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Careel 18s Whip up a Storm at the Bay to Bay Trailable Yacht Race
Friday 1st May
Greg Unger had been crunching numbers in the week leading up to this event and they were passed on to Colin Verrall two days before race was due to begin. The handicaps had been calculated using the Lake Samsonvale Autumn Series and the C18 Nationals as the bench mark. While handicapping is a mystery to me, Greg had the matter in hand and sent me back the PBH (Personal Based Handicap?) numbers for the boats competing.
BUHAWI
0.59
Don and Lloyd Ray
THERAPY
0.57
David and Margaret Dowling
TIRRA 0.545
John and Lexi Woods went on another boat
IVANA
0.535
Stayed in the
shed
WYUNA
0.525
David Cook crewed with Paul Trotter
KIMBEE
0.515
Shane and Kay (Fay) Hall
MISS
JAZZ
0.505 No
show??
EL
NINO
0.5 No
Show??
RESTLESS
0.48
Paul and Daniel Dwyer
BLUE
FIN UNKNOWN No show??
The previous weekend I’d cleaned and packed the boat and on Friday morning Cookie came around with an esky full of cold beer and we were ready to go. The plan was a rendezvous at the Morayfield BP but in the excitement that idea went a little pear shaped. The Buhawi boys had ploughed through the night until about 2:30am and finished up in a quiet spot underneath one of the Glasshouse Mountains.
We met up with the Dowlings at the BP just after 10am and enjoyed a cup of coffee after making attempts to contact the Halls and Dwyers. We left just before 11am and just missed them all. At 11:13am the Halls rang us wondering where all the boats had gone!
We all met again at the Matilda Station near Gympie and agreed to press on to Tin Can Bay. Arriving at TCB we picked up some ice and extra savories and enjoyed a burger at the local fish and chip shop. The wind was easterly and the weather fine, so all was looking good for the trip north.
At the ramp we met all our Careelers in various states of rigging and there was a line up to put the boats in. There were RL 24s and Elliots every where! This is how it all got confusing and the fleet split. Dowling had found a spot in the Marina and we followed. Paul Dwyer hooked up to the moorings opposite the club house and was joined by the Halls and the Buhawi Boys anchored in the shallows just south of the ramp. (This was as well organized as the rendezvous at Morayfield!!! Next year we must all raft up opposite the club!!)
Mr Dwyer, Hall and Trotter headed off together with trailers in tow after taping on our rear lights. It wasn’t long before Hally had dropped behind Trotter only to reappear later with no lights! They had bounced off and created a spectacular display in a shower of red, white and yellow on the roadside!
After almost two hours we arrived at a very wet and blowy Urangan Boat Harbour. We all got pretty wet after parking the trailers and racing over to the waiting buses. On the bus I did a swap with Paul Dwyer – his warm jacket for a Krispy Cream donut! It wasn’t a fair swap! We enjoyed a long trip back in the wet and dark night wondering just how bad it would all get tomorrow. Mr Dwyer distributed a refreshment for the trip back and I managed to leave my beloved pink crocs on the bus.
At TCB we adjourned to the local café which was overrun with sailing types and enjoyed a hot meal and a few Becks beers with Cookie coming up from the boat to join us! He was annoyed as Wyuna was leaking from above and had wet his precious pillow!
Saturday 2nd May
The long awaited day had come at last. It was windy, wet and miserable! We motored up to the club and tied our boat up with the Halls on a falling tide and then waded ashore and up to the tents for the briefing. The club is located at the end of the peninsular that juts out into TCB inlet and faces west leaving a sheltered spot for all the boats to moor facing the clubhouse. We were able to enjoy a big fat hearty breakfast from a sheltered timber deck looking out directly at our fleet of boats tied together. The crowd grew and the rain came down with guys running around to find cover in the clubhouse and under the tents. The local member wished us well and Colin Verrall reminded us all to be sensible and went over the start procedure.
