Race 1

The Seabreeze weather rollercoaster started early Monday morning and the banter between the lads last week was pretty intense.. The forecast on Saturday was for breeze.. Plenty of it..!! GAME ON..!!

Saturday morning rolled around and after a quick call to the “bayside bogans” we decided to pack our 2nd, 3rd and 4th rigs.. Oh it was going to be a good day.!! Hell, 15-20kts on the bay is always a good day.!!

We arrived at the club to a steady 18-20kts.. Easiest rig selection so far this season.. We all threw in 3rd and started to get excited..!! The four 12?s were joined this week by two Cherubs and didn’t they make their presence felt.. It was great to have more 12ft boats on the rigging lawn as we totally out-classed the 18?s both on and off the water..!!

After a quick briefing, explaining a sausage course for the 18 foot skiff sailors, we got changed and hit the water..!! Well everybody except John and I on the Wingman……. With the breeze picking up, we decided to throw on our smaller rudder blade AKA the secret weapon.. Unfortunately since we got the new rudder pin a few weeks ago, we were only able to get the pin down halfway and it got stuck in there pretty tight.. We were stuffed.. The other skiffs had all left the beach and blasting out to the startline and we were stuck with a rudder box that didn’t fit.. We ended up smacking it off with “The persuader” resulting in a pretty messed up rudder box but a perfectly straight pin.. We threw the big fixed blade on and set off to join the others.. We watched them start as we belted out of the leads.. The race was on.. Here’s hoping we could get to the start before the cut off..!!

We crossed the line late but before the 18?s had started so we knew we were ok… Our only option was to go the opposite way to the other boys if we were to have any hope of catching up and actually racing.. We went right which was actually the logical option anyway in a Southerly with an outgoing tide.. We had flatter water and were smokin.!! We made massive gains on the fleet and rounded just behind the cherubs.. Squiddy was in front of them and Squid in front of Ghetto.. Tank Girl had dominated the first beat and held a commanding lead..

The run was fast and furious from the moment we entered the bear away.. The Wingman had a little sniff and both John and I jumped back and held our breath as the bow popped back out and politely asked is to throw up the new purple kite.. We did just that and sent her hard.. The “flatish” water at the top mark helped us reach warp speed in a flash.. We had the cherubs in our sights but to be honest, they were hammering along very quickly..!! We only made small speed gains on them, but were a mile lower so gybed well inside them.. We looked ahead and Terry was having a sensational ride but being towed down towards the airport.. Miles below the bottom mark.. We went for the early drop and two sailed, cutting the corner on Squid and again making a lovely gain on the fleet.. Richard was a fair way up the beat and if Tank girl were tacking for the lay, Benny needs to get glasses..!! We rounded the bottom mark and had our sights locked on the Slippery Squid.. Terry was in a raging high mode so John and I decided we’d keep the pedal down and low groove the hell out of them.. Tankers, Ghetto and Squid all tacked before the lay line.. John and I were confused as the water was flatter and we were just going faster the further right we went.. I later heard it was due to their depth concerns.. Meow..!!

We hit the corner and were on the lay.. We watched Tank girl hoist and send, Ghetto do their trademark splash tack at the top and Squidgee, helpless against the chop, watched as The Wingman did a dump and burn fly by.. The boys on Ghetto decided one capsize wasn’t enough and put it in again just before the top mark.. We rounded Ghetto and the top mark with a gorgeous bear away and once again up went the purple kite.. The boat was going like a cut snake and John and I were holding each other tighter than a teenage couple at a school dance.. We got to the wing mark and it was time to gybe.. A quick look over my shoulder would have been a good idea as halfway through our gybe we noticed a very fast 18ft skiff pole narrowly miss my head.. Sorry boys, thanks again for missing us..!! We regathered our nerves and got the boat back up to full pace.. The waves had started getting pretty gnarly down at the bottom of the course and I dare say this was my favourite ride of the day.. John disagrees because he got air sick..!!

Around the bottom and out to the crap pot lay.. The Tank Girls again tacked early.. They still rounded the top ahead but we were flying around the course like a slot car.. We rounded the top mark and saw Tankers having kite problems.. We immediately thought we had a shot at winning this thing..!! As we bounced our way downhill, we tried to find the finish line lay.. We decided an early gybe was better than a late one with the breeze now gusting an easy 25kts.. We gybed and sent her.. We could see Benny looking back at us as he desperately tried to two sail slowly towards the finish line.. We were foot to the floor and just hoping there was enough water between Tank girl and the finish for us to snatch a cheeky bullet.. Alas we were slightly too high for the finish line so one last gybe was needed to cross.. Benny got the gun and we went through our gybe.. It was ugly.. So ugly we were now going to miss the finish line completely..!! We ditched the kite and crossed the line with white sails only.

