Elixir - Elliott 780

Day dawned with no cloud and mud crabs being blown out of their holes.

 We had a clanger today.  Actually, most of it was my clanging - I picked every knock there was - except one.  The wind was pretty intense still with holes, bullets and major wind shifts.  Pretty puffy.  Tide was against wind so it was also pretty choppy.

We nailed the start, our best yet and just underneath our Elliott bretheren but in clear air.  We didn’t have their pace and so as they got over us we tacked off…into a knock.  The first of many.  We slid back up the first mini beat.  We had full main and #2.  Got around the top mark for the first furious kite shy.  Kite went up, boat took off but mark was high so was pushing it pretty hard to stay high.  So we lost it big time and in the process of getting it back in control the brace rope broke and the pole was swinging around unsupported in 20 plus knots.  Kite came down and it took us the left of the leg to rethread the brace just in time to pop it up just before the gybe mark.

A most excellent gybe and we cranked it down to the bottom mark but by then the rest of the fleet was just a distant haze on the horizon.  The next beat was long and so horrible.  I thought it would be best to go right first - it wasn’t.  So then we went left and picked up a bit but the boats around us then went right and pulled out heaps.  The breeze was moving around a fair bit but I was in very poor form.  Major VB tallie award demerit points for me today.

The top half of the beat was just plain excessive wind.  Our main was just shaking itself to bits, the rig was shaking like crazy and the little jib had nothing.  All the while we were on our ear and just being blown sideways.  A couple of the really fast boats decided to call it quits in this filthy wind.

The next leg was a long kite ride and we got the chute up and took off.  I don’t know yet what I have done to the rudder’s trailing edge.  I refaired all the dings in it but now it sings songs like a whale and sucks air really quickly.  I will have to redo it when I get home - should have left it all ugly!  We hit a top speed on the velociteck of 18.1 knots and 17.0 was our 10 second average.

Our kite work is going really well but our boat takes a bit to accelerate.  After the gybe we have to come up a fair bit to get the wind blowing around the front of the forestay to get the kite filling.  In this sort of breeze it fills with a bang and if the bow gets stuck in a wave I lose steering immediately and we do a spectacular pivot and dump.  We had water come in over the stern and flow in to our open cockpit hatch.  When we finished the race, we realised that the spinout had upended the esky and so we had all our lunch, drinks and ice all over the floor - along with all our other stuff that had been thrown off the bunks.

By this time we were so far behind our competition we could barely see them.  On the final long beat home we decided to reef the main sail to help save it and the rig.  This worked well but then we had no speed and no height.  It was a relief to just finish this race and put it behind us.  13th on corrected time with quite a number of boats that did not finish.  We are licking our wounds a bit tonight.

Tomorrow will most likely be honking again and we have 2 windward / leewards in the bay.  A big day.

Due to the high winds, they have not put us out on any passage races.  This is a shame as it means that (apart from the first day) we won’t get out around any of the islands and will only sail in the bay.  It is a nice place to sail but a trip around the islands adds a bit of spice.

Anyway, we had a fun time in the tent after the race.  The Kaito boys had a ripper bringing home a 3rd on corrected. Bloody well done.

Thanks for the comments everyone - starting to look forward to coming home in a couple of days.  The body is getting tired and sore.

Until tomorrow.

Cheers

Duppy

Good morning All

There are 4 races down and 4 more to go.  It is the morning of the 5th race and it is blowing the backpackers out of the nightclubs.  The breeze is from the south and it is pretty chilly.  Almost unpleasant

Yes Jamesy, we are reading the comments (and thanks for reading this thing).  We have some great video footage of us hammering but the internet connection is way too slow to upload anything.  It will have to wait until we get back to broadband.

On the regatta placings so far…

Quantum Sails (ex Shorty, ex Liquid Tactics) has blitzed the fleet - she has new sails and is incredibly fast - you guys should have bought her.  The top 5 boats (this is with a drop) are way in front of the next boats.  We are currently in a tie for 8th and unless some boats in the top 5 hit the wall and sink, no one else will break their way into that group.  So it is race on to get 6th.  The boats are all pretty close on points from 6th onwards.

The racing is really close and often 30 seconds faster can mean  a couple of places on the ladder.