Then we all headed down to the boats and helped a guy in a huge trimaran get his boat off the flats and back into the water. We motored out to the start line and the weather cleared and the wind died. There were boats everywhere but the calm wind and slow boats speeds made the situation a little less nerve racking. We watched the multi’s and sports mono’s head off from the start under spinnaker and then it was our turn. After having a long ‘on the water’ chat with the Buhawi Boys it was on to business.
The start line had been set out to advantage the port side of the line away from the starting boat as Colin Verrall was keen to prevent the stupidity that usually occurs at these events. Buhawi hit the line on time on the port side and Therapy wasn’t far behind. Up on the Starboard side of the line Kimbee crossed first and closely followed by Wyuna and then Restless. Cookie sat way up on the bow of Wyuna and I extended the tiller out to its maximum and sat on the cabin roof.
Kimbee had found that ‘dead dog’ that has been passed around the Careel fleet and was passed by Wyuna within minutes. Restless stayed well behind. As the boats spread out Buhawi and Therapy had elected to stay in close to the western side of the channel and were getting bad air from the rest of the fleet. Restless stayed well to the east hoping to avoid the bad air and keep out of the tide. Unfortunately they still got bad air from the windward shore.
On Wyuna we elected to adopt the following strategy which was to remain in clear air and close to the shore. So we stayed relatively west early but as the channel straightened to the north we then crossed to avoid the bad air from the following fleets but stay out wide enough to avoid the lee shore. This worked a treat. We reeled in Buhawi who went east early and kept Restless well behind. Therapy and Kimbee stayed to the west and were overrun by the fleet. They did stay well to the west to keep as clean as possible.
The other two divisions came down upon us all and what a glorious sight. It was just a sea of colour. The boys in RQ 1908 passed very close to Kimbee and our boat Wyuna. This is a spectacular boat with an old fashioned gaff rig and all the crew wear white and she is kept in immaculate condition. The boat carries a huge sail area with a massive white spinnaker and large gaff rigged main. As they passed I yelled jokingly “Can you put up any more sail”. And they non-jokingly did just that! They hoisted up an extension to the main and not satisfied with that, they then hauled out a skirt like sail that in-filled the gap between the boom and the water.
There was
another amazing boat that went zipping past. It was a Blazer 23 IM called Shrek
which had a huge red Spinnaker and sides that were clad in a silver material
that reflected the water. It would not run dead down wind but sailed much like
a skiff weaving back and forth across the course as it did very broad reaches. We then
entered Wide Bay and rounded the mark to head up towards Garry’s Anchorage with
the tide on our tail. The swell rolled in over the bar and our boats swayed in
the light breeze. As the wind fell away Buhawi seemed to get their own gust and
pulled off and Therapy managed to get a few more boat lengths on us as they
managed to round the mark just ahead of us. About half way
up to Garry’s we could see a big squall coming in from the south east. We
secured Wyuna, put on the wet gear and waited for the wind in what were very
calm conditions. Then it hit
and snapped the mast of a ‘Diamond’ as we were to hear later and off we went at
speed as the rain bucketed down. It was an amazing experience. In the stronger
winds we managed to catch up a little on Therapy. The rain abated but the winds
remained fresh until the finish line and then just died away.
We attempted
to sail into Garry’s but the wind just died and we motored the last few hundred
metres. As we came into Garry’s it was just wall to wall boats with groups of
between two to half a dozen boats all rafted up together.
We found Buhawi and Therapy rafted up and we joined them followed by Kimbee and Restless and the other stray cruising Careel from Port Hacking. We opened up the savories and beers and were just getting in the mood when the guy in the neighbouring big Kat warned us his anchor line was probably under our boats and he may swing on to us during the night. Like scared cats we darted in all directions and demonstrated the most hopeless departure with three boats tied together drifting down on the Kat with no motor! GOOD ONE!