Squid finished next with Ghetto in 4th.. The cherubs bailed early as one broke a mast.. Did I mention it was hairy out there..?? It was great to have the cherubs racing with us, and I hope they come along again next week..!!

Benny will do a race two report as John and I went home after the first race due to “injury”..

We’re told it was windier and lumpier.. Can’t wait to see the footage..!!!

Second race report, as Skinny went home like a homo.. [Ben Guymer]

After the first race we were pretty stuffed.  Our bodies were saying ‘go home’, a one hour long race in 25 knots is enough.  A brief conference concluded ‘we don’t work all week to go home early fuck that’.  Quick run around past Terry and Richo and all agreed twice around the top mark was a good compromise.  Terry requested a head start and we accidentally let him have it, Ghetto gybed to get back to the start and put it in the piss..  We two sail reached back to the line at about 40 knots and I lifted my butt over Bruce’s outboard as we rounded up to try and catch Squiddy.  Terry was having a moment and we blasted out from under him.. but he found a higher groove and stuck with us.. Arno’s weight must have been packing some power.  Pretty quickly we got to the port tack layline and had to tack.. Squid had held us out and we ducked them, as we had slowed to approximately 35 knots after the tack.  Craig and I figured it was time to sort this shit out and put the hammer down.  Turns out Tank girl can be quite the slapper given enough wind.  More cunno, more vang (or was that less vang?)  we were flat out planing upwind like never before.

Top mark… by now our tacks were reasonable but my bear away technique was getting sluggish.  Run square to hoist as the kite halyard is up to tricks again.  Bam the kite fills, we’re both out on trap and I look back to check for Squiddy.  Pretty sure they’re one wiring… Tank girl lit her afterburners, back to the bottom mark.  We capsized at the wing mark after suffering ‘Failure to gybe’ so we just two sailed to the leeward mark, didn’t matter anyway as we were still doing about 40 knots.. The next time round was a similar affair.  Boat kept going fast which was lucky, because we were fading!  Square run to the finish, no kite, because we could.

After the finish I suffered some overconfidence and asked newbie Justin if he wanted a ride home.  25 knots two sail ride home.. what a way to set foot in a 12.  We both got more than we bargained for and after about a dozen unique capsizes (you know how it goes) I worked out a procedure to get home (fast) merely seconds before we died of exhaustion.

Intentionally capsized at ramp.  Crawled to the grass, and a complimentary beer from Justin.

[Terry]

Our FTG was good zero to report, but our FNTM (failure not to mine) was 100%. I have not mine so hard in years. A two sail around the top mark in the first race can’t remember which time, but there was 2 foot of mud up the pole! Arno went by me like a flash and around the forestay he went. then I wrapped my left arm in the back foot strap, stood on the back of the centre case and hang on while it drove into the bottom of the bay. In the words of Arno “ How did you like that Ekka ride”. The 18ft follow us got too scared and tried to grannie but they failed that to. He did it again on the two sail reach on the way home (death angle 5 ) through the leads. Bye the end of the day Arno could not pull the skin off a rice pud. But I think he’ll be back.

What a day to sail 12 foot skiffs. WOOT WOOT.

Ghetto Sled at home on the speedway..!!

With the Americas Cup being the hot topic at the moment, it was kind of exciting knowing that the numbers would be down on the weekend.. We knew there would only be the two 12?s on the race course and the match race smack talk started early.. The hype around the race was epic with both skippers still blurting verbal diarrhoea at one another as late as on the drive down to the club.. It was a last ditch attempt to get in to each other’s head.. It was a trophy race after all.. The coveted Patrons trophy was on offer, and neither skiff wanted the other crew to hold it high on presso night.. On board The Mighty Wingman (yep, that’s right.. She’s back..) we knew we had an advantage with Ghetto Sled being the scratch boat and the Patrons trophy being awarded to the handicap winner..

The breeze was light to moderate and sat on around 12kts.. Did somebody say delightful 2nd rig..?? Both boats tried to rig on top of each other still trying to gain the psychological advantage.. Nothing could split these two teams..

We both hit the water and sailed out together.. Both skiffs had a bit of time up their sleeves and wanted to refine a few boat handling manoeuvres so did a quick hot lap around the top mark..

