skills department. We were dumped on by an overtaking Cav 39 for no real reason as well as almost sideswiped by a moody 31. Both were women drivers! The Hagar definatly prefers heavier breezes. Of note was the fact that when running under polled out jib we found through testing positions that we get the maximum boatspeed with all of the crew sitting around the mast. |
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LCJOHNSTON
Helmsman
Australia
258 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2006 : 12:09:53 PM
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| I am sure the Northshore 38 drivers would not be as inconsiderate as the Cav 39 people! |
Leigh Ex E30 MkII "Caroline" Hobart |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2006 : 4:01:33 PM
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Unfortunatly its the Friday night party clinch on board and the helms get passed around allowing many without experience or skills to drive a three to ten tonne yacht. ie, girl friends & wives. Its' a bit like a cement truck driver allowing his sones and daughters to drive home in the Friday night rush.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 19 February 2006 : 7:01:52 PM
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Well todays North Harbour was a handicappers delight with all three boats finishing within a few minutes. Unfortunatly we were "told" by the handicapper that it was Brians' turn to win and under no circumstances were we permitted to beat him over the line, hence he was off thirty minutes in front of us.
Of interest was the E30, the Walrus which we crossed tacks with as we were sailing up the harbour he was sailing downwind. Looked like new owners as she was for sale recently. She looked really good, yellow hull with green stripes.
Tomorrow afternoon I have been recruited to deliver a Mumm 30 to Pittwater if the weather is satisfactory.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 20 February 2006 : 7:45:19 PM
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Have just got home from Pittwater with Pete and the other two crew members of the Mumm 30. Had an exhilarating slayride from Sydney Harbour to Pittwater this afternoon. From head to head it was one & a half hours. It was blowing up to 20 knots and we two sail reached out to sea a few miles and then jibed back to port and reached into Pittwater. We had the full main and their number three header. The breeze steadily eased and the waves were not that big. We got a top speed on their SOG of 13.8 knots & probably averaged a bit over nine knots. After rounding Barrenjoey headland and coming into Pittwater we hardened up on the wind and tore the head out of the mainsail. We then motor sailed with the jib up to the RPAYC. I was given a steer and found the boat to be fairly light on the helm and was easily driven & very reactive.
A most pleasant afternoons sail and a good experience.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 24 February 2006 : 9:47:55 PM
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This evenings twilighter race at Manly was a bit of a letdown with the breese patchy & ENE. We sailed badly downwind having made the tactical blunder of of sailing deep rather than up high & going with the flooding current. This has a big impact on yachts sailing in and around the harbour entrance. We also had a rather large oil tanker arrive just to make it interesting. The theories of more weight were proven wanting tonight with Hagar supporting a crew of eight and most were not yachties and more of a hinderence. We finished at the backend of the fleet this evening, which should help our handicap for next week.
Chris. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 27 February 2006 : 12:58:38 PM
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This morning I was searching for the results for the Mumm 30 Nationals being sailed at Pittwater out of the RPAYC. I was interested to see how the boat which I helped deliver last Monday performed.
The results of the Mumm 30 as well as the Farr 40s' were posted in detail on the RPAYC web site. My friends only managed to come eighth. Their best was a 3rd. However I later found out that there were only eight competing craft. A very poor turn-out for what is supposed to be a prestigious state of the art class of yachts.
Remarkable in that there were about the same number of Endeavour Big Boats which have been sailing around now for over thirty years. Also of interest was the fact that there were only ten competing Farr 40s'.
It just goes to show that they are just too darned expensive.
Chris. |
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david_eastwood
Main Sheet Hand
124 Posts |
Posted - 27 February 2006 : 5:22:19 PM
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Farr 40 formula (works in all classes, Endeavours too BTW...):
1) spend lotsa money on hardware. Buy 2 boats if you can (like Richard Perini and most top Farr 40 owners) Helps if you own a boatyard, or can afford to buy one.
2) Spend lotsa money on sails. Include one sailmaker at least in the crew so you get cheap gear up front, plenty of ongoing repairs and tweaks and at least one good trimmer
3) Spend lotsa money on hiring the best crew money can buy, fly them around and put them up wherever necessary. Good to include a rigger and/or boat builder in the crew as things do break.
You win! At least until somebody comes along and spends even more. Just ask Neville Chrichton...
sorta pointless really IMHO. |
Shed boy #1, the one holding the stick thingy. |
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Chris Cope
Skipper
Australia
2350 Posts |
Posted - 27 February 2006 : 8:03:35 PM
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David,
Do these jet sailors in Farr 40s' cheat like some of the sailors in our classes?
ie, stripped out under weight & un-weighed boats etc.
Chris. |
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Topic |
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SAILING REPORTS ON '30's
