Becalmed

Well, we have not yet rounded Tasman Island and we have been becalmed before entering the dreaded Derwent river.

For the second time this race we have the lightweight "Drifter" head sail up. This sail was made at the Kavanagh Balloons factory from balloon cloth and is a very light weight number 1 head sail for use in under 4 knots of true breeze.

It is slowly pulling us along at about 1 knot of boat speed when we get the occasional zephyr or breeze.

With some luck we will get a sea breeze start to fill in but we will be working against the out going tide once into Storm Bay and the Derwent. The tide is due to turn in the next 1.5 hours and the few boats in out division ahead of us will cop it on the nose helping to park them for longer as we catch up....well that is the plan if you can call it that.

Yesterday afternoons predicted front arrived and turned the nice calm and rolling sea under the 15 knot Northerly to white maelstrom of wind swept waves and over 30 knots of wind from the south east. We were ready but were expecting a slightly more moderate change and as such were caught with the wrong head sail on deck. As the change came in we dropped the spinnaker and hoisted the number 1 head sail for all of 10 minutes before it became obvious we were in for more wind.

As the wind built we changed down to the number 2 with a clockwork head sail peel. Unfortunately this was still not enough and with a rushed change into full wet weather gear and safety harnesses it was back onto the foredeck to peel to the number 3.

By now it was really blowing a gale and we were in large sea and getting pounded. While three of us worked on the foredeck, the rest of the crew were working to get two reefs into the main.
A solid 14 hours of hard on the nose sailing ensued with a change back to the number 2 and then number 1 earlier this morning before it glassed out on us.

Meanwhile the tension is high as we wait for this to all unfold. Cold beer, a steak and a hot shower await us in Hobart but it is painfully far away right now.

Mid Race

This may be my only mid race post so this is what is happening so far...

We are currently about 3 days into the race and are now screaming down the east coast of Tasmania. We have had every sort of condition so far from a fast afternoon of spinnaker runs after leaving Sydney Harbour to hard on the nose during and back to a fast 24 hours of spinnaker work.


A calm period before entering Bass Strait was followed by the most fantastic crossing of the Strait. We have switched spinnakers a few times now but have held a good 8 to 12 knots of boat speed for some 200 miles.

Currently we are well placed to win our division but it is still early days.

As I type this we are awaiting a change from the south east to head us. This will put an end to the fast trip south but the angle will work well for the final run to Tasman Island then into Storm Bay.

Yee Haaaa!

Sydney to Hobart race

Wow, this has really snuck up on me. It is Christmas day and I am about to walk out the door to head down to the CYC for the 2007 Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

By this time tomorrow we will be two and a half hours into the race. the start is at 1pm on Boxing Day so tonight we are having dinner as a team and staying on the yacht.

Dad and I will be part of the same team that sailed Namadgi, a 44 foot Bavaria to a PHS division win in the Sydney to Gold Coast race.

The weather is looking good for us at this time so fingers crossed for a good race this year.

Anyone interested can track the yachts on the website linked above.

Have a great Christmas and happy New Year - with some luck mine will be spent celebrating down at Constitution dock in Hobart!

Next adventures

So I am back from Japan and have even had some sleep. Pity it probably won't be enough to get me through the next month or two.

This weekend I have got what I am expecting to be a fantastic workshop with Jordan Frisbee & Tatiana Mollmann, two of the best West Coast Swing dancers from the USA.

Check out this video from one of their recent competition wins and you might have an idea of why I am looking forward to it.



Along with a bit of dancing I am also now locked in to do the Rolex Sydney to Hobart on Namadgi.

Over the coming weeks I have some training to do and race preparation. I am a late entry for the team but after doing the Sydney to Gold Coast race a few months back I am sure I can jump back into the team and contribute.

While I am looking forward to the actual race, the party and New Years celebrations in Hobart will be just that bit more fun as one of the race crew.

Aftershocks

With the last flights flown, the results published, the balloon cleaned and ready for shipping it was time to party.

