6:48 AM Mon 15 Feb 2010 GMT
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'Next Factor tussling with bigger rivals Marten 49 Optimus Prime and Farr 49 Knee Deep Wines - 2009 Geographe Bay Regatta'
Bernie Kaaks
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Marten 49 Optimus Prime has taken the Line Honours, IRC and YAH Triple Crown during the 110nm Iberia race, a feeder event for Western Australia's largest annual regatta - Geographe Bay Race Week.
The event was scheduled for a 9:30am start on Saturday 13th February, and with the forecast moderate sea breeze and clear skies, an enjoyable race was sure to ensue. Optimus Prime helmsman Daniel Taylor gives us his take on the inaugural race.
Out of Phase
At the proposed start time the easterly and the southerly started to dual, unsettling the wind with 30-40 degree shifts and windless holes everywhere. Race management postponed (they must have been watching the Americas Cup!) and waited until the wind had settled down before laying the pin and day buoy and sending us on our way. After 20 minutes, the easterly, whilst still quite patchy, had taken a hold of the start area and we were set for a start. Our unfavourable position at the boat end combined with a lack of wind had us starting by ourselves on the middle of the line, which didn't seem so bad after a quick glance at the pin end carnage and a 30 degree lift we hooked into shortly after the start.
The Next Factor (TNF), an IRC optimised Farr 40, continued their hot form and had the pick of the starts, hitting the pin and tacking across to port, clearing the cluster of boats and eventually us, to lead the fleet to the top mark. We recovered well and once we were up to speed, crossed in front of our arch nemesis and recently relaunched Charlotte, another Marten 49, to take second spot trailing TNF by 100 metres halfway to the day buoy.
Quicker than a DoG, we slipped down the leader board as every tack we made was out of phase with the shifty breeze, one of the more frustrating moments in sailing. TNF was first to turn at the day buoy, just over a minute clear of the Runnalls 40 Jaffa, who stayed left and caught a nice lift along the beach, closely followed by Charlotte, then ourselves a further 30 seconds behind.
The Chase
The second leg, out to the Cockburn Sound channel entrance saw a changing of the guard as the easterly relinquished its grip to the southerly. We managed to hold our A1 longer than the rest of the fleet as we slipped to leeward of Jaffa and gained on Charlotte. However, the southerly breeze filled in from the west and the two leading yachts were able to pull away, around 4 minutes in front of us at the turn. The chase was on.
We weren't quite close hauled down the channel, so it was difficult to make any gains on Charlotte, and it was never a good sign to be behind a Farr 40 this deep into the race! Once we started the upwind leg across to Challenger Passage, we were finally able to roll past TNF and set our sights on Charlotte, making gains at every turn slowly but surely. Once out of the passage, with flat water and the wind at 14 knots, expecting to build, we tack-changed to the Heavy jib along Garden Island. Charlotte, around half a mile further to sea followed suit shortly after. A few of the crew asked me if I needed a break, my reply was 'not until we're in front!'
Over the next couple of hours, we were able to close the half mile separation down to about 200 metres whilst still holding our noses neck and neck. The seaway started to build as we passed Golden Bay, and I decided to bear down a couple of degree's as each wave we hit head-on was taking a good slice of speed away from us. The separation grew again as we poked our nose further south before the seaway flattened off slightly under the lee of Halls Head. It was touch and go as to who was leading this one with Charlotte sitting on our hip to windward once again on the approach to Mandurah.
Flat is Fast
Charlotte tacked off earlier than us to clear the reefs off Point Robert. We had a track to get us between the reefs, but decided to follow our competition as we had a slight speed advantage. Plus we didn't want to get too far apart, a move that has cost us in the past. The call from the nav was that we could clear the reefs, but Charlotte was still heading offshore, now about 1 mile further out. We decided to stay closer to shore and make use of the flatter conditions.
