Newcastle-Hunter trailer yachts battle out HCW One Lap Dash

8:33 AM Thu 5 Nov 2009 GMT

'Time to Tack - Heaven Can Wait' Graham Walkerden

Well, the Newcastle Hunter Trailer Yacht Association's 2009 Heaven Can Wait One Lap Dash (6-7 hour race) is over for another year -- and once again we have cold, damp and wet memories. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, but it is an endurance event -- and with endurance events the most enjoyable part can be finishing! Deb and I were very pleased to have completed the course this year in some 6 hours and 45 minutes.

After all that time, we were only one and a half minutes in front of Atanos! Another mile to windward and they would have caught us for sure. Congratulations to everyone that braved the conditions.

The morning started with the usual check of sea breeze and the Newcastle radar. As forecast it was going to be ordinary to say the least.

It wasn't long before we were late to the briefing and got to look at all the other misguided sailors who also thought this was a good idea!!

Deb found Kate from Zorro at the briefing and started comparing adjectives used to describe their husbands, surprisingly most of them nasty!! I must say, Kate did look a little vulnerable in her Lightweight summer track pants and gym top (which was already wet)!

There was a good atmosphere and the wind was coming from the right direction to get Gunsmoke all the way around before the 6 pm cut-off. The start was very exciting with about 60 boats of all speed and size vying for position in the lead up.

We cleared the start after having the two biggest boats in the race, 45 feet each, pass us on each side. We tried to get the boat settled and bunker down for the long haul to the Southern end of the lake.

Gunsmoke was not happy. I had only finished replacing the rigging the day before and we were out of balance something terrible. Every time we tried to point she'd round up and wash off all speed until we bore away.

This continued all the way to Wangi, the whole time having a ding-dong battle with Spindrift and Penultimate.

The poor visibility made things feel worse than they were; after all it was only blowing about 20 or so knots, but it was raining and visibility was down to half a mile at times.

By the Western side of Pulbah, Atanos had disappeared into the distance and Penultimate and Spindrift were forcing me higher than I could go.something was wrong.

I looked over the rigging and was concerned about the leeward shrouds, they were flopping all over the place -- and I mean all over the place!

My eyeballs just about popped out of my head when I noticed the top shroud dangling in the water! Someone had to fix it before we tacked or our race was over.

So, after a quick game of 'scissors paper rock' Super Deb hopped down to leeward and reconnected the spare shackle (Deb's version of this incident is a little more dramatic).

At this time I also realised that the highfield lever had come undone, taking all the tension out of the rig! Not a bad find two and a half hours in.

Not surprisingly the boat felt a little better after these adjustments and we started to make ground on our competitors. Down past Sunshine the GPS came in handy as it was bucketing down and I couldn't see anything!

It must have been one last try to deter us because after this it started to ease a little and we could see the bottom mark! Atanos seemed to be a little closer too, the gap being down to around five minutes.

We changed sails and poled out for what was an easy run back to the top of Point Wollstonecraft in light to moderate breeze. On the other side of Pt Wollstonecraft, Spindrift was hanging in there and Atanos had sailed into a lovely big hole that had us back and level by the mark off Murrays Beach. Penultimate was gone and we assumed he had retired.

Both Atanos and Gunsmoke enjoyed a cuppa and a chat on the way up to Belmont by which time we had pulled away. The wind died off considerably by Speers point and I elected not to change sails as we had a relatively short run back to Toronto and a comfy lead over Atanos. This was when we saw Penultimate heading back down the lake not far behind X-Rated..What the!!

Anyway, 30 seconds after we round the Speers Point mark the wind starts to build again. Not to worry, we're almost home. By the time we get to Bolton Point it's blowing dogs off chains and we're bashing through the biggest waves I've seen on the lake and Atanos is about 400 metres behind us.

I can only see the lights of Toronto from Bolton point and we hit 7.3 knots on the GPS as we bear away around Bolton Point... yee ha!!

We make the last mark and tough out the last 500 metre work to the finish line, just holding out Atanos. What a great race!!

Graham & Debbie, Gunsmoke

by Graham Walkerden

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Newcastle-Hunter trailer yachts battle out HCW One Lap Dash

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