Richmond River Regatta

February 16th/17th 2008

The skipper of Prism of Life opted to drive down the day before and risk the wrath of the Queensland Sun Gods. While the curtains in the car did not fade, the car fall apart, I experienced a unsettled night - waking frequently trying to work out when I was supposed to get out of bed to have breakfast at the B&B I was staying at. 

Arrived at the club with plenty of time to spare, and in hindsight, made the mistake of not launching the boat straight away.  At least I would have been nearer the leaders. There was a long discussion of whether the breeze was 10 knots or 12 knots, so I asked the absolute expert - Anita - "Dunno" was the reply. I asked one of the local experts whether the breeze was likely to freshen or lighten. "Yes" was his reply. I said this is serious business as it may impact on whether we come last or second last. So we opted to put on a sail that is suited to heavier breeze.  When the breeze was light we sailed like a slug; when the breeze was heavier, we sailed like a faster slug - basically we were outsailed by better sailors.  The breeze peaked somewhere in the 15-20 knot range, and if we would have had the lighter sail on, it would have been flapping like a flag - the heavy-weight one just sat there and performed - like a slug - just not a flapping slug.

As the fleet jostled for the start, Brendan choose start time minus 20 seconds to capsize right near the line. So with the fleet being  totally in confusion, we started on a tight lead to the first mark.  "Just sail between those rock walls, but do not go too close as you might hit one of the loose rocks". So we managed to make it to the first mark in front of a number of boats; a 29er that had capsized twice in the 300 metre work; Brendan who after righting his boat sailed about for a while to retreive his water bottles. So round the mark we went; Anita we have to gybe;  sail three hundred metres back to the opening in the rock wall, through the opening. Anita we are going to have to gybe again.  "#$%%" was the mumbled reply. Reach along to a mark about three hundred metres at which we were going to have to gybe again.  To save my delicate ears, I opted to gybe during a lull in the breeze. We then set off to the next mark - about 90 minutes away. The four NS14s that we had been in front of then progressed to pass us and leave us for dead. The breeze was gusty at times, so we experienced absolutely smile-making reaches; some tight leads, and some really hard works. 

At SBSC, we have ferries plying the river - these are called CityCats and they go very very fast & get out of your way.  At Ballina, they have a ferry that works with cables & does not stop for anyone or anything.  "Do not go to close in front of it.  Oh - and be careful when you go behind it - the cables stick out a long way".

We negotiated our way past the ferry, and past the only NS14 going in the same direction as us all day. Cannot remember much about the race other than the rum & coke at the end of the day.

Next day dawned with the briefing scheduled for 10:00 and the start 30minutes later.  So I arrived around 9:15, I was about the only one there.  The advantage of having only one set of sails is that you do not need to make decisions. While I was happy with the main selection, I decided to go back to an older jib which was better in flatter water (wrong decision). Put the mast and jib up, took it down again, adjusted the jib on the forestay, adjusted the mast rake, and then prepared for the race.

In the end, the older jib you could not see though, which led to disasterous mark rounding in one of the races & the selected jib was no good for the choppier conditions, but a last, a fourth, and a sixth (twenty feet from fourth) wasn't bad day at the office (for us) considering the skipper dropped the tiller at all the crictical moments (the start, going past a rock wall).

From the event, it was clear that Duncan is the master of this course, and a worthy winner of the Travellers series.    

Steve

This weekend the Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club held its Annual Regatta. The NS14s of South Brisbane that survived last weekend drove down to contribute to festivities. Despite the impact of previous sorties across the border, relations between the two clubs continue to strengthen. Due to the situation with car stereo systems, I declined any offers of lifts and made my own way to Ballina. I was eagerly anticipating what the northern NSW AM broadcasts had to offer. I was not disappointed. Pure Gold. Apparently the monster trucks would be on in Lismore on Saturday night. Ah, this must be the cultural superiority they talk about in NSW. And it’s always reassuring to know there’s CMR (country music radio).

Discrepancies between the States regarding the solution to the ‘fading curtains’ issue meant the Queenslanders had to allow for the extra hour required to get there on time. To avoid any possible problems some people risked increased fading to car paintwork and drove down Friday night.

The itinerary for the weekend races was one long race on day one (Saturday) and three shorter sprint races on day two (Sunday); two back to back before lunch and one longer one after lunch.

Brendan and Riley in ‘El Nino’ and Steve and I in ‘Prism of Life’ were the only flag bearers for SBSC. Despite this we ‘value added’ to the Regatta where we could.

Contribution #1- first race. With ten seconds to go to start and all boats in our class ready to pounce on the line, Brendan made the first SBSC contribution to proceedings by capsizing up the front of the fleet. Numerous boats were forced to take immediate evasion action and forced windward boats up, including us. I did my best Murray impersonation and bellowed “UP” at the adjacent windward boats with all the desperation the emergency commanded. On about the third leg Brendan flew past us and ended up in coming second. The fact that he did circle work on the start line to pick up water bottles exacerbated the impact for us of his ability to pick up ground so quickly. The first race was a long one. Steve and I turned at the first buoy we came across, with no desire to go any further. For large sections of the race we couldn’t see any boat of our class in the same reach of the river. In these situations we resort to chatting about the meaning of life. Ya gotta do something.

