A Current Affair ~ A WICKED DAY ~ Race 8 Wednesday Wonders Summer 2013 ~ 2014 It was a warm summer’s day with a forecast of a north to northeasterly breeze of about 10 knots on Port Philip. Closer investigation of the forecast for Port Philip would reveal that 10 knots around the SYC course could be at the high end of the prediction. Nevertheless, the conditions for a great afternoons sail around the 8.5 miles of course 13 were very promising. The favourable forecast probably had an influence on the 42 yachts that prepared for race 8. This was the largest fleet to assemble for about 12 months - since race 8 of the previous summer 2012-13 series. Although Fawkner Beacon was recording about 5 knots of breeze in the early afternoon it was probably less than this inshore were the land interferes with the north to northeasterly air flow. This wreaked havoc with the race start. Of the 42 starters 15 yachts (over 35% of the fleet) started too early. Nine of the fifteen yachts started more than 60 seconds too soon – 4 minutes 20 seconds was the largest margin – and were judged DNS. There were another 6 yachts that received a 5 minute penalty for starting less than a minute too soon. Only 24 yachts (57% of the fleet) completed the race, which had to be shortened, without incurring some form of penalty or retiring. Progress from the start to the first mark of the course was very slow. Any advantage the handicap had provided the early starters was lost. By the time early starters reached number 1, the late starters had pursued and caught them and joined the assembled impromptu meeting. The main agenda item at the meeting around the first mark was a declaration of “no steerage”. The next item was the implementation of fending off procedures by numerous yachts before finding an exit to slowly continue “the race”.

They're Racing?

Even though the observations from Fawkner Beacon indicated a relatively steady 5 knots of breeze for the early part of the afternoon, the breeze inshore was probably more variable and not as strong. What the observations do show is the marked change in both the speed and direction of the breeze that occurred around 1400. The speed almost doubled in half an hour whilst the direction changed to the south east from the north.

WW Summer Series 2013-14

Race 8 Wind Speed & Direction

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Wind Speed Wind Gusts Wind Direction

The first half of the fleet had enjoyed a run along the last leg of the race from number 3 to number 4. However, the second half of the fleet had to tack to the finish line contributing to a gap of over 10 minutes between the finish times of TRESOR and ARABESQUE. (See graph below)

WW Summer Series 2013-14

Race 8 Results

00:00:00

00:28:48

00:57:36

01:26:24

01:55:12

02:24:00

02:52:48

03:21:36

03:50:24

WIC

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WHIT

E NO

ISE

INSX

MUSK

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BARNSTO

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LEBRO

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ARABESQ

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PIZAZZ

AIR

WAVES

FIREFO

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JOHNNY B

. GOO

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SALTSH

AKER

SURI

TRUE C

OLO

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PIPPA

CASS

ANDRA M

ELBO

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DEJA

VU

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WIL

LARIE

FAROUCHE

MO

ANA

AQ

UABELL

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Handicap Sail Time

WICKED (Mike Welsh) made the best out of the unusual conditions winning the race after an excellent start only 2 seconds late for a handicap of 49 minutes. She was fastest of only 2 yachts to complete the course in less than 2 hours, sailing the shortened course in 1:54:30 and crossing the finish line at 16:30:30.This was her best result off her highest handicap for the series so far. WICKED has 2 top ten finishes from 3 races with the win in race 8 lifting her 9 places in the aggregate to 5th position.

WICKED RACE RECORD

RACE DATE POSN ELAPSED FINISH HCAP SOD COURSE DISTANCE WIND

SPEED

5 6/11/2013 13 01:37:55 15:54:55 00:47:00 300 14 9.8 18

7 20/11/2013 7 01:36:30 15:54:30 00:48:00 18 14 9.8 18

8 27/11/2013 1 01:54:30 16:13:30 00:49:00 2 13 4.2 7

In 2nd place, 3 minutes 53 seconds behind WICKED was WHITE NOISE (Jason Close). WHITE NOISE had a good start only 10 seconds late for her 42 minute handicap. She sailed the course in 2:05:23 to cross the finish line at 16:17:23. This was the best result for WHITE NOISE with 3 top ten finishes in three races. She is currently in 7th place in the aggregate along with 3 other yachts on 10 points.

