A Winning combination

The Winter Series from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron has so far demonstrated how varied winter on Sydney Harbour can be, and also how differently One O Nine performs with different winds. From perfect, warm sunny days without a breath of wind to gusty, pouring rain, the past 4 weeks of racing have provided many challenges.

We have had as many as 8 and as few as 4 crew in the races to date, yet our performance has increased consistently....

Race 1 - No wind at all. The race was essentially a drift up one windward leg to the finish. At almost 20 tonnes the best we could manage there was 8th over the line (8th handicap).

Race 2 - Almost no wind. Slightly better than the week before, we raced a shortened SW course with just one downwind leg. Again, in the light conditions it was hard to get One O Nine moving, and 8th on both handicap and scratch was the result.

Race 3 - 10 to 15 knots SW, sunny and a fleet of thousands to watch the return of Jessica Watson. The course was again shortened to be able to have some chance of avoiding running into the vast spectator fleet. With a run down to the Eastern Channel, back up around the naval buoys, we finished under a full masthead spinnaker in a respectable 4th over the line. This gave us 3rd on handicap (which takes into account that the 3 boats ahead of us are much, much lighter and faster in light winds).

Race 4 - Pouring rain (pre race) and about 15 to 20 knots S/SE wind. This was the first full course that we have sailed for the series, and it was all hands on deck to get the most out of One O Nine, so sorry about the lack of photos! I will try harder in Race 5. With a small error in determining which course we were racing, we gradually gained on the race leaders over the initial 2 legs. There is no problem if you are not in the lead an unsure of the course - follow the leaders! But as you get to the front, other people expect you to know where you're going!! No... It wasn't that bad! Flying a 1.5oz spinnaker with a full main and self tacking headsail, One O Nine was able to over-power the smaller yachts that begin to struggle in heavier air. We crossed the finish in 2nd position, which provided a clear 1st on handicap.

Race 5 - Stay tuned..... or jump on board and find out how things go, first hand!

We're Back!

Welcome back to One O Nine's blog! Things have been quiet over summer, but as we are racing in the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Winter Series on the habour, time has come to once again share photos and reports of our progress.There are 11 races in the series, and Race 3 has just been completed last Saturday (15th May). For the first 2 races, wind conditions were really light - kind of like Hamilton Race Week last year. Still in each race we managed to come 8th (both over the line and on handicap).

Race 3 preceded the return of Jessica Watson, meaning a harbour full of spectator craft and well wishers. We had a very small crew of 4, but a great building SW wind for the race. After some initial errors (missed a great start, spinnaker hoisting issues....) we got our act together and with some good tactical decisions came home in a respectable 4th position over the line and 3rd on handicap! With wind strength from 15 to 20 knots, One O Nine was in her element, powering through swell and sailing well. Our new 'secret weapon' - a 195 square metre masthead asymmetric spinnaker was revealed on the final leg, taking us quickly to almost 10 knots as we crossed the finish line.

Images in this post are of the new spinnaker and also of the chaos that surrounded Jessica's return - we went out and participated in her escourt down the harbour following the race.

You can just see Jessica's boat in the middle of this one... the small pink blur in the middle.
It will all be ok if you don't look back!

Looking through the fleet.....

The end of a great week!

Well, following our lay day on Tuesday, the wind did not really do too many favours, but we did manage one of the most beautiful sails that anyone has experienced. With Frank's iPod supplying chilled out music, rum and coke in everyone's hands, gorgeous Whitsunday scenery and 190 (or so) spinnakers all full of air and flying back to Hamilton Island, life does not get much better!

We decided to drop out from our racing division in the light winds - we spent too long sailing alone as the smaller and lighter yachts sailed away from us. We have spent the last couple of days "match racing" with Pandora (another Hanse 540e, that is coincidentally berthed beside One O Nine at Bayview). With only 2 races, we are still tied for any trophy, so more races are being discussed for a later date in Sydney.

It is with a lot of regret that we have to leave soon, but the unanimous decision is that it was a great week, great friends, amazing scenery, fun sailing - we made the absolute best of every moment. Thanks so much to everyone who came along and participated - please make your bookings for next year... we will be back! And keep following the blog - there are more adventures in store!

For the crew/sailors - Frank has issued some retrospective fines - Michael P.... calling on the phone while we were starting, just to see if we would answer.... Alistair, you were let off for sleeping in on the last morning (just). Fines will be payable at a date to be announced at the Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay - to be advised by the fine master (Frank).

Lots of photos coming on this post... and a CD will be in the mail to the crew shortly with the rest!

Lay Day... Take it seriously!

More crew photos

Just a few more pictures from Sunday and Monday.

Today (Tuesday) has been a lay day with no sailing. That's not to say we have done nothing though! Robert drove an Audi in a competition - the winner gets the car! Alistair and Michael checked out Airlie Beach and returned with many prawns and some medicinal supplies. Richard and Scott went off fishing for dinner and returned successfully!

One O Nine had a clean and a couple of running repairs (just a tune up of the electronics), while most of the others took time out to have a good look/walk around Hamilton.

Our house (The Retreat) is an awesome place! It is housing 7 of the team with 3 heading back down the hill in the evening to stay onboard One O Nine. Dinners are always full of long discussions about the day, what to expect tomorrow and what we can do to change things. The forecast doesn't tell us great news for fast sailing, but sailing we will be - in an amazing part of Australia!

Day 2 and 3

Well, day 2 of racing brought no more wind to the Whitsundays, but we are surviving fairly well regardless. The second day was intended to be a race around some great islands to the south of Hamilton. The race was started (the gun was fired), but after 20 minutes not one yacht had been able to get enough forward momentum to counteract the tide (up to 3 metres here), so no-one actually crossed the starting line!

We sat about for 3 hours watching other divisions (Wild Oats 10 and others) sailing in reasonable winds to the east, but where we were there was none. The committee moved the start line to the north of the island where we had an afternoon sail up towards Molle Island and back via Long Island. The start was about as close as they come, and none of us still know how we managed to cross the line and not hit either the start boat to windward or the yacht about 4mm on the downwind side!

Monday brought us Race 3. Still with little wind, our strategy changed with the addition of 4 more sailors - bringing lots of ballast! We made all the right decisions, but will always struggle to keep up in these very light conditions. Our progress is good however - race 1 we came 13th, race 2, 12th and race 3, 11th. If the wind would start to blow, we may even be able to increase that performance.

Not to matter - this week is about fun and doing the best we can, and everyone is certainly doing both!

Hi everyone,
Welcome back! We have just finished the first day of race week at Hamilton Island. The week began last night with the opening of the new yacht club (in the pictures). The fleet contains about 195 yachts and we are racing in the IRC Passage Division 1. This is for fast cruising yachts, which we would be..... with some more wind!!

Today's race started offshore from the Hamilton Island Resort and headed south, around Linderman Isand and back up to Hamilton, finishing outside the new yacht club. With very little wind for most of the race, we were not overly competitive, but had a great day anyway with plenty of sun, great food and many laughs along the way. In the end we finished 12th (out of 13...). We are only a few minutes behind the next few boats, so as the wind builds during the week, we still hope to catch up a little.

Tomorrow is another race to the south of Hamilton, before the classic long race (70 miles around the islands) on Monday.