Windy Wednesday

This is what the bay looked like at 16:30 on Wednesday. Further out there were notable "wind spouts" and generally conditions were horrible.

I noticed one of the island ferrys going out to the island in this gale, what have they learned in a week? Later the skipper radioed me to say conditions were horrible, at some point they had seen sixty knots on the bay. Needless to say the bar was the winner.

At 18:00, almost exactly, the wind subsided to about 10-15 knots in the inner bay . . . . ! What is a person supposed to do? But I must admit it was still quite wild further out. Anyway, we live to fight again next week!

Meanwhile, good luck to Faraway on the Yachtport overnight race (Fri/Sat). Conditions look good if a bit light. But they have a nice flat sea to return on, and a great party in the offing. (Now all they need is a good skipper (hahaha lets see if our commodore reads this blog!))

Wednesday Night Racing

click to expand the picture

What a beautiful evening to be on the water. Six boats turned out in the very light conditions. Originally hoping for a race to Vulcan, conditions were too light, and we settled on a course in the bay. Megafreight retired soon after the first leg, citing concerns about pending darkness, followed soon after by Aquamaniac, and headed straight for the pub.

Almost immediately, a slight breeze flowed off the mountain and spirited the remaining four around the rest of the course. Faraway had a good old ding-dong with JML-3, while Savannah and Quest had their customary battle at the rear. In fact it was really great racing!

Final results on PHRF showed:

1 Quest  Justin Phillips 0.840 19:06:30 3352
2 JML-3 Theo Yon 0.965 18:59:15 3431
3 Savannah Keith Gemmell 0.910 19:07:30 3686
4 Faraway Chris Sutton 1.112 18:56:56 3799
5,6 Megafreight, Aquamaniac DNF

Opening Cruise!

 Chris and Rosemary Sutton, taking the salute,
in company of the Roeloffzes onboard Footloose.

 

 

 The fellow on the cabin top is Jeremy of course, cheerful as ever!

 Aquamaniac, powered by jib and bunting alone,
makes a lovely sight across the bay!

The fresh conditions did not deter our local fleet -
 it was great fun having a jib-race!

 

 Commodores own boat and crew, another cheerful bunch!
Thanks to Pierre for this pic.

This time its Megafreight, shipshape as ever,

bringing the Dutch contingent into range!

Another great pic from Pierre.

 

Festivities continued at the clubhouse, what a great day!

Wednesday night racing resumes at HBYC

10-15 kts SSW, a flat sea, and slightly cold conditions saw a small fleet turn out for the start of the Summer Season. Amongst them Faraway, Savannah, Quest and JML-3.

JML-3 launched a very spirited start, leading the first two legs even against Faraway, before the giant overhauled them and disappeared! But the L-26 had a lot of crew aboard, and was very fast on the beats. They also flew their bag off the wind and generally gave it their all. This was a truly great spirit and apparently good viewing from the club. The finishing order was closer than usual, with Quest following Savannah over the line by a mere eight seconds.

Results on RCYC PHRF ratings showed:

1 Quest
2 JML-3
3 Faraway
4 Savannah

Positions based on PHRF Time Correction

SeriesName  Summer 2012 Race 1 Start Time 10-Oct-12 18:00:00
 

Yacht     Skipper            PHRF  Position Finish    Points  Corrected Time

           

Quest               Justin Phillips    0.840  1   10-Oct-12  18:54:33  1.000   2749

Aries JML 3     Theo Yon          0.965  2   10-Oct-12  18:49:17   2.000   2854

Faraway No 3   Chris Sutton     1.112  3   10-Oct-12 18:43:35  3.000    2908

Savannah         Keith Gemmell  0.910  4   10-Oct-12   18:54:25 4.000   2971

HBYC Boats return from Spring Regatta

 First Sight of Hout Bay as Slangkop lighthouse approaches at 7.5 knots on the return voyage. The last leg into Hout Bay was like a downhill sprint in the fresh Westerly. But there were giant breaking swells rushing into Chapmans Bay . . .

 

Cape Point was cold and very lumpy coming back . . .

 

 

Quest, Savannah and JML-3 all elected to take a brief gap in the (otherwise horrible) weather patterns we have recently had, to return from Simonstown on Saturday. With swells running over 3m, a moderate-fresh westerly blowing, and quite a nip in the air, it was quite an invigorating sail. For Quest this was quite a fast trip, covering the route in 6h45. Spring Regatta was a fine event this year, and the trips to Simonstown are good coastal practice and a chance to get out of the bay!

Hows this one for a Fireside Tale!?

Jo Charnock and Jan Wouters used to have a 47' steel boat in Hout Bay. They sailed off to the UK (or somewhere in Europe), and for various reasons sold that boat and decided to come back via the Cairo to Cape Town route on bicycles, folding bicycles that is!!!! Jan felt that folding bicycles make it easier to get lifts, catch trains etc, and it certainly is an interesting travel philosophy. They call it hitch-biking.

 Their talk was all about this adventure, about Africa, people, and travel. And how things are never what they seem to be, its just a matter of attitude! Anyway, they made the trip safely and successfully, with remarkably little trouble. Never ones to rest, they leave tomorrow (Tuesday 2 October as I recall) for yet another adventure on folding bikes from Mozambique to Namibia on the shoreline!

Jurgen tries his hand. He was somewhat more successful than the next guy who flipped right over the settee you see there, with "wiele in die lug"!

Links to the adentures of Jan and Jo can be found here and here, and are very interesting!

Keith Gemmell visits our Lipton Team at FBYC

Spotted recently at FBYC with the HBYC Lipton Crew, Keith is the one in blue . . .

HBYC boats head South for "Spring"!

Sunday 08:00. Hout Bay recedes at 5kts on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Somewhere in that mist Nandi and Savannah are heading out too.

 

 Cape Point appears on the port bow at 11:50.

Conditions are extraordinarily calm.

Here is the pointy-bit itself. Nandi had three folk rounding for the first time.

Couldn't be nicer conditions.

 

Quest took 7 hours into Simonstown harbour, used 16 litres of fuel, averaged 5.1 knots. No sails were used or harmed in any way in the making of this documentary. Hopefully they will come in useful during Spring Regatta this weekend, 22-24 Sept at FBYC.

Our Boy from Bolivia!

Another great Wednesday night Fireside chat! In this case its our own Mark Hainsworth (off Faraway), telling us about his time on an epic rafting expedition down a river in Bolivia. Something to do with nicotine and narcotics having been discovered near the Pyramids in Egypt, and an eccentric British adventurer who was trying to prove they must have found them in Bolivia, using inflatable rafts, landrovers, satellite phones etc etc. Whatever the reason, it was a great adventure, showing the primitive rural life in South America, great natural scenery, and a very challenging expedition.

Many thanks Mark! Your slideshow and talk was top class!

Discovery arrives in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, Oz.

STOP PRESS: George Wenman's facebook page seems to think they (Chris Sutton, George Wenman, Joyce Wenman, and Rob Browne) have arrived in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane. They seem rather pleased. No doubt we will hear more one the obligatory showers, beer and steaks have been processed. Watch this space. You heard it first on www.hbyc.co.za !!