Race 4 Two Out of Three Ain t Bad Wednesday Wonders Summer Series 2015-16 Race 4 28 October 2015 A great sailing day usually needs three main ingredients - sunshine, flat seas and a good breeze. There was plenty of sunshine and flat water for race 3 but the breeze did misbehave producing one of the more fascinating results in the history of WW. It was almost as though the start order had been inverted. The first yacht to start the race finished last whilst the 37 th yacht to start finished 1 st. Of the 39-yacht fleet none of the first 13 yachts to start were among the first 13 to finish, which comprised 11 of the last 13 yachts to start. It was the weather, especially the breeze, which played a major role in the outcome of the race. The first 4 legs of the 7 leg, 8.4 nautical mile course 6 were sailed at an average speed of about 3 knots; the last 3 legs at about 4.3 knots. Fawkner Beacon observations indicated that the breeze followed the forecast. It was a 10-knot northerly at 1300, which decreased to 1 knot at 1430 increasing for the remainder of the afternoon and shifting to the south at around 1530. This breeze pattern favoured the late starters who endured less light breeze. WW Summer Series 2015-16 Race 4 Wind Speed & Direction wind speed (knots) 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1300 1330 1400 1430 1500 1530 1600 1630 1700 1730 Wind Speed 10 7 4 1 4 7 11 13 12 13 Wind Gusts 12 8 5 3 5 8 13 14 14 14 Wind Direction 360 360 360 360 360 360 135 157.5 157.5 180 360 315 270 225 180 135 90 45 0 wind direction (degrees) time At one stage it appeared as though the race may have been shortened with the first yacht rounding number 4 for the first time at 15:33. By this time the breeze had increased and so the race continued. All 39 starters finished, albeit in a different order than they did first time around number 4. The race was over by 16:43:38 - the latest finish time of any of the 4 races this series. Winning her first WW race by 2 minutes 5 seconds was the Beneteau First 45 CONQUEST (Paul Jacka). There hadn t been a yacht over 40-foot win a race since 11 March 2015, there has now been 2 in successive races. The prizes are getting widely distributed with 11 out of a possible 12 different podium finishers so far this series.
CONQUEST completed 10 races in the previous winter series and 3 in this series. This was her first podium finish, which she claimed, in fine style. Not only did she win the race but she but also she won in the fastest elapsed time of the race, 3 minutes faster than her closest rival. CONQUEST didn t have the best start being 97 seconds late for a 48-minute handicap from 37 th place. She rounded number 4 for the first time in 3 rd place after sailing for 1:15:10. She sailed the last three legs of the course in 36 minutes 50 seconds to cross the finish line in 1 st place at 16:11:37. CONQUEST finished the race 2 minutes 5 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, recorded an elapsed time 3 minutes faster than the 2 nd fastest Beneteau 477 ESPRIT (Garry Anderson). CONQUEST is tied for 3 rd place in the aggregate. In 2 nd place was the Sydney 36 ALIBI (Denis Hambleton). ALIBI completed 16 races in the winter series and although she recorded some good results she never made it to the podium. ALIBI started this race from 33 rd position at 14:44:30 30 seconds late for her 44-minute handicap. She found herself leading the fleet at the first rounding of number 4 at 15:33:40. It was during the last three legs of the race that ALIBI was overtaken and she finished 2 nd, crossing the line at 16:13:42 after sailing the course in a time of 1:59:42 the 3 rd fastest of the day. ALIBI has completed 3 races in this series and is 8 th in the aggregate. The Beneteau First 35 WHITE NOISE (Daniel Edwards) finished 3 rd to claim her first podium finish since 10 Jun 2015. WHITE NOISE started from 26 th place 61 seconds late for her 38-minute start. She made up considerable distance during the first 4 legs of the course to round number 4 in 2 nd place. She was overtaken by CONQUEST during the last three legs and crossed the finish line at 16:14:28 only 46 seconds behind ALIBI. WHITE NOISE had sailed the course in 2:06:28, the 7 th fastest time of the race. WHITE NOISE has completed all 4 races this series and is currently 7 th in the aggregate with a total of 10 points. The tower can pick out White Noise easily providing Daniel continues to wear his orange jacket. Daniel did explain that he was 1 minute late at the start, as he was waiting for More Noise. A minute less at the finish would have given him a second place MW
It wasn t a very good start to race 4 with 10 seconds the best time recorded by two Oceanis yachts, the 34 foot JOHNNY B. GOODE (John Chipp) and the 43 foot LUCILLE (Kim Edwards). A third of the fleet was 60 seconds or more late for their respective starts with the Bavaria 44 TRUE COLOURS putting out a strong challenge (10 minutes 27 seconds) for Latest Start of the Day. The median start time was 34 seconds, twice the average median time for the winter series.
The 39 yacht fleet started the race 54 minutes 40 seconds apart. They were 21 minutes 19 seconds apart at the first rounding of number 4 but this difference increased to be 32 minutes 1 second at the end of the race. There is a strong negative correlation (-0.84) between the start and finish positions of the fleet. That is, yachts that started early were likely to finish late and vice versa. The average elapsed time of 2:28:49 made this the longest race of the series so far. There was 1:25:01 difference between the shortest and longest elapsed time. There was 7 seconds separting the elapsed times of JOHNNY B. GOODE and PACEMAKER (Herschel Landes) and the same difference between MOANA (Stan Rankin) and SALTSHAKER (Ken Gayler).