WHITE NOISE RACE RECORD

RACE DATE POSN ELAPSED FINISH HCAP SOD COURSE DISTANCE WIND

SPEED

4 30/10/2013 9 02:42:38 16:53:38 00:41:00 490 13 8.5 6

7 20/11/2013 8 01:43:45 15:54:45 00:41:00 18 14 9.8 18

8 27/11/2013 2 02:05:23 16:17:23 00:42:00 10 13 4.2 7

Starting 13 seconds late for a 44 minute handicap and crossing the finish line in 3rd place 1 minute and 5 seconds behind WHITE NOISE was INSX (Rob Sills). INSX sailed the course in 2:04:28 crossing the finish line at 16:18:28 to complete the four races sailed this series. She has 2 top ten finishes from her 4 starts and shares 2nd place in the aggregate with MUSKETEER (Paul Jacka).

INSX RACE RECORD

RACE DATE POSN ELAPSED FINISH HCAP SOD COURSE DISTANCE WIND

SPEED

4 30/10/2013 2 02:32:41 16:45:41 00:43:00 370 13 8.5 6

5 6/11/2013 17 01:41:38 15:56:38 00:45:00 18 14 9.8 18

7 20/11/2013 24 01:45:26 16:00:26 00:45:00 227 14 9.8 18

8 27/11/2013 3 02:04:28 16:18:28 00:44:00 13 13 4.2 7

The start of race 8 must be the most bewildering ever witnessed on a Wednesday race. Not only did 15 yachts start too soon but three yachts started more than 5 minutes too late with one yacht starting over 56 minutes late. The yachts that started too soon were spread throughout the starting order. The first yacht to start over a minute early was from 5th position whilst the last was from 39th position. The graph below shows only the yachts completing the race.

WW Summer Series 2013-14

Race 8 Start of the Day

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A IR WA VES

WIC KED

M USKET EER

WH IT E N OISE

LEB R OK

IN SX

T R ESOR

WILLA R IE

P IP P A

A LIB I

SUR I

C A SSA N D R A M ELB OUR N E

B A R N ST OR M ER

WIN D SP EED

P IZ A Z Z

M ID N IGH T M A GIC

F IR EF OX

SEC ON D N A T UR E

T H E SEC R ET A R Y

SA LT SH A KER

UP B EA T

A R A B ESQUE

JOH N N Y B . GOOD E

D ÉJÀ VU

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M OA N A

A QUA B ELLA

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AIRWAVES (Rob Fenton) took out Start of the Day with what, under the circumstances, was a remarkable 1 second late for her start. WICKED was only 2 seconds late and MUSKETEER 9 seconds late. The overall average for start of the day wasn’t helped by the award of a 5 minute penalty to six yachts.

Despite being a shortened course the race turned out to be quite a long event. Only two yachts sailed the course in less than two hours with 10 yachts requiring more than 3 hours to cross the finish line. Both WICKED and MUSKETEER sailed the course in less than 2 hours with BARNSTORMER (Brian Barnes) having the 3rd fastest sail time of 2:03:45.

WW Summer Series 2013-14

Race 8 Sail Time

01:54:30

01:57:39

02:03:45

02:04:28

02:05:23

02:06:33

02:09:29

02:11:43

02:11:55

02:15:15

02:18:22

02:28:11

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02:49:29

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03:09:41

03:13:19

03:18:54

03:23:55

03:24:29

03:24:59

00:00:00 00:28:48 00:57:36 01:26:24 01:55:12 02:24:00 02:52:48 03:21:36 03:50:24

WIC KED

M USKET EER

B A R N ST OR M ER

IN SX

WH IT E N OISE

WIN D SP EED

T H E SEC R ET A R Y

LEB R OK

A LIB I

P R IM O

UP B EA T

SEC ON D N A T UR E

T R ESOR

A R A B ESQUE

P IZ A Z Z

T R UE C OLOUR S

F IR EF OX

JOH N N Y B . GOOD E

SUR I

A IR WA VES

D ÉJÀ VU

SA LT SH A KER

F OGGY D EW

A QUA B ELLA

C A SSA N D R A M ELB OUR N E

M OA N A

P IP P A

WILLA R IE

F A R OUC H E

M ID N IGH T M A GIC

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In general, it was a day dominated by the yachts with higher handicaps. SECOND NATURE (Paul Mentiplay) in 12th place was the first yacht to cross the finish line in a better position than the one from which it started. All the early starters lost significant ground to finish much further back than they started.