We all went our separate ways and we motored north to find some clear water only to anchor next to a group of sailors who were already pissed and loud. We decided to move on and then our motor died. The Halls to the rescue towed us out of harms way further north again. We ended up rafting up with Restless and Kimbee adjacent a house boat.
At about 7pm we cooked up tea and it was now dark and then Mr Dwyer suggested with the most positive attitude that he should ‘crack’ a Merlot. Cookie thought this was a wonderful idea and encouraged me to join in! I declined having suffered dearly at the hands of too much red last year.
After three ‘cups’ Cookie then retired below decks not before making up both beds! What a guy! He was asleep and out for the count by 8pm! The Halls also went below deck as Shane indicated he was “on a promise”! So it was left to Paul, Daniel and I to keep the party going!
As the night wore on the sailing crowd behaviour got more and more out of hand. The fisherman on the house boat were all pissed and yelling and playing music. One guy stood up on the stern rail of his boat with a drink in one hand, with only a pair of board shorts, doing a dance and sing to a wide variety of songs. We watched and waited for him to fall over board as the swell of passing boats made his position somewhat unstable. He stayed on the rail for hours and never fell off!
We eventually went off to sleep to the sound of the occasional fire works and horns, backed by a symphony of various tunes with the yelling and yahooing!
Sunday 2nd May
Cookie had a long and unsettled night with those three cups of red swilling around in his stomach along with some dehydration. In the morning he came good miraculously in time to enjoy some pancakes and hot spicy sausage in bread. We wrapped up the rest of the sausages and put them in the esky for our lunch. We found that cooking jaffles while racing is not really an option.
We had arisen at 6:00am to be ready for an early race start at 7:50am. We headed out and quickly hoisted the sails as a long convoy of boats ran single file out to the starting line. The wind was up early this morning blowing around 10 knots directly from the south. We put on the motor as we feared getting to the start line late which is just what Kimbee did. Shane Hall reckoned that he saw a ‘croc’ trap on the way out to the start.
Rounding the last beacon near Dream Island we entered the fleet under full sail. It was terrifying. All the boats were moving a great speed back and forth across the narrow Great Sandy Strait channel and they were all bigger than us! Having a genoa made it very hard to see who was underneath us and made for some interesting sailing.
Once again we stayed over the eastern side of the course with my crew encouraging me to get into the thick of it. I was content to sail for the wide gaps in the field and keep clear of other boats. The start came and we got across the line only about a minute late but once again Buhawi and Therapy got a good start. Kimbee and Restless were lost in the fleet behind and both very late for the start.
Therapy was only just ahead in within sight and we just sailed directly behind for a while. As the channel moved towards the North West in front of us we elected to stay east in the clear air and let the fleet pass us to the west. This wasn’t a bad strategy and we did make some ground on Therapy on this leg.
Then we came up to the big starboard bend and we had an amazing array of boats all around us all under full flight with spinnakers.
On rounding we kept up wind of them all and so did Therapy but as we closed in on Ungowa we decided to move out again to the eastern side of the channel in an attempt to avoid the wind shadow that would form under the looming hills. Thankfully Therapy didn’t alter course and she found herself in a big fat hole. Wyuna came flying along and caught up with her but did not have quite enough momentum to pass Therapy at the next mark. It would be some very close racing from now on.
As we turned to head north again we observed a line of boats ahead of us getting into a lot of trouble and no doubt this is where the next three masts were bent or broken. Bullets would come down on to the fleet from the SE and smash the boats. There were big boats rounding up in the gusts with their masts almost touching the water and guys all over the sides of their boats trying to keep them upright. Spinnakers flapped madly as they rounded up and spilt their air. It was pandemonium!
We raced north with the tide behind us. Therapy was closer to the east of the channel and we stayed wider in the middle. We must have both been going close to ten knots in smooth water and the shoreline perspective changed rapidly as we moved down the channel. It was a amazing to see the water chop up as we hit the first of the incoming tide. The water went from smooth to a sharp little chop within minutes.
