A Great Pursuit Race Wednesday Wonders Winter Series 2015 Race 8 20 May 2015

Transcription

1 wind speed (knots) wind direction (degrees) A Great Pursuit Race Wednesday Wonders Winter Series 2015 Race 8 20 May 2015 This was the closest finish of a Wednesday race in at least 5 series. Of the 26 finishers, 23 crossed the finish line within 10 minutes of the winner and 11 yachts finished within 5 minutes of the winner. Only 11 minutes 5 seconds separated the yachts at the finish in a fleet that started 51 minutes 5 seconds apart. On average a yacht crossed the finish line every 27 seconds, with the longest time between 2 yachts being 1 minute 7 seconds separating FOGGY DEW (Frank Hilliard) from PIZAZZ (P Martyn & R Kemp). However this was also the smallest fleet of the series, with 27 yachts sailing the 4 leg, 8.5 nautical mile course 27. This took the fleet out to a partially submerged number 1 (apparently due to be refloated) before heading off to the elusive R2, then returning to the finish line via number 3. The location of a half submerged buoy for the early yachts was an unforeseen handicap. This was made even more confusing due to the bright sunlight shining on the two yellow channel markers. MW BOM issued a strong wind warning for Port Philip with the strongest winds expected in the late afternoon or early evening. Fawkner Beacon observations indicated a north westerly shifting to a westerly breeze averaging about 18 knots for the afternoon. Whilst there were dark and dramatic skies with rain falling around the bay most of it kept away from the race track until well after the race was over. WW Winter Series 2015 Race 8 Wind Speed & Direction Wind Speed Gusts Direction time

2 It was shortly before rounding number 3 that the Beneteau 385, FIREFOX (Kim Beveridge) led the fleet to what was her first podium finish since race 19 in the summer series. She started the current series with a handicap of 33 minutes but this was reduced to 23 minutes for race 5. FIREFOX started this race, 9 seconds late for a 24-minute handicap from 8 th place and sailed the course in 1:33:39 to cross the finish line at 15:27:39. She has completed 5 races this series and is 14 th in the aggregate. It was 27 races ago, the first race of the summer series, that the S&S 39 MAGIC (Phil Spry Bailey) last recorded a podium finish a 3 rd place. She has completed 5 races this series and recorded 3 top ten finishes. MAGIC started race 8 from 9 th place 16 seconds late for her 25- minute handicap and rounded R2 in 4 th position. By the 3 rd mark she had moved into 2 nd place and after sailing for 1:33:19 she crossed the finish line at 15:28:19. MAGIC is on 13 points in the aggregate currently tied for 3 rd place. The Oceanis 34, PIZAZZ has sailed 4 races this series, and has achieved good results including two 3rds and a 4 th. Her handicap has been rising since the start of the series and she started this race from 11 th place 48 seconds late for her 25 minute handicap. She sailed two very good legs to be the first yacht around R2 before heading back to the finish line. PIZAZZ sailed the course in 1:33:30 and crossed the finish line at 15:28:30 just 11 seconds behind MAGIC. This 3 rd place in the race was enough to help PIZAZZ into top spot in the aggregate on 10 points.

3 The Farr 1020 FORZADO (Bruce Dobbie) won Start of the Day with a perfect start. The Bavaria 38, SECOND NATURE (Paul Mentiplay) and the J24 GUNBOAT (Bruce Alexander) both with 3- second starts took the minor placings. The median start time was 14 seconds; only 2 yachts had starts of more than a minute and no yachts started too soon. With two races missed there were three prizes for SOD winners. This included one for Paul who appears to be doing a Dame Nelly Melba as a retiring handicapper. When will the real handicapper step up to the bell? MW WW Winter Series 2015 Race 8 Start of the Day time (seconds) y a c h t FORZADO SECOND NATURE GUN BOAT CARPE DIEM PHOENIX WIND SPEED PIPPA FAST COMPANY FOGGY DEW VANTAGE CAVALIER FIREFOX STAMPEDE LEBROK WHITE NOISE MAGIC SALTSHAKER THE SECRETARY INSX CASSANDRA MELBOURNE ALIBI MOANA SURI MY WAY PIZAZZ PRIMO ULUWATU As mentioned earlier, this race witnessed the closest finish of a Wednesday race for a long time. There were some close finishes with 4 seconds separating the Armitage 30 PHOENIX (Alex Tseberg) from the Sydney 36 ALIBI (Denis Hambleton) and 5 seconds dividing not only the Mottle 33, CASSANDRA of MELBOURNE (Bob Reeves) from the Bavaria 40 VANTAGE (Darren Hunter) but also FORZADO from the J44, THE SECRETARY (George Shaw).

4 PIPPA CASSANDRA MELBOURNE FOGGY DEW SALTSHAKER MOANA PHOENIX CAVALIER FIREFOX MAGIC SURI PIZAZZ GUN BOAT FORZADO VANTAGE SECOND NATURE MY WAY FAST COMPANY WHITE NOISE LEBROK ULUWATU PRIMO THE SECRETARY INSX WIND SPEED ALIBI CARPE DIEM STAMPEDE position time (hh:mm:ss) WW Winter Series 2015 Race 8 Results 02:24:00 02:09:36 01:55:12 01:40:48 01:26:24 01:12:00 00:57:36 00:43:12 00:28:48 00:14:24 00:00:00 FIREFOX MAGIC PIZAZZ FOGGY DEW ULUWATU CASSANDRA MELBOURNE VANTAGE SECOND NATURE SURI SALTSHAKER FORZADO THE SECRETARY LEBROK CARPE DIEM CAVALIER GUN BOAT PRIMO PHOENIX yacht ALIBI INSX WIND SPEED WHITE NOISE PIPPA STAMPEDE FAST COMPANY MY WAY MOANA Handicap Elapsed Amongst the 9 early finishers were 4 early starters, 4 from mid fleet but only 1 of the late starters. By way of a contrast only 1 of the early starters was amongst the late finishers that included 3 mid fleet starters and 4 late starters. A long windward leg for the yachts with poor pointing ability meant this course did not favour them. Other yachts with the expectation of the forecast wind to swing were caught out. MW WW Winter Series 2015 Race 8 Position at Start & Finish yacht Start Finish