WW Summer Series 2013-14

Race 8 Position at Start & Finish

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Start Finish

Century Class Series Race 8 incorporated the second race of the Century Class Series. This race saw its upsets with all the 9 contestants in the Century Class racing, but 3 being deemed DNS. PIPPA (Jeffrey Woolhouse) won the Century Class race by 2 minutes 47 seconds ahead of CASSANDRA of MELBOURNE (Bob Reeves) with DEJA VU (Peter Dransfield) in third place. WILLARIE (Graeme Kaufman), FAROUCHE (Norm Taylor) and MOANA (Stan Rankin) finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.

Looking for the “Windward Buoy”

This Season With so many ABN’s the season is a handicapper’s nightmare. With fewer races that count the “Average Conditions” do not balance out. There are 12 yachts in the aggregate with handicaps less than 24 minutes. Only 1 of these 12 yachts has been placed in the top ten. No yacht with a handicap of less than 21 minutes has a podium finish so far this series.

Yacht Handicap Range 0 -10

11 - 20

21 - 30

31 - 40

41+

No’s of Podium Finishers

0 0 5 1 6

No’s of Yachts in Range

4 4 17 6 12

Another Entry to the MG WW Race10. This 1949 MG TC is proudly owned by Geoffrey Simpson. Geoffrey has returned to sailing and racing in WW.

Geoff Simpson’s new yacht is a Hanse 355 34feet Aqua Bella 2012 For a video tour of Aqua Bella Click here (it has been sold to Geoff) These photos from Bruce Parry qualify AIRWAVES as entry into the MG race

Here is a bit of information on my MGA. Year I believe it was 1958 1600 mk1 model. Colour White, Black interior Wire wheels

I owned the car from 1970 till 1972. I purchased the car from a friend in Brisbane. He modified the cylinder head and put on 2 large SU carbies. This resulted in the car having much better performance and it was possible, Though undesirable to valve bounce in top gear. (115 mph) Two of my friends at the time also had MGA’S; one was a 1500 with Judson supercharger and a set of Jack Brabham’s Cooper Climax mag wheels on. The other was a 1600 mk11 so you can imagine the antics that 3 young men got up to. Oh too be young again! Bruce Parry

There has been complaints that the image of MG owners that is being given is that they were all playboys. To balance out this view a photo has been sent to Mark of an MG owner on their honeymoon. Can you name the WW Crew in this photo? They will celebrate their 27th Wedding Anniversary on MG Race Day. Just to prove that George is serious about a prize, here is the bottle of red for best performing yacht in the MG event. Allegedly Max Schubert selected the cuttings from this vin yard in France to establish the Grange Hermitage vintages.

Note it has been stored on its side to keep better. There is still a week left to send in your entry to the MG race. Just send your crews or skipper’s photo of

a current car are one you did own photo to Mark Windward

AFLOAT Wednesday Wonders has a photo in the print edition of December Edition of Afloat Click to view

Video of the week. Why I don’t have a speedboat and what not to do if I did have one. Watch and count the safety errors. It was filmed overseas Click

Send your comments Mark Windward

Photo of the week. Do you know the height of your mast and how long it would take you to go under abridge? No Correct answer for the photo from Race 7 another week to think about it.

One of Windward Buoy’s excellent photos. Do you know which race it is?

Remember this week the plan is to race from Brighton starting at 14.10. Given the forecast I think it would be a very good idea to keep you radio turned on for any changes.

Thanks for all the contributions and photos. Any reports from your yacht or comments are always welcome. Until we meet on a slow boat to Brighton…..

Mark Windward