Big Boat Race Report

Report from Jonathan Stone:

Six boats signalled their intention to race on a cool, sunny, cloudless afternoon.

The morning land-breeze - always a westerly - eased ahead of an expected sea-breeze; which never made a showing.

Five of us rigged and found our way to the start area; but on T&T we had to use our engine to avoid being late; as the breeze faded and faded.

But the gate start worked and we turned towards Point Piper looking for wind, inching eastwards. Graham’s new Farr 30 Calypso inched fastest, followed by T&T, Chenonceau, Liaison and Corinna, none of us doing more than half a knot.

As Calypso slid away, Chenonceau made a move, sliding over T&T into second place. It took well over half an hour for Calypso to complete the first leg of less than 1 nautical mile; as she headed out into the Harbour, to reach Taylor’s Bay the wind died entirely and Chenonceau was the only other boat to complete the leg.

In short - we cancelled at that point and headed for home, under power. T&T had an eventful time of it; as we prepared to throw a tow line to Corinna our crew lost his footing, caught by a sharp wake in the calmest conditions. He is fit and scrambled quickly back on board, and we implemented the tow in a seamanlike fashion.  For the record, he was wearing a life vest; but didn’t need even to inflate it. He was back in the cockpit without delay.

We all unrigged and sat on the deck in the afternoon sun. A lovely afternoon, but no good for sailing.

Order at cancellation:

1. Calypso
2. Chenonceau
3. Liaison
4. T&T
5. Corinna

We race again on August 6