Getting There: The Regatta got off to an inauspicious start, on Friday morning 27th Feb, the alarm clock was drowned out by the noise of heavy rain. Lynne’s an my hearts sank, even after dropping prizes at VYC Thursday night we still had a lot of bags to lug down the hill to Maeling, with no shelter at the bottom.
We had to keep going, getting things ready until Colin Hunter (C29 Spindrift II) arrived. The rain had stopped and given way to clear blue skies but we were running a half hour late. By the time we left the mooring in Gymea Bay we were almost on schedule but the next hour was spent frantically packing, interspersed with giving Colin pilotage instructions in the Port’s channels.
We were exactly on time making our departure at Bass & Flinders Point. Over at Jibbon we could see that Guy (E30 The Black Pearl) had sails hoisted ready to weigh. We broad reached across Bate Bay at 5 knots and based on that gave an optimistic 13.00 ETA at South Head but the wind was easing. At 10.00 exactly on time again we cross tacked C29 Ludachris (Chris and Jen) and C29 Dreamtime (Barry) coming out of Botany Bay. Well it was quite a sight, three Compass 29s and an Easterly 30, trading places as someone got a bit more wind or a bit less all averaging about 3 ½ knots until Guy (solo) in the Easterly got bored and popped his kite. He slowly cruised past the 29s and was first in. After twice extending our ETA with Marine Rescue, we finally put on the motor for the last half mile into the Heads.
Doug had briefed me on mooring availability so before long we were all sitting on the Vaucluse Yacht Club deck relaxing over a beer and getting ready for the evening.
The Annual CYG Dinner: It was a little bit confused, sharing VYC with the 5.5’s finshing off their championship presentations and a few of our people got confused and had a free feed off the 5.5’s, not a good look.
We settled down over drinks and hor’s d’oeuvres watching the sun set over the Harbour Bridge until it came time to cook our steaks. There were about 20 boats represented.
After dinner there was the Lucky Door Prize Draw for a $150 tin of Jotun Sea Guardian antifouling paint, duly won by Ian of C28 Secrets. We had the draw for the Register Prize – a $50 voucher on Whitworths. First out of the hat was D29 Nexqse of Hervey Bay, Second draw was D29 Windfall of Port Adelaide, Third was C29 Far’n’Away of Lake Macquarie, Fourth was C28 Dragonfly of Westernport Bay and lastly C29 Runymede of Pitwater. I will contact them one by one until we have a winner. The last prize was the Jim Brown Memorial Trophy for the longest voyage by a Compass yacht in the preceding year. We had two entries First Entry - C28 Felissity - Lockie, who sailed anti-clockwise, going straight from Melbourne to Stanley, then along Tassie's north coast (with a side trip to The Hunter Island group), through the Furneaux islands, with a couple of days at Flinders island, then back via Deal island and Refuge Cove. Second Entry – D29 Fairwind - Les who logged 1859Nm in a trip from Moreton Bay to Shoalwater Bay and Strong Tide Passage. Sadly Les has withdrawn his entry, feeling the prize should go to a true Compass, I spoke to Don Lees and tried to convince Les that the prize was his but he was adamant. The winner this year will be C28 Felissity - Lockie . But I could not announce it on the night.
The party went on until very late, with quiet talk, Colin and Peter stayed over in the clubhouse and the rest of us aboard various boats.
Race Day: We were treated to an early breakfast at VYC before meeting on the Start Line at 11 0’clock. Boats milling, sails going up, Doug had laid a lovely wide start line. Six minutes, went slowly down to the start horn and C28 Secrets bolted out of the gate followed by N28 Anna who had shaken up the Start Boat and C29 Maeling nearly together. Guy in E30 The Black Pearl was in the middle of the fleet, C29 Ludachris was doing well,
It was a tight work all the way to Manly as most of us were pushed across onto Dobroyd Point with another long tack to Quarantine then back across to Manly West YA marker. We had to sail well past it to lay a line on the Manly East marker. At this point we got a good look at the rest of the fleet as they bunched up on approach to Manly West with C29 Kalina and N28 Intrepid leading the group.
At Manly East Secrets was still well in the lead running goosewinged for Neilsen Park. C28 Anna had opened a wide lead on C29 Maeling. On Maeling as we neared Sow and Pigs we saw Secrets continue from Neilsen Park toward Shark Island and thought they had withdrawn for some reason. At Neilsen Park, C29 Kalina was hot on our heels as we gybed on the buoy for a reach across to Chowder Bay, we had opened our lead a little on Kalina. As we crossed to the Watson’s Bay finish line on a hard work, we could see the tailenders rounding Neilsen Park.