We are supposed to be up for a passage race today (which we would like) but going on the committee’s form, due to the wind (20-25 they say) we may well be doing the big bay triangle again.  We will just have to wait and see.

Forgot to award a few extra VB tallie awards to Fred for falling off the boat in the last race during a wipe out.  He managed to hold on with one hand and after we were upright again was helped back on board.

I can’t wait to show you all the video.

Have a great day.  Hoping to be able to give you all some better result news tonight.

Cheers

 Duppy

Sunday dawned with frantic activity from Dool and Fred pulling the dodgy outboard apart to try and fix the issue (it wouldn’t run).  We were working on the assumption that the fuel was a bit crook or there was water in there.

The boys tried valiantly and got the sod of a thing going with just enough time for us to get out for the early start.  The engine went on about the 100 th pull and then cut out just as we had left the dock.  Doh!  Never mind, they sorted out a range in which it would work.  Enough of the engine (we have a lay day tomorrow so we can give it some more attention).

The wind was fairly piping in today and more from the south.  Actually, it was hammering for 7:30 am in the morning.  Around 20 knots and maybe more.  We were down for a passage race but the committee decided to keep the sporties in the bay and not send us miles and miles up north with the breeze for an endless beat back to base.  So we had a huge triangle in the bay.  Our start was pretty good again but the winged boats are so much faster and there are so many of them, it is hard to try and get yourself in a spot where they won’t roll you straight away. 

The first beat was pretty hot and close and only short before a starboard rounding to a wing mark.  The fleet was pretty close around the first mark and we were pretty much in the pack.  The first shy was shy and we had a few issues getting our pole out which allowed us to go high before popping the kite and blam – we hit warp speed.  The wing mark was high and it was hard to get up to it.  Many boats had dropped their kites by now which meant they could go higher than us and luff us potentially.  It was a bit of a thread that had to be weaved down the course.  Being right on the edge trying to get high we did manage to suck air in the rudder and did a lovely high speed wipeout, recovered, warp speed again and then splat again.  We did manage to make the wing mark and did a stary gybe to keep fanging it to the leeward mark.  This mark was actually pretty low so the fleet was tacking downwind to get down to it.  We lost a few boats here being conservative but came around the bottom mark not too badly placed.  (Behind Kaito and behind Pipeline).  The fleet went right as the tide was meant to have changed which would have favoured the right.  We thought the tide was still flooding and the angles were ok to go left (which we did) and we also felt there was more pressure out to the left.  Going left is going out to sea.  One other boat came with us.  When we knocked we came back right and as it turned out, we picked a beauty and came out of it really well.  Shocking both Kaito and Pipeline (the other Elliott 780 we aspire to beat) by being well in front of them.  The beat was a monster, really, really long and painful.  The whole team was hiking really hard (we are all knackered now).

Next leg was a return and this is where we got some hot video footage and sailed really well until we misjudged the angle into the bottom mark so we sailed slowly for a tad.  The last beat was just long and hard but we held our position over Pipeling and couldn’t not find Kaito anywhere (maybe it is being cruel to say we flogged them).

Jamesy, your velocitek said 17.1 knots max with a 16.7 10 second average.  Woo hoo.

So a top race and another 7^th  in the results.

I think we can all do with a lay day tomorrow.  We are pretty battered and bruised.  Also, have a motor to get sorted L

I promised some VB tallie award nominations…

Well, Dool has to take a hit due to missing his flight up here.

First race nominations need to go to me for putting us in a crappy place under some big boats on the backside of the

Double
Cones
Island.  I can’t think of any other mishaps.

Race 2 and the nominations come thick and fast…

A joint nomination to everyone associated with getting 3 wine glasses in the kite sets (I figure that The Fox and I are excluded from this one).  Having said that, the guys role played it last night, consulted the stars and sought spiritual guidance and not one wine glass today – but they still get a nomination.

The stupid idiot fishing just off the mouth of the harbour entrance who had his fishing line floating over the channel which we then got tangled in our propeller.  Is that when we started having our motor issues?

Me again for getting a crock start in the second race of the day.  Bugger, I hope I am not winning the tally.

The Fox gets a nomination for being half way behind the conversation on three occasions.  It also may just be the smart thing to do as we tend to change our minds in rapid succession but I don’t want him to feel left out.