Contribution #2 – second day. In one of the three races we had a great approach to the first buoy (In Mobb’s Bay) and were on a great line to take it on a port tack. The fleet was close and if we had of been a handful of boat lengths more along we would have rounded 2^nd or 3^rd. We weren’t and subsequently provided the next most memorable contribution from SBSC. The rest of the fleet bar one or two was on starboard tack flying into the mark. They commenced announcing their individual presences in not uncertain manner. But at least the effort we made to drive down from Brisbane was noted at that point. We were forced onto starboard short of the mark which forced the boat leeward of us onto starboard. We snapped back onto port trying to stay below the mark....unsuccessfully and proceeding to run right over the top of it, dead centre.  Once around the mark (having rerounded) we resumed our rightful place at the back of the fleet.

It always good to sail at different venues and have to adapt to different conditions and courses.  But all things in moderation! A few of the nuisances of Richmond River had me a little concerned. “Visitors are reminded...upstream there is a vehicular ferry running on two cables. Be aware of the cables and cross the ferry’s path when it is on the opposite bank.  (There’s a What! On two What!!). “Visitors are also advised that when entering Mobb’s Bay be aware that the rocks extend further than the entrance beacons” (Well of course they would!!) And how many times to we have to go in there?! Oh.. every race. Fantastic! What’s the fascination with it? It was then I truly realised I was south of the border.

The weekend provided us with the opportunity to add to our range of usually errors. And we took it. We ran aground (twice), we nosed dived into a wave, stopping us instantly (twice) etc etc. But let it be noted that it wasn’t us that had our centre board on the wrong side of the anchor chain of the start boat when starting. Let it also be noted that we would appreciate people forgetting that that boat then went on to beat us in that race.

The most memorable ‘mistake’ (which I prefer to refer to as an ‘incident’) happened in the middle of the entrance to Mobb’s Bay. Having successfully negotiated the way in we were on our way out when the main sheet tangled around the tiller and as we turned to head up the outside of the rock wall Steve lost control.  From my position it looked liked Steve had turned before we cleared the wall so all I saw was the end of the wall directly off the bow, for a second, before we continued across the wind and I saw the other end of the entrance directly off the bow. My first thought in such situations is “What Are you doing??” before I realise ‘he has no idea’. Thankfully the flogging of jib (Bob M would be proud) drowned out the expletives that were being directed to main sheet, tiller and crew. Apparently I was being told to get the jib on (anyway) to give Steve some (any) control. But I heard none of this and even if I had I would have been a little lost on specifics. Starboard sheet on, jib on or port sheet on to back fill, keep port sheet on to fill (as we turned) Starboard sheet on to back fill, starboard sheet on to fill.....(seasoned sailors note..that’s not meant to make sense.) Before we hit the wall we regained control and were back on course. Throughout the event Steve was more concerned about giving up ground to the nearby Tasar, instead of the more logical concern about the obvious outcome of the equation - oyster encrusted rock wall plus fibreglass boat i.e. total destruction of boat. But that’s men for you. I was hoping for personal survival myself, although during the event I was worried about damage to the boat until I remembered ‘Not my boat’.     

The shorter races on the second day provided some close racing. We were always down the back of the fleet but not so far away as to be embarrassing. On the last race there would only have been a few minutes between first and last (not us). It made for ‘character building’ buoy turnings. At one point an NS had the audacity to come inside a Hartley without buoy room but nevertheless forcing the Hartley out from the mark...onto us. Now I can see the benefits in a Hartley, there’s room on board for wine and cheese and if you stay off their transom it’s possible to be handed a drink and nibbles (you can sense I’m going to go far in the NS assoc, can’t you?)  But half a ton of Hartley bearing down on your back end...well it’s not pretty people.

Lunch was back at the club house prior to the last race. The race briefing was interesting. This is the course, keep sailing around it until we sound the signal as you pass through the finish gate. We aim to sail for about 1 ½ hours so that should be 3 or 4 laps.  3 or 4!!? Or maybe two. Someone from the back asked for a show of hands for people who’d like just an hour. A senior member of club up the front instantly raised his hand (the one holding the beer). Several others indicated their strong support.

Steve and I had a theory. Contribution #3 from SBSC. To keep the fleet to 1 ½ hours sailing officials would have to keep an eye on the slowest boat. Steve and I reckoned we could stretch one lap to 1 ½ hours thus keeping the entire fleet to minimal laps. Duncan could complete the race in whatever time he wanted but we would be dragging the chain for the greater good. We do what we can. In the end we did two laps and finished close behind the rest of the fleet.

Much alcohol featured in the presentation of prizes.

Brendan didn’t feature in day two as Riley’s eyeball had an encounter with a swooping bird and she was left to impersonate a pirate. In their absence Steve and I did what we could to uphold the reputation of SBSC. Riley is recovering well and should be back on the water on Saturdays.

A wonderful thing about the NS community is their willingness to offer help and advice to others. Before races on the second day, Duncan had a look at our rig. Our mast is almost perfectly perpendicular to the deck. Duncan opinion was that sailing with that set up is just crazy. As Steve took the advice on board and contemplated the length of his forestay I pondered the great loss Duncan is to the motivational speaker circuit.

I never really got my head around the time difference but won’t lend support to the idea that crossing the border back into Qld required a step back in time...

Thankyou to the Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club for organising and running the Annual Regatta. It was great to catch up with old friends and make new ones. We all look forward to more fun and cooperation in the future.