The Awards party was fun as always with good food, beer and a lot of worn out but jolly pilots and crews regaling each other with tales of what if, if only and so close...

Results wise, the event was won by Takeo Mizukami from Japan, 2nd was David Bereford from the UK and 3rd was Nick Donner, USA.

I managed to slide into 10th palce and also took my Japan Grand Prix team from 15th to 7th. I was also ranked 5th on grand prix points for the event so I am pretty happy with that.

The real party was back at the Twin ring hotel in room 336, also known as the British Embassy. A combination of embassy rules and public decency prevent me from publishing photos so words will have to suffice.

Picture a small hotel room with anywhere from 20 to 40 people drinking, talking and generally making merry. This is the Embassy. It is an institution that is hosted by an unruly bunch of officials and scoring team members.

Huge amounts of beer, rum, gin and other poisons are consumed. It is an event tradition and at the Motegi event in particular quite messy at times with the party spilling out into the hall. If you are on the third floor anywhere near the embassy, don't expect to sleep.

This year they had a mirror ball wine bottle hanging from the ceiling that had to remain spinning at all times and an alarm clock that chimed the Muslim call to prayer at the push of a button - There was much searching for mecca done during the evening but alas I am not sure if anyone ever found the correct direction.

The high lite for me was loosing Yosh to an observers room where he slept while we drank. At some time he awoke and vanished. At nearly 2am I could not find him or my van and I presumed he had taken off to our house some 30 minutes drive away for his own bed.

While I knew I could just crash on a floor at the hotel, we needed a fast getaway in the morning and it was going to get complicated.

Just after we had commandeered a car and a suitably sober driver Yosh magically appeared having just done an emergency run to the nearest 7 Eleven with a bunch of observers who had the munchies.

We made it home soon after and had a good laugh about the mess we would have been in had I driven off in the other car.

This morning I was not feeling the best and I promise never to mix beer, sake, vodka, rum and some sweet schnapps sort of thing ever again.

Motegi is over.

As always the last day or so of a competition is total chaos combined with sleep deprivation.

Yesterday afternoon had two tasks, PDG and FIN. The PDG had a 200m radius scoring area around any selected goal.

The winds had everyone at altitude looking for speed to get to the goals. I chose a good launch site and good PDG goal but flew like an idiot and messed up both approaches ending up with 160m and about 200m. Nothing like the points I needed.

The final flight was this morning. Three markers were waiting for us at the briefing. The flight was a JDG, FON, FON. All three tasks had limited scoring areas with the final two FIN goals limited to 200m of the selected goal.

Again were were looking for speed and direction at about 3000 feet. On the way into the JDG there was a fair bit of traffic. I was the first to make an approach and ended up drifting past the target about 15m off to the east and at about 50 feet up. A particularly limp wristed throw saw me end up at 5.22m when it should have been much closer.

I then had the pleasure of watching balloon after balloon follow me in and get closer. I think I ended up in 14th place but luckily walked away with about 800 points.

The two fly on goals were the next challenge. I had picked my first one out in the valley further to the east and made the climb back to 2700 feet for a good track to it. Conditions were almost identical to yesterday in the valley with a good northerly breeze on the surface and lighter winds above that for a few hundred feet.

I lined up the intersection then flew straight down the road towards the target following Nick Donner. I watched Nick throw about 40cm and the pressure was on. It was going to be one of those mornings where the 200m scoring area was the least of the problems.

I kept a nice tight line into the goal and threw 53cm from 10 feet above ground level.

My last fly on was on the same line and after a short climb back to 1000 feet for some more speed and a kick to the left, I again followed nick down the road into the goal. This drop was 1.31m and Nick beat me again with less than 60cm.

I have heard some very good results for the last two tasks so it will be interesting to see how many points I can get.

I also know at least two people just above me in the top ten did really badly so we are sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for the final results to be posted. Fingers crossed I made it back into the top ten!

We have the awards and farewell party tonight then it is off to the airport to drop the balloon off then fly on home.

UPDATE: Final results are out. I finished in 10th place which means some cash which is always good fun and a slightly less dented ego than I had before.