Race 4 (today)

Furcoat gets a gong for calling the angle in to the bottom mark but he took it on the chin and it did not cause us any real grief. 

The outboard motor for being a prat and not working.

Ready for bed.

Cheers

Duppy

An absolutely spectacular day at Airlie today.  Yeah, we are priveledged - suckers.

We had 2 windward leewards today, 3 laps each and back to back.  Breeze was around 15 with some more coming through.  There are quite a few windshifts and they are decent, it is a bit of a trick to try and pick the ones that are persistent and the ones that are only going to last a couple of minutes.

We came home with a 7th and an 11th which doesn’t sound too flash but the actual racing was really fun and close.  We were mixing it with the Melges, the Thompson 7’s and the other Elliott 780.  Our first start was pretty good with clear air, on the line at pace when the gun went.  Pretty happy about that.  First beat we went left first and then got over to the right.  All in all, a very good first windward.  Racing was really close with many overlaps, boats ducking or being put about.  Very exciting.  We lined up on the layline to the first mark just a bit early and shaved it a tad fine.  There was a fair old tide taking us down onto the mark.  Anyway, a couple of other boats sat up on top of us and gave us dirty air.  We were probably being just a bit too aggressive in our line to the mark.  Upshot is we couldn’t make the mark and had to slip in 2 quick tacks - so we lost out a bit.  Then the first kite set was a bit shoddy and we ended up with a wine glass.  Actually, we got a couple of wine glasses today to the point that the guys have decided we have a problem.  We haven’t yet got it sorted out but we’re on it. 

We seem to be nailing the actual kite runs and are doing much better this year (than last year) in catching the waves, driving low and yet keeping our fat porky boat on the plane.  Jamesy, your velociteck showed a top speed of 18.1 knots and best 10 second average of 14.2 knots  (incedentally, the gps is reading much, much faster than the sum log but we have never calibrated it).  The other gps said max speed was 14.7 knots - so something is not really matching up in the technology somewhere.

Our gybes are on fire - the “Y” kite sheets that we made up (it took me a couple of times to get the length of the “Y” right) - we call it our pigs tail.  So we are down at the bottom mark and we do a really, really bad drop - lost heaps, maybe 30 seconds.  But our 2nd beat was awesome and we got right back in to the race.

The second race the breeze piped in a tad.  I don’t think we got a very good start at all but we were able to get cleared pretty quickly and we did well on the first beat.  The wine glasses reared their ugly head some more but the upwinds are pretty solid.  We picked the shifts really well and were able to get back in front of other boats with similar speed.

The Kaito boys had another cracker in this mornings race but we were actually pretty close to them on the race track for most of it and again this arvo, crossing in front of them several times.

The fleet racing is really tight.  It is great to see so many winged boats and just lovely to watch them go like stink. 

Very happy with our starts and our upwinds.  We have some more gains to make on our kite work but the boys are out on the verandah drinking a well earned rum and discussing what the hell they are stuffing up. :) 

The whole crew are hiking like champions.  Dool has fit straight in (even if he does weigh 50 kg lighter than HTFU), Fred is up to his peak in calling the pressure, the shifts and for another beer, The Fox is working the main brilliantly on the runs and with Dool, doing the jib work spot on upwind.  Furcoat is like an octopus trying to put out a fire, arms everywhere and the ropes just beautifully laid out.  We are really happy with the work we have done on the rig set up.  We are trucking and on the pace upwind.  Downwind we have pace in a straight line and our gybes are quick.  Crew work is really coming on.

I have forgotton to dish out the VB Tallie awards - just too much is happening, and we are not making many drastic mistakes that can be attributed to any one person.  I’ll have to work on it.

Anyway, getting RSI.

Hope you are all well and missing us terribly.  Of course we are all missing you.

 Cheers

Duppy

After an awesome lasagne from the Kaito boys and much wine and the odd cleansing ale, we are feeling much, much happier with the world.

Granted, our opening race was crap, but for Kaito it was great.  Hoping for swings and roundabouts tomorrow so Kaito can come second last and we can come 4th.