Being the last Wednesday in October made this Race 1 in the Century Class. There are 8 contestants in this 6 race series which includes the Jarkan 925 SALTSHAKER (Ken Gayler) for the first time. The first race resulted in a win for the Farr 1020 FAST COMPANY (Albert Doggett) with the S&S 39 MAGIC (Phil Spry Bailey) in 2 nd place followed by the Mottle 33 CASSANDRA of MELBOURNE (Bob Reeves) in 3 rd place Century Class Summer Series 2015-16 Race 1 Result Position Yacht Skipper 1 FAST COMPANY Albert Doggett 2 MAGIC Phil Spry Bailey 3 CASSANDRA MELBOURNE Bob Reeves 4 MOANA Stan Rankin 5 SALTSHAKER Ken Gayler 6 TEQUILA Alan Collins 7 PIPPA Jeffrey Woolhouse DNC WILLARIE Graeme Kaufman
So who else has had their handicap altered? YACHT WW Summer Series 2015-16 Race 4 Finish Position & Handicap Adjustment RACE 1 RACE 2 RACE 3 RACE 4 FINISH FINISH FINISH FINISH HANDICAP HANDICAP HANDICAP HANDICAP POSITION POSITION POSITION POSITION PUBLIC BAR DNC DNC DNC DNC 23 45:00 10 45:00 FUN AND GAMES DNC DNC 15 40:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC LUCILLE DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 26 28:00 MORE NOISE DNC DNC 22 40:00 DNC DNC 7 39:00 MY WAY DNC DNC DNC DNC 21 30:00 29 30:00 PACEMAKER DNC DNC 34 29:00 DNC DNC 28 25:00 PRIMO DNC DNC 32 39:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC TEQUILA DNC DNC 20 24:00 DNC DNC 34 23:00 WILLARIE DNC DNC 30 03:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC WICKED DNC DNC DNC DNC 22 52:00 DNC DNC UPBEAT DNC DNC 13 36:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC TRUE COLOURS DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 23 26:00 BABYDOLL DNC DNC 1 28:00 18 34:00 12 34:00 WHITE POINTER DNC DNC 6 27:00 DNC DNC 35 28:00 JOHNNY B. GOODE 1 17:00 22 22:00 5 22:00 22 22:00 MOANA 2 16:00 24 19:00 3 18:00 32 19:00 ULUWATU 3 37:00 33 42:00 19 40:00 18 40:00 FAST COMPANY 4 31:00 26 32:00 16 31:00 14 31:00 CONQUEST 5 47:00 24 48:00 DNC DNC 1 48:00 PIZAZZ 6 24:00 11 24:00 DNC DNC 27 24:00 CASSANDRA MELBOURNE 7 14:00 28 14:00 20 13:00 30 13:00 BELLABLU 8 30:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC ALIBI 9 45:00 21 45:00 DNC DNC 2 44:00 VANTAGE 10 30:00 DNC DNC 6 30:00 20 30:00 SALTSHAKER 11 19:00 DNC DNC 9 19:00 33 19:00 BARNSTORMER 12 43:00 4 43:00 DNC DNC 8 46:00 BLUE CHIP 13 40:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC THE SECRETARY 14 42:00 10 42:00 12 42:00 9 42:00 MAGIC 15 27:00 5 27:00 4 28:00 15 28:00 BACARDI 16 40:00 8 40:00 DNC DNC 11 41:00 MIDNIGHT MAGIC 17 minus 5 DNC DNC DNC DNC 39 minus 5 LEBROK 18 34:00 2 34:00 DNC DNC 17 39:00 INSX 19 44:00 16 44:00 2 43:00 5 45:00 FOGGY DEW 20 18:00 3 18:00 13 20:00 37 20:00 WIND SPEED 21 44:00 17 44:00 7 43:00 6 43:00 CARPE DIEM 22 50:00 31 50:00 10 49:00 13 49:00 SECOND NATURE 23 29:00 19 29:00 DNC DNC 16 28:00 WHITE NOISE 24 37:00 7 37:00 8 38:00 3 38:00 ESPRIT 25 48:00 27 49:00 1 47:00 4 50:00 CAVALIER 26 21:00 29 20:00 15 18:00 21 18:00 MYUNA 27 32:00 18 30:00 17 29:00 19 29:00 PIPPA 28 04:00 9 02:00 DNC DNC 38 02:00 DEJA VU 29 32:00 14 30:00 11 30:00 31 30:00 FIREFOX 30 25:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC 24 23:00 BON VIVANT 31 24:00 12 22:00 DNC DNC 36 22:00 SALT WHISTLE 32 26:00 DNC DNC 14 23:00 25 23:00
Left Overs - Cassandra confirmed that in last week s race the front hatch was closed tightly!!!! He also wanted to say thanks to the Pappa Art Sea with the big lens. Sydney to Hobart: Geoff Nixon in Sm16 Myuna 111, is shown as an entrant for this years Sydney to Hobart race along with Sm28 Challenge. They seem to be the only SYC yachts at this stage. Will Martin in Sm377 Bacardi add one more Sydney-Hobart? WW Sailors evaluation of race 4. Quotes: It was a superb day out on the water. Flat seas, sunny weather and a reasonable breeze, what more could you want? We only really had to point on our way to Number 1 the second time, the rest of the race we were mainly reaching. Magic Moments Magic watched what was happening to the early starters in the race and noted Midnight Magic being taken inshore. Decided to start at the pin end. By that time I think the breeze was going further west and Magic easily made number 7. Unlike Pippa, Magic tacked soon after number 7 and number 2, and was able to keep going. Got overtaken by yachts that could point higher on the 3 to 1 leg. Sailing gives you time to reflect. A secret discussion on Midnight Magic, or are they looking up a reference? MOB: was due to be in the hands of the sailing department at the end of October.
