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29th Bay to Bay … the multihull story, by JB
I’ve always tried to bring along a few more entrants to this event, which is unique for its laid-back ‘good fun’ feel. Last year I crewed for John Woods for his first race in the Corsair ‘Tri to Find Us’, this year I was back in ‘Retail Therapy’ with my crew Ken who came up from NSW for the event. John W had entered again with his brother Ian and Marty for crew. No more multis from LSWSA unfortunately, but plenty of friends in other Farrier/Corsair boats.
Late getting away as always, we drove up on Friday, reaching the boat park just as John was setting off for some spinnaker handling practice. Ken & I went on board as ‘observers’, being live ballast in the gusty conditions. Unfortunately we got the kite overboard, learning a new rule ‘DON’T put a knot in the end of the tack line’ … and the kite sustained a small tear near the head.
Saturday
We rose early, John W to chase the chandlery for some stickyback to repair the kite, JB to get ‘Retail Therapy’ rigged ready for a quick launch. In previous years they had started the ‘cruising’ type multihulls with one of the monohull classes … this year they sent all the multis away on the first start, which didn’t give us much time to launch and rig, especially as it was raining. We ended up motoring out to the start still madly sorting out the ropes, and had to beach on a sandbank to rig the prodder. We had a poor start, and in the light winds watched John W and the other big multis disappearing into the distance.
After a few tangles we
got the kite successfully hoisted (note, we carefully didn’t knot the tack
line) That got us along OK, but light winds are bad news for the Windrush and
we were eventually overtaken by the sports boats. In the disturbed air we
managed to get an hourglass in the kite, and getting it down saw the un-knotted
end of the tack line disappear overboard … oh well, we might have to revise that
rule.
That left us finishing
even more slowly under screacher, but we were able to look back and enjoy the
panorama of massed multicoloured kites. The Bay to Bay was living up to
its reputation as a spectacular event. After finishing, we
motored into Garry's to finally moor next to John W, with the Ostac Tramp on the
other side. With an unequal high the
next morning we could allow the boat to ground, and spent the night in a stable
state, floating off at 5am.
Sunday
The prospect of stronger winds had us rubbing our hands in glee. Once again we saw the bigger multis pull away, but when we got the kite up and ‘in the groove’ they were not getting away so quickly. And then ‘Hey, we might be catching them up!’
Nearly wildsiding under kite downwind is exhilarating and scary. Ken asked me ‘How do you stop this thing’ … my reply ‘Just head directly downwind, it’ll be like putting on the brakes’ We fell back in some dead air rounding one of the marks, then being too greedy in an effort to catch up we got caught by a gust and capsized. Oops!
First time ever for the Windrush. The flotation in the sail kept the masthead safely on the surface, and I was able to lower and stow the kite. We were attempting to get the boat up with use of the righting lever, and finally asked a powerboat to lift the masthead for us … as soon as it was out of the water the boat popped upright quite easily, and by the time the rescue boat arrived we were bucketing water out of the flooded hull.
No damage, but with the port hull a bit waterlogged we used jib and outboard to come in down the inside of Woody Island. John Woods also had some bad luck, his repaired kite had been starting to shred and before the finish it exploded into rags, leaving the boat to finish mid-field.
Lessons learned, we’ll be raring to go again next year. Hope we can take some more LSWSA sailors with us, it’s a really enjoyable event