Anna finished well ahead and timed the first 3 boats across the line before handing the job to Maeling to finish the rest of the fleet. In order of finishing 1-N28 Anna, 2-C29 Maeling, 3-C29 Kalina, 4-C28 Secrets, 5-N28 Intrepid,6-E30 The Black Pearl, 7-C29 Reverie, 8-E30 Stargazer, 9-C29 Ludachris, 10-C29 Dreamtime
The Presentations: We had arranged 5.5 moorings for everyone and Colin ran a tender service bringing people ashore. Some people had a late lunch and Lynne provided nibblys to toast the winners. After a thanks to all the participants for their support. We started passing out the prizes
Line Honours to 49 year old Northerner 28 Anna (George & Alan) won the Beta Diesel $100 cheque
Compass 28 Handicap Secrets (Ian) won the Beta Diesel $150 cheque
Compass 29 Handicap Kalina ((Dave & Chris & Ian) won the Beta Diesel $150 cheque
Compass 28 Second on Handicap N28 Anna won the Beta Diesel $50 cheque
Compass 29 Second on Handicap Maeling ((Geoff, Roger & Colin) won the Beta Diesel $50 cheque
Easterly 30 Handicap The Black Pearl (Guy & Peter) won the special bottle of wine offered by “The Friday Group” who also supplied pens to all.
The Jim Brown Memorial Trophy for the Longest Voyage in a Compass Yacht in the previous year has gone to C28 Felissity – Lockie in Melbourne. Remember there is always the 2015-2016 year for your trip.
All participants were awarded two bottles of wine for their participation and sportsmanship.
The Raft up: We only had four boats go through the 16.30 bridge opening at the Spit and our usual place in Sugarloaf Bay was gone so we had to improvise. The raft was formed quickly with everyone having lines and fenders ready, to port. We spent the night sharing stories and food and the odd drink. It was a beautiful night and a great way to wind down. It was well time to relax. Faced with a coming Southerly Buster, the two boats heading for Port Hacking and Botany Bay slipped away for an 08.30 opening. Kalina was more leisurely and went for the 10.30 opening. Maeling, well we are still marooned in Sugarloaf, with little food or water but a lot of wine – PREPARATION is important!
Until next year, probably in February, when we hold our 15th Annual Compass Regatta (of the modern era) and a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Compass Yachts and the Northerner 28.
The Washup: We ran this year’s event at a small loss, mostly due to the loss of sponsorship for the main prizes, which we did ourselves. I am indebted to Dave (C28 Ginsyl) for his regular $5 per month, the other who have made one-off donations and to Tish Ennis for her generous contribution. Above all I must give our thanks to Tinker and Doug of Vaucluse Yacht Club for their support and keeping unorganised amateur yachting alive with new members coming into the Compass yacht Group each year.
The trip home: After the raftup Lynne and I spent a restful day at anchor in Sugarloaf until I heard the forecast Southerly buster. I moved into a clear area on the southern side under the hill and proceeded with a quiet day, until the bay started to empty and two public moorings came available. Choosing a big block of concrete over the 27lb plough, we moved. Half an hour later the Southerly hit, strong squirts of wind from each side of the Sugarloaf, the rain. In a short time I had a bucketful for Lynne’s shower and then got a bar of soap and cleaned up in the rain.
We took the 2.15 bridge on Monday and stopped off for wine and cheese at a friends on Clontarf Beach before mooring for the night on a public mooring on the Spit side. It was a bit rolly with the tide holding us beam on to the swell. Next morning, while Lynne slept, I slipped the mooring and ghosted out on the tide, it took almost an hour to Middle Head and two hours to Rose Bay for lunch. The reach upstream was a pleasant ride to the Lane Cove River under #2 jib only. We watered ship and met up with our many friends on Woodford before on Thursday afternoon sailing back down to Vaucluse Bay tacking hard on the wind with just the #2 and ebb tide until Bradleys Head when we could free up. We met up with Doug at VYC to discuss the Regatta from the Club’s perspective, they were very pleased it went so well.
Friday morning after a week away we woke to a nor-wester, it took us an our to get the boat and ourselves ready and we took off for the Heads. It was a fairly easy sail at first on a very broad reach, there was a lull as I got in too close to Bondi Head. Then the wind backed and the reach gradually came onto the wind by Maroubra Head with the wind freshening. I double reefed the main but she was still being over powered so I changed down to the #3. It all sounds easy, but I left the sheet winch handle in and could only get the sail half down. The xyz@! halyard had taken 3 turns around the handle! Busted toe, a couple of curses and hey-presto, we’re sailing, nicely balanced and still averaging 6 knots.
Botany Bay was passed quickly and rounding Cape Baily, now hard on the wind, Wattamolla was the best I could lay in the steady south-wester. Abeam Jibbon I tacked in towards Wanda and Merries Reef. It took a half hour, approaching the breaking seas on the reef, On the surface there seemed little swell but as the water shoaled, it really stood up. I watched my position on the GPS and the depth sounder and in 20mt depth, tacked for Jibbon. Sadly I didn’t lay it and it took two more tacks to hook onto a mooring there, by the stern to dodge the sun and get a breeze through the boat.
An hour and a half after the tide turned we came up river on the strong current with out incident to collect ourselves in Dark Bay before going ashore Saturday. It has been a good holiday.
Geoff Raebel – Maeling