To answer the question: Why was Pippa out on her own with just a few early yachts near her? Pippa s skipper thought going West was the correct choice in theory given the forecast. The breeze did not swing around to the South as much as he had hoped. There were lots of gaps of very light wind that made Pippa s progress slow. The crew did get the chance to look back on the fleet behind them for about an hour. At Number 7 ( 2:17, 2.5 knt avg) the breeze died before Pippa was able to get around the mark and she needed an extra tack. The skipper was very pleased with the lift half way up to No 2, and passed Number 2 at 2:47 (1.8knt avg). Pippa joined the back of the peloton at Number 1 at 3:27 (3.1 knts). A long trying day - GPS 9.8 nm 3:11 hours 3.1knt avg The view looking back from Pippa was great.for a little while George was rejoicing at his 9 th place. The reason he gave for the celebration is that as he always comes in tenth, a one place improvement is like winning the race for him. Fact check. The Secretary is currently 18 th in the series with scores of 9,12,10,13 which gives an average of not 10 th but 11 th.
Handicaps: Rowan is reluctant to alter handicaps based on a race like this, except for the place getters. Mark would like to mention that SM45 had a convincing win by 2mins and started late 1:37 and they are just learning how to get Conquest moving! It looks like Conquest had a light weather crew of one in this photo. Or is that what happens if you have a very comfortable downstairs on your yacht? SWYC Bruce Dobbie and Andrew Stopp were sharing a drink after the race. I think they may be considering a SWYC Skippers without yachts Club or some name like that. A Buoy Room Call. Where in this race did the skipper get that idea? When sailing from No 4 and about 400 meters away from No 3, a yacht on port and overtaking a yacht on starboard tack, called out for buoy room. Was he joking? Anonomouse: I did see Lebrok on port, approaching a pack of yachts all on starboard, near number One. It looked like an accident in the offering. No idea how he missed. Must have been a battering ram jockey in a previous life. Mark thinks there might be a Port & Starboard rule in sailing! We all want to be able to sail safely relying on other sailors obeying the rules. The following interesting sequence of photos taken by A-Papa-Art-Sea from The Secretary, who was just about to round No 1 (first time). Lebrok coming in on port tack causing some distress to Bacardi on starboard.
then Moana who was also on starboard appears to have to luff up Moana avoids collision. Pippa keeps clear 10 min Video Viewing: From Norway providing an insight into traditional boats and culture. A 10min clip from OFF CENTRE HARBOUR on traditional boat building and simple living in Norway. An excellent short video A Simple Life by the Sea in Northern Norway CLICK
SANTA NEEDS HELP!! How would you feel if Santa arrived with an empty sack? The RECREATIONAL BOATING CHRISTMAS PARTY is trying to avoid this happening. Over the last years the number of people attending without taking the time to RSVP has meant that the catering has nearly run out. Everyone is welcome, members and their guests. The Recreational Boating Committee never want to turn anyone away but the catering is very difficult if WW sailors stay on after the race to enjoy a great party without booking in advance. Wednesday 9 December 2015 6.00pm Undercroft Car Park Take 30 seconds to Help. Lift your little finger NOW to register Click here. See more information CLICK http://syc.com.au/on-water/recreational-boating/events/christmas-party/ Don t Forget: The Wednesday Wonders Classic Car Yacht Race Summer Race 9 Wednesday 2 nd December 2015 Eligibility: Anyone who is a regular WW Sailor and can prove by photo or other means that the car that they currently own, or a car that they once owned was manufactured before 1975. The red car No.10 above, is the Cooper Butler. Gary Cooper built over 400 cars under the Elfin badge and the Cooper Butler is No 2. It was Ian's car but I drove it in some races in the mid 1960's. The engine was a BMC B series taken from a MG P. Photo taken in 2013 by Graeme Kaufman (Willarie) QUESTION for RACE 4: Where does the term Slush fund come from? Thanks to the Pappa-Art-Sea that keeps on growing! Great insights into what actually happens on the water. Maybe we need to have a video replay for infringements like the footy. Thanks to skippers for sharing their comments about the race, and to Windward Buoy. Any photos, requests, your ideas, answers, advice please email MARK WINDWARD