5 The average elapsed time for this race was 1:32:33 with CARPE DIEM (Paul Commins) recording the shortest time of 1:12:49. The averaged elapsed time for this series so far is 1:53:09 for an average course length of 9.3 miles. The equivalent figures for summer series are 2:05:02 for an average course length of 8.8 miles. WW Winter Series 2015 Race 8 Elapsed Time time (hh:mm:s) 00:00:00 00:28:48 00:57:36 01:26:24 01:55:12 02:24:00 y a c h t CARPE DIEM STAMPEDE ALIBI THE SECRETARY WIND SPEED INSX ULUWATU LEBROK PRIMO WHITE NOISE SECOND NATURE VANTAGE MAGIC PIZAZZ FORZADO FIREFOX FAST COMPANY SURI MY WAY GUN BOAT CAVALIER PHOENIX FOGGY DEW SALTSHAKER CASSANDRA MELBOURNE PIPPA 01:12:49 01:14:01 01:18:07 01:18:36 01:19:55 01:20:39 01:22:09 01:24:17 01:26:26 01:30:10 01:30:40 01:31:29 01:33:19 01:33:30 01:33:31 01:33:39 01:34:22 01:36:25 01:38:44 01:39:02 01:42:25 01:45:03 01:46:37 01:47:52 01:48:14 02:04:21 Mark s Murmurs Sail Committee: Mark attended the Sail Committee Meeting with a few other WW sailors. Rowan Simpson (INSX) as our suspected handicapper, may, or may not, become a member of this committee. Mark s TOP SIX considerations were presented as per last report. A few WW members were concerned about a possible change to the handicapping system, but it was unclear whether this was directed at other Pursuit races, and did not include WW? Code Zero: The handicapper has stated.. a Code Zero is considered an extra if the girth is measured correctly and not flown from an attached luff. If anyone tries to break the rule they will be disqualified!! BLAIR s Winter Special. Just in case you did not make the presentation.in addition to Blair Shipwright s offering SOD free hull scrub, he is also offering a 10% discount on any work carried out on a Wednesday Wonders Yacht during July and August. This is for any work, not just hull scrubs, but repairs, painting etc. BLAIR SHIPWRIGHTS Thanks Blair for your support of Wednesday Wonders.

6 Phil did follow his crew s request and came in second place well ahead of the rain. This is a ghost yacht. Mark thinks the numbers on the sail were washed off. I am not sure what the tower made of it! Mark was going to just leave this photo of Sm3535 without comment, but the skipper thought Mark might comment on his 22 nd place and about White Noise being on the wrong side of the course. Clearly, it turned out that those who stayed out, rather than went in towards Brighton, got a significant advantage making their way to R2. Mark had no intention about making any comment! Thanks to Daniel for providing the comments.

7 The winner of the MOTFA (middle of the fleet award) Sm 367 Lebrok. She started in 19th position on 39 mins and was 14 seconds late. She finished right in the middle of the fleet in 13th place and was 5:38 mins away from 1st place taking 1:24:17 and is currently in 30th position overall. Andre Tseberg suggests if any more cancellations occur that a name change is in order that would more accurately reflect the series. The suggestion is Wednesday Wines This bottle is a SA special wine.

8 The Secretary on the way to the finish getting ready to celebrate a crew s 80 th or 70 th birthday. Mark is concerned about some yachts not competing in the spirit of Wednesday Wonders. An example is shown here. Look very carefully at the propeller on the stern.

9 Answer to the question from Race Five: Tom Badelka correctly responded OK -- not tooooo devious after all! The ship was Lady Nelson - under the command of Lt Murray who named the bay Port King -- later to be renamed Port Phillip Bay. To read the actual logbook of the Lady Nelson CLICK It is written by Ida Lee. This is just one chapter of Murray s log. Another 14 chapters cover other discoveries and voyages. It includes maps and sketches. The full title of the book is The logbooks of the Lady Nelson with the journal of her first commander Lieutenant James Grant, r.n. Question for Race 6: What ship am I? (An extra week to answer, given cancelled races). You may have seen me under power on the bay. Your parents definitely would have. (Mark has spent a night moored alongside her) I was built 1953 in what was called a classic design. I think I have rather beautiful lines even though I was always a workboat. A craft very similar to me has served royalty. I spent about 26 years doing one job and was replaced by much smaller boats. At that time was advertised for sale for just $2 million. When I was sold, for a while I was going to be made into a luxury yacht. Thanks to Daniel White Noise for his comments, Dennis Alibi for his feedback, Andre Tseberg for the name change, Tom Badelka, Graham Furness and Gai Woolhouse for the photos and Windward Buoy for the analytical stats on the race and Blair Shipwright for the discounts. Send your feedback, photos, answers and contributions to MARK WINDWARD "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits" This is edition number two of the Race 8 report as I had a bit of a problem with the quality of the photos. I hope you enjoy it and the better reproduction of the photos.