As we closed in on the beach at Falcon we headed back to sea to clear the Dawesville Cut. I was optimistic on our position against Charlotte as I had seen them bouncing off waves during the couple of times I peered over my shoulder, which should have slowed them a bit. On the trip out I could see them out the back of the main, which is always a good sign, and called out 'Trev, your turn, now don't stuff it up!' as we crossed around half a mile in front of Charlotte.
On the approach to Cape Bouvard, it was Charlotte this time to take the inside track as the roles were reversed from earlier along Garden Island. This time they tried to close up on our line, but were falling back. They then changed plans and beared away to head along the shore line as continued to follow along the Bouvard reef line. Fortunately we still had the better combination of pace and height, pulling the lead out to a mile and stretching away.
Bungers or Bust
Sitting above the rhumbline it was decided to crack off a couple of degrees down to the Bunbury channel marker bearing as we picked up a knot of pace. Charlotte was now heading higher to avoid and early tack, and between our gain in speed and their loss, we shot off further south to what could be considered an unassailable lead as we watched one of the most magnificent sunsets you're likely to see. But if the approach to Bunbury had taught us anything in the past, it's that anything can happen and it's not over til the fat lady starts chirping!
Fortunately we were only 11 miles out when the expected SE'ly change started happening, and even then the breeze held when it got to 185 at 14 knots as we swapped out to the Medium Jib. Knowing that Koombana Bay has a habit of turning into a vacuum during the transition, and given the wind was now poking below 10, we headed offshore again and decided to approach the channel from the west as the breeze still held south and slightly heavier. After a quick dodge between a couple of wheat ships we rounded the Bunbury outer channel markers and made haste for Busselton, which was slightly above close hauled.
Into the Unknown
This was the first time we had raced to Busselton, so the stretch of water between Bunbury and the finish line was foreign for most of us. In the back of our mind was the story of C & C 115 Crews Control in last year's Silo's to Jetty race and how they managed to sail around the whole fleet that became becalmed on the shores of Peppermint Beach. On the other hand, we didn't want to give Charlotte the inside line if the breeze was to clock further east as predicted. The game was still open for the taking.
The breeze clocked early enough that we were able to stay along the rhumbline. We also still had a visual of Charlotte who was now 20 minutes behind. The breeze continued to swing around to 145-150. Without a hard point for the Genoa Staysail, which we've previously only hoisted with the Jib Top, we were a bit tentative on putting it up. After Frankensteining some systems, we managed to get her working and picked up about .3 of a knot as well as a bit more blanced setup. With the wind continuing to drop and now being consistently under 10 knots, we swapped back down to our Light jib.
...And Back
With around 6nm to go, the wind again had a change of heart as she turned back to the south. The next problem was finding the finish line, between 2 strobe lights, and if last year's Geographe Bay Race Week night race was any indication we probably won't see it until we're on top of them! Closing in on the final mile, one of the crew finally got a visual on the finish, slightly to windward of us. On our final tack for the finish we got a nice pressure lift to carry us over the line for the gun, or horn, rather, which sounded like it was going through puberty.
Charlotte made their way across the finish 25 minutes astern, a great showing since the boat was only put in the water a few days earlier with only one tune up session. Farr 49 Knee Deep, formerly Yendys, a Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, were 1 hour, 8 minutes further back to round out the podium. The next group, which consisted of TNF, Farr 40 OD Southern Star, Bakewell-White 36 Al Fresco and Jaffa were another hour behind which was more than enough to give us the triple of Line, IRC and YAH honours.
Not only were we able to take the triple, but more importantly, it brought us right back into contention for the Siska Trophy, WA's Offshore Championship. TNF is still leading, now by the narrowest of margins, 8 points clear and with Al Fresco slipping to 57 points behind us it looks to be a 2 horse race over the final 3 Siska races. Next up, we look forward to a tough week of racing and festivities at the Geographe Bay Race Week from 19th - 26th February. Check out
www.gbyc.com.au
all the event info and
www.freodoctor.com.au
for all WA sailing news including coverage of race week.
by Daniel Taylor
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Manly, QLD