I should say that the boat is going really well.  We have been playing around with the mast set up and we are pretty happy with the speed of our bus.  Not much kite work today but the work we have done with the kite sheets seems to have paid off on the only gybe we did today was in tricky conditions and we absoluetly nailed it.  Yee haar.  Top speed today was a paltry 13.7 knots on Jamesy’s velocitek.  It reads a bit faster than our log.  Mind you, we hit over 11 knots just 2 sail reaching on many occassions today also.

The winged boats just took off today.  Their speed was staggering.  Actually so was the 2 small boats in the fleet, Quantum Sails and Barney Army - they are quick for short boats.

Time for bed.

 Cheers

Duppy

Race one today and it was the double cones race, straight out of Pioneer Bay due north to Double Cones Island, around the island and straight back in.  19 nautical miles in a straight line.  There was no breeze at the scheduled start time of 11:30 am so we drifted around for 2 hours waiting for the new breeze to force it way in.  Frustrating and a very long wait.  There was good breeze out to sea but it took forever to push out the land breeze.

Our start was ok but we went too far left up the first (short ) work.  Then it was a very long 2 sail reach out to Double Cones - too tight to get a kite up and yet not upwind so it is just all bound up and horrible to sail.  We got the kite up around the back of the island then sailed into a really huge wind shadow around the back of the island.  We took the same line as many others but we had some big boats come over us and we just had nothing to get out of it.  Other boats just in front of us seemed to get out of the hole a lot better.

Then we just had a very, very, very long one board beat all the way home.  The first mile was like being in a washing machine with very confused sea - just yukky.  Then it smoothed out a bit and we could start to stretch out.  But in the end, we just got hammered in the results.  2nd last on handicap.  Disappointing but it was nice to be out on the water. 

 Tomorrow we have 2 windward / leeward races in the bay.  Hopefully the breeze will be more steady and we may have a better day of it.

 Just have to wait and see.  Of to Kaito’s house for lasagne - need to bulk up, we could have done with another 100 kg on the rail.

 Cheers

Duppy.

Putting it simply, the 1,200 klm drive from home to Airlie is a total pain.  The first 200 k’s from my place to Furcoat’s was ok, and the thrill involved in actually setting off maintained the initial euphoria but from midnight on, the trip was just long, tiring and bla.Furcoat and I did make good time and we had a trouble free run pulling in to Airlie at 9:30 in the morning, exactly 12 hours after leaving his place.  We hooked up with The Fox at Mackay and came on through the final stretch with company.The Kaito boys were about an hour in front of us but after we had a delicious breaky, they got away from us.  The overnight telephone calls worked well in keeping everbody awake, even the poor sods trying to sleep – baskets!You do step out of the car feeling like a zombie but we rigged and floated the boat.The weather is superb (although still pretty cool in the wind – meow) and once Fred turned up at 4 pm, we headed out for a bit of a sail.  Ahh the pleasure!  The local WAGS fleet was out so we joined in but kept out of their way.  Speed was good and the boat felt back on the pace.Dool finally made it after a string of issues getting away including watching the olypmics with the family and so missing the cabbie when he swung past to take him to the airport (this is Fred’s suggestion).  Upshot was even after running all the red lights, he missed his flight.  How many VB tallie award points is that worth?  I’m happy to take suggestions here.  He was able to grab a later flight that took him to Mackay, then a bus ride to Airlie and arrived around 8pm.  All good!The breeze today looks great, a building 10-15 knot southerly.  Just about to head on down and trick up the boat and then do some sailing.  Work has interrupted the scene a wee bit but we are now back on top.I hope you are all well and naturally, we are a all very home sick and wishing you were here.Duppy

What is a regatta without an award?  On Elixir, we have our own hotly contested award that celebrates courage, commitment and team spirit.  It’s called the VB Tallie Award.  VB is a beer, a Victorian beer and as beers go, well, we Queenslanders find it pretty hard to stomach.  A tallie is a large bottle of the brew.  So a VB tallie is larger dose.  You need special character to man up to a VB tallie - so when searching around for a fitting award…actually, we were at the bottlo provisioning with good beer and rum when Fred suggested we get some (I think to show us how tough he is).  So a bottle was purchased and the legend was created. 

Each day points are awarded to crew members who show extra ordinary selfishness, who take one for the team or just do something so stupid that they deserve to be punished by having to drink the stuff.