At one point we thought we had got ahead of Therapy so we both celebrated with a beer. Then the wind got up even further and as the boat heeled the beer did a somersault straight from the cockpit seat into the floor of the cabin with beer going everywhere. For some strange reason Cookie got me another one and it did almost the same thing but this time landing in the cockpit. He wasn’t going to get me another one!
After all this drama Therapy edged ahead again and I gave Cookie back control for the long leg to Big Woody Island.
Cookie sailed her well and we stayed west of Therapy and watched the rest of the fleet disappear into the distance just leaving the small lonely sails of the careels dancing around on the water. We could only just make out a couple of small boats to our rear. Cookie pegged back Therapy over about an hour of sailing and then when we were half way along Woody after passing a big turtle we launched a counter attack.
I was on the tiller a little while and we weren’t making any ground on Therapy so I thought maybe we should slowly move across and cover her. After about 10 minutes we were on their rear and only about three boat lengths behind. We again changed positions making the most of my extra weight and Cookies predatory nature to eat Therapy alive.
David and Margaret were sharing the cockpit for a change as Margaret had been up the bow all race. As we made ground we got a chance to steal their wind. Margaret moved ever so slowly back to the bow. Cookie and I remarked that we bet she had had enough.
It was too late and we came up behind Therapy with the wind on our sterns and he started playing luffing games! We asked Margaret how she was enjoying the sail and she yelled “I’m over it!!!” We laughed. We just sat abreast of them for the next 15 minutes with Wyuna unable to generate any extra boat speed to successfully pass them.
At the Cardinal Mark it all got exciting because the down wind run became a reach and we couldn’t cover him! We yelled for buoy room but Dowling replied very sternly “You haven’t got an overlap!” It was the most seaman like retort I had heard in all my years of Careeling! And he meant it!!!!! We kept clear and were unable to get around to his windward side in time to take his wind.
We both pressed towards the starting line and he pulled away by several boat lengths. We edged on a more downwind course to maybe keep clearer of Woody and get better air. There was a big yawl with two huge masts and both boats guessed it was the finish boat! WRONG!!!
As Dowling headed directly towards the big yawl it dawned on us that the boat to the north with all the flags was our target and the other motor boat even further north confirmed this to be the case! Very sportingly we yelled at Dowling that he had it wrong and he adjusted his course…..maybe we should have kept our mouths shut? That would not have been the Careeling way!
We crossed after some five hours sailing only seconds behind to end a tremendous race. After finishing we had to beat into the building breeze and swell to get back to the ramp and harbour, which was a bit of a pain and by the time we pulled into Urangan boat Harbour we pulled up to the nearest pontoon. Now we were over it! Crack went the first beer and then the next while we watched a boat with a bent mast pass and waited for the Halls and Dwyers.
Kimbee unfortunately did not finish with only 200 yards to go. Their rudder stock had broken and had no way of creating a jury rig!
After being warned off the marina berth and tidying up down below we headed for the public ramp and retrieved without any drama. We found our cabin organized by Mr Dwyer who apologized for the long distance to the Boat Club for tea. It was within 50 yards.
That night we
ventured up to the club after a long hot shower and a few beers and had a huge
buffet stew like meal which worked a treat. We then moved into a big barn like
space to enjoy the video footage of the race and photos. Mr Dwyer on Restless also
did well having finished last on scratch picked up 16th in the mono
fleet and 4th in the class! He did improve in that last leg! Well
done. It was really
just fantastic to have five Careel 18s out on the water together battling it out
and the sailing is made all than more enjoyable with the spectacle that occurs
all around you on the water! We will be back next year and encourage all those
thinking about it to just do it! Its just like a two day cruise with stacks of
boats around you. It can be raced as hard or as casual as you like.
Moreton Bay Captain
Paul Trotter