We got in to the start sequence with the course set parallel to Green Island.. Then it happened, the wind swung East..!! It became apparent that port tack was the only option.. Both skiffs started at the pin end on port and hit the line with pace.. Unfortunately for The Wingman some “Jack”ass on an 18 with a main sail as big as a 35ft yacht sailed up on us and started soiling our breeze.. With nowhere to go (we were pretty much laying the top mark) we had to suck it and see.. The boys and Ghetto seemed to have the jump on us early, but the Wingman team were not about to throw in the towel that’s for sure.!! We rounded the mark about 20secs behind.. We were still in the hunt..!! Up went the kite and we got ready for the tight reach down to the gate.. Unfortunately Hughie had other ideas and we lost pressure.. We watched Ghetto and the 18?s sail on down to the start boat gate and do two quick gybes and smoke down towards the bottom mark.. We had nothing.. We were pointing 30 degrees higher and going slower.. We gybed down to the gate and and as we got there the pressure came back.. Perfect if you wanted to run low, but now we had to try and climb up to the bottom mark..!! We dropped the kite and two sailed up to the bottom.. Meanwhile Ghetto had a commanding lead and was already heading uphill..!! We kept our heads and just started sailing fun mode.. Our two sail gybe around the bottom mark was spot on and we had a pretty good line back up to the top mark.. Ghetto held their lead and around the top they were still playing with the 18?s..!! The Wingman was half a leg behind and heads were starting to drop.. Not even B-Mad’s handicap could help us from here..!!

We rounded the top mark and squeezed high to lay the gate.. Ghetto had rounded the bottom mark already and probably had a 2-3min lead..!! The Wingman was getting whooped..!! We rounded the bottom mark for the final time and looked up the course at Ghetto.. They were headed for Lota creek.. What the..?? We were laying the top mark and gaining.. What breeze were Ghetto in..?? And WHY..?? Were they heading home..?? John jokingly said to me.. Look at their angle.. Spiesy would say “we’re still in it here..!!” The boys on Ghetto tacked and headed back towards the race track.. John was right.. We were back in the game..!! Who would have thought..!! We rounded under a minute behind them and it was a battle as to who could sail higher and lay the finish line..!! Ghetto had a bit on and got smacked below the lay.. They had to drop the kite and two sail.. Here we go.!! The Wingman was coming home strong..!! Benny on the bow of Ghetto did a great job on the pressure leeward drop and Ghetto were able to sneak home for line honours.. The race against the clock started.. The Wingman squeezed and squeezed and got through the finish line with the kite.. Was it enough to get home for the handicap win..?? We didn’t know at the time, and we still don’t know now.. Well done to the Ghetto boys for the bullet and feel free to sail to Lota anytime you want.

Race two was going to be fun, with such a close finish to race one, it was still anyone’s game..!!

The course wasn’t changed which surprised a few of us so again it was a port hand start to see who could lay the top mark best.. With the 18?s again causing a few issues (This time it was some crazy skinny dude with what looks like dacron sails..!!) The Wingman had to low groove it and they had Ghetto flying high to avoid the nasty air.. Who had the best VMG..?? Ghetto, and they rounded the top mark ahead.. It was close but not close enough.. Ghetto two sailed up a bit higher so they could lay the gate.. We cut the corner to try and make a gain but alas we just went a bit higher and slower and by the gate the gap hadn’t really changed.. Around the bottom mark and Ghetto were leading, The Wingman came in on starboard and with some pretty half-hearted Hollywood inspired screams, we made them avoid us and followed them around the mark without really putting any pressure on them.. Ghetto were killing the high groove and going fast.. It was great to see the boys finding their straight line form from last year.. Changing gears seamlessly they extended on the one tack beat.. With no passing lanes or Ghetto showing any weakness The Wingman were left to watch and wait for Ghetto’s signature choke on the final top mark tack.. Luckily for Ghetto they made it through the boat and even though it wasn’t pretty, it was pretty effective and the rounded the top in first place.. We followed them around but knew unless they broke something we had nothing to throw at them..

All in all it was a cracking day out there, with magic sailing conditions with the QLD sun shining and 31 degree temps.. You wouldn’t give it up for anything..!!

Already I’ve started going over the boat for some midweek twerking.. Bring it on next week boys..!! The Wingman is back and ready to give this season a little rub n tickle.!!

Until next week, SEND IT DON’T BEND IT..!!

Skinnyman

Arrived at the club for what would be a great day for skiffing. I worked my way through around over the other boats in the yard to my place in the back corner and waited for the gun Young Bronson to arrive.

Told Bronson to look to the top mark where Richard and Ben got a great ride. He just smiled. Around the top a quick jibe up the kite and hang on. One of the quickest 1 string rides to date, a top gun flyby maverick and goose would be proud of pass the start boat. No sound from the young fella this time. Half way down and I still have not pulled on the main. Squid was skipping and leaping her way to the bottom mark. Around it and back to the top with no no no skinny boat in sight. a few more rides and the race  was done. Bronson first time in a 12ft skiff, his first win in a 12ft skiff, my first 4th rig in Squid a first for all. 

Later I heard the others had troubled on the ramp but there were more that one set of ramps out there.