As the OPS fleet headed out to the start line near Shark Island on Saturday 7th February, there was a very light nor’easter ghosting around the harbour. A good fleet of 26 was made up of regular Ocean Pointscore sailors and a few “locals” from Newcastle. Anthony Paterson’s Tow Truck, Phil Arnall’s Anger Management and Paul & Tim Gleeson’s Summer Salt were looking forward to this trip, ending up at their home port whilst the bulk of the fleet would have to head back to Sydney that night or the following day.
As the breeze flicked around at less than 8 knots, PRO John Hurley made the decision to take the fleet offshore to start. At 10.19, the AP came down and the start sequence commenced at 10.20. There was so much smoke from bushfires even though we (onboard Occasional Coarse Language) were just about a mile offshore, it was hard to define the land and there were very odd smoke formations in the sky.
As the gun went most of the fleet was at the boat end. Tow Truck appeared to have a clear flyer at the pin end, but was called back as it was on course side. Interestingly the fleet split into an inshore group and an offshore group, and it was going to be very hard to tell who had decided on the right tactic until we saw some crossings.
Vanguard led the inshore fleet with Broomstick following looking like they were driving well up the Northern beaches. Offshore, ASM Shockwave 5 powered away from the three Cooksons and Into the Mystic on port tack. We should have been enjoying that port tack as we smoothly rose over the 1 meter swell, if we had known what lay ahead!
By midday the northerly had picked up to about 16 knots and had started to clock into the east. Pla Loma had joined the offshore fleet, giving an indication that the right hand side of the course seemed to be better. The Port tack out to sea had now become slightly uncomfortable as the wind kicked up a short wind chop but this was nothing compared to nasty seaway we encountered later. It was very difficult to tell who was leading, as ASM Shockwave 5 had disappeared into the smoke haze and we had lost sight of the Vanguard on the beach.
With the whole fleet powering to windward, the breeze continued to strengthen and looked set in at about 20 knots by 1300. We saw the first of many dolphin pods and wished we were slicing as nicely through the nasty choppy seas as they were. Now every tack out to sea was a chore and the guys on the rail were seriously looking damp. We started to see some reefs going into mains and positions really started to alter in the fleet as inshore boats headed out to sea and the offshore boats stayed longer on starboard to avoid that awful pounding on port.
By the sked at 16.30, it was clear that this was going to be a long and challenging day. Under Redhead Point, we made what we hoped was to be our final tack out to sea, into the wet and uncomfortable seaway. We had a tot of peach schnapps all round, and the crew on the rail came back to life as the alcohol slowly warmed their insides. We went over one wave which looked like a solid vertical wall of water, and simply plummeted airborne off the back of it. There was an almightily slam as the hull hit the water, falling from about 4 metres as the mast shivered, we stopped…and then picked up speed again, all seemed well incredibly.
By around 7pm, we started to see 23-25 knots and we were thinking about following the lead of the Sydney 38s and popping in a reef. However, there was no sustained 25 knots so we hung on…just as well. As the sun set, so too did the breeze. We went from 25 knots to 5 knots in the sloppy wind chop and the call was to go back to the medium headsail from the #4. Luckily the tot of schnapps had warmed everyone up enough and a super quick sail change was performed. Within minutes of the sun dropping below the horizon, the breeze came back but only at about 16-18 knots and we powered on.
At one stage we were worried for MRZ who were reported as aground – surely we couldn’t have a ship wreck on a coastal race, despite the nasty conditions. However, they managed to get safely off their sand bank and duly arrived at the yacht club to tell their story.
Morale was low as we approached our rounding mark for the entrance to Newcastle harbour, as there were 9 hungry and thirsty crew just wanting desperately to be ashore. However, a superhuman effort saw an attempt at a kite set up the harbour to the finish, but this was cut short by a rapidly approaching headland and the infamous tug and tow bearing down on us. We weathered the channel to the finish and not without considerable relief, doused the sails and moored in the marina.
The superb welcome of the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club and the wonderful steak almost made the challenging 10 hours worthwhile, but better than that was the beautiful sail home we had on Sunday!
Andrew Short Marine Shockwave 5 won the line honours battle, followed by Dick Cawse’s Vanguard some forty minutes later. The last yacht home was Phil Arnall’s Anger Management finishing at 23:41:00. Five yachts failed to finish by the midnight curfew.
Final Results for the race are:
IRC Division
- Andrew Short Marine Shockwave 5 (Andrew Short)
- Vanguard (Richard Cawse)
- About Time (Julian Farren-Price)
PHS Division
- Andrew Short Marine Shockwave 5 (Andrew Short)
- Vanguard (Richard Cawse)
- Pretty Fly II (Colin Woods)
2008-2009 Ocean Pointscore – Provisional Pointscore (after 7 races with one drop having been applied) is as follows:
IRC Division
- About Time (Julian Farren-Price) 13 points
- Vanguard (Richard Cawse) 21 points
- Next (Richard Holstein) 30 points
PHS Division
- Next (Richard Holstein) 24 points
- Vanguard (Richard Cawse) 29.5 points
- Love Byte (Anthony and Alison Pickering) 35 points
– Sarah Goddard Jones (onboard OCL) and Jennifer Crooks