Needless to say, our Fred took out the inaugural award last year - perhaps helped by the fact he drank it on the second night but also largely due to his perfect calling of lifts, knocks and general race strategy - just ask him.

Just quietly, he is probably on the inside running to back up this year - but we will have to wait and see.

Boats.

The sports boats for this year’s regatta are pretty hot.  There are 3 Elliott 780’s again this year which is great for us.  It is always nice to have a same type boat to peg yourself against.  Out of these three, Elixir is the porky one being the heaviest by over 100 kg.  There are also 7 winged boats entered with 2 Stealth 8’s and one Stealth 7, a Bethwaite 79′er and 2 of its derivatives the Sports 8’s and I can’t remember the other one.  In addition, there is one Stealth 7.8 (2.5 m wide and wingless), a Thompson 8, an Elliott 7 and a couple of Melges 24’s.  For the first time, we are racing under a measurement based rating system called SMS (sportsboat measuring system).  It should be really good.

Drama already.  One key crew member (there are only 5 of us so everyone is key - but it makes them feel so much more important) has flagged an issue with an old injury.  The shoulder is somewhat wreaked and there are rumours that last minute physio’s are only going to be able write a note indicating that said crew member will need to be excused from kite sheet work.  This is an early blow to an otherwise faultless preparation.  Pressure will be on to watch just which hand is used to drink his beer with but maybe the note from the physio will explain that lifting a beer to one’s mouth is totally different to pulling in a kite sheet?

Anyway, here are a couple more shots of Elixir.

What a stunning day on the bay!  Chuckles, you would have loved it.

 We ducked out with the full ABRW racing crew for a bit of blast and some circle work.  It also happened to be the start of the RQ to Kepple Island Yacht Race so we headed out to join in the spectacle.  But we were a bit late.  BOM had issued a strong wind warning and so most people stayed at home.  Missed out on a near perfect winter’s day on the bay.  A pretty steady westerly with periods of 15 knots plus but mostly a quiet 10 or so knots.  Warm sun, one of the clearest days I have seen for years.  The Glass house mountains were clear and Mt.Cootha, Whites Hill, Mt.Cotton and the city all clear as.  Magic.

 Given we were a bit green and still believing in the strong wind warning, we popped the small black kite from the harbour and promply dropped it for the orange baby.  Sat on 8-10 knots with a few gybes to clear Hanlon and Lockyer lights.  The yacht race start was out east of Green Island and we heard over the vhf that they had started.  We kept the kite and shied up a bit on a course that would have us converge with the fleet as they headed north.  It looked great and we settled in.  Stuff all breeze really and just the ride where if only there was another 5 knots, Elixir would have picked up her skirts and smoked.  As it was in the odd squirt we bettered 10 and happily sat on 8.5.

 The dropping pressure meant that the bigger boats got away from us but we were pacing the Farr 40’s and came down onto their line (half of them were 2 sail reaching and the rest had flat kites on).  By this stage we were nearly east of Mud Island so we dropped the kite and started to do some upwind work.  Playing around with settings as we settled in the rigging.  As a result, we ended up doing a good number of tacks, kite hoists, gybes and drops.

 In the best pressure of the day we were kite up and just beginning to blast when the bottom came up under us and doing over 10 knots in shoaling water caused us to try to go too high.  Rudder gracefully sucked in air and we spun around.  She came up straight away and we were back in control but the puff had left us and we were left drooling over the next puff that never came.

Final beat back to harbour was the best pressure of the day and it would have been superb to pop a kite and bolt.

Foxy was very disappointed that we did not just keep on going with the Kepple fleet but Fred had a house full of family to entertain.

Boat went beautifully, we tried a heap of settings with the rig and have a couple of parameters to play with.  That alloy stick is soft and whippy but is held up really well.  We could do with someone else to play with to check on speed and height but it felt good.

Elixir is pulled down and and tied up.  Furcoat took her back to his place and that is where he and I will head out from Tuesday week.  I have the rudder and stock to do a bit of fairing on otherwise, she is fully tricked.

It was the first time on the boat for a long time for Foxy, RH and me and crew work came together well.  Next sail will be on the Thursday before Race 1 in just under 2 weeks time.  We will see if the Kaito boys want to have a bit of a play with us to check our numbers.

Cherio

 Duppy