Canterbury R Class Newsletter March 1992

Events Coming Up

Charteris Bay YC Regatta - Always a good one. Four races THIS weekend 14-15 March. Definitely a taste of things to come in the South Islands. Sunday afternoon's race, the Douglas Fox Cup, is compulsory R Class material. It's a Mark Foy start, and if it blows hard enough the Rs are in with a good chance of winning. Tones and Force did last year, and Chappie did a few years back with his Rash. It's also excel1ent publicity for the Rs as we get to show the colours from close quarters when we start cutting through the Europes, Phoenix and 15s under kite. During the whole regatta, pretty boats (Reg, RRR, Acid Rock etc) should try to squeeze into the hard area at the club, going off the main slip if possible for maximum promotional impact on juniors Anyone wanting more space should rig at the public slip.

South Islands - Two weeks away (28-29 March at Charteris Bay) Second biggest event and definitely the grudge match of the season. Your cbance to get back at your arch rivals for what they did to you during the Leander. Definitely good entertainment with short courses and flat water. We had 14 Canty boats in the Leander. So let's see how many of those we can get back for the South Islands. Perhaps a couple of Nelson boats could stretch themselves this time too...

The Leander

31 boats, the biggest fleet since Worser Bay in 1988. lots of wind, great class spirit, and the biggest drubbing of the national fleet for a long time...

Invitation race:

NE 20 knots. short lumpy sea on an out going tide.

29 starters, 14 finishers, 29 clangers. What a way to open the contest. Yes, they did swim - Steve dropped the mainsheet. Silly boy. That didn't however ruin their winning margin by too much, as the Mac's started off as they meant to go on, winning the Kent Prier Trophy by a narrow 10 minute margin. Wayne Nolan, the OD saw clear air underneath Acid Rock as they took the two sail reach across the bottom of the experimental course. The invite race wasn't the good test of the "box" course that it might have been, being more a test of the fleet's boat handling skills.

Several notable entrants, in particular Mark Berry and Kyle on Mk.II and Tom and Sean on BBV did not finish. In the latter case at least to avoid breaking any more gear. Apart from the MacIntosh creaming, the other most notable finisher was Mike and Hoggy on TW. These boys showed good boat handling combined with TW's famous heavy weather boat speed to pull off their best finish of the contest in the least important race. Good one boys must have had the kite the right way round (see below).

Race 1, Sat AM.

NE 15 knots, flattish water.

The contest proper opened to a good breeze on a fairly forgiving sea. Good racing was had by all, except perhaps for Phil and Robbie who were just starting to get a bad feeling about all this. Paul and Simon had an encouraging moment of glory by sneaking home third, but unfortunately weren't able to maintain the momentum, ultimately finishing 7th.

This race was most notable for the high number of finishers at 26. Only DNFs out of 28 starters were Hoggy and Mike on Totally Wired and Marie Madgewick and Darryn Holmes on Too Hot to Turbo (from Auckland). Marie was one of two women entrants in the contest (more about the other later), and had helmed an R about 2 times before the Invitation Race.

Race 2, Sat PM:

NE 15-18 kflots, still not too lumpy.

The start for race 2 caught a lot of the crews unawares by being held up beyond the Diamond Harbour wharf. This had been done to keep clear of the normal Sat afternoon CYMBC fleet of bailer sailors etc. Added excitement was afforded by the BPCC fleet of big boats using Parson's rock (in the middle of our course) as a top mark for their course.

The gun saw the Macs electing for a Mark Foy style start, as the fleet sailed away leaving them capsized on the start mark. No problemo. They soon pulled Godzilla up, executed their 720 to clear themselves, and nailed most of the fleet by the top mark. Mk.II and de Real R broke away from the start, but lost it in the wing mark graveyard later on. The good breeze made for one of the best races of the contest with lots of high speed kite work. Neil and Pete on Bomb R had their best race, finishing 7th.

Race 3. Sun AM:

NE 12-15 knots, flat water.

More wind, and yet another Acid Rock victory. Most notable finisher of the race was God Farth R (Barry Christo and Tony Walker), coming 4th. Christo and Tony got through Sean and Tom on the last lead to the bottom when the BBV boys bad a bit of a wine glass. The results showed them in 18th though and Christo went to protest to get himself correctly reinstated.

Race 4, Sun PM:

NE 18-20 knots. small lump.

Another big snotter for the second trial of the square course. No points to woosy helmsmen of significant experience seen blousing it across the bottom sitting on the side tank. This two sail reach was definitely full on in this breeze.

RRR jumped into 2nd or 3rd at the top mark but bowled out on the first lead to the wing. They fought back hard and chased Mike and Hoggy on Totally Wired for 5th. Mike and Hoggy still couldn't understand why their kite wouldn't set right in this contest, even though a phone call to Steve Hogg in London had assured them it was OK. Turns out when they watch a video after 4 races that tbey had the tack and clew reversed. 4 races boys, 4 races! Bad Boys Paul and Steve showed excellent boat handling in the stronger breeze and overcame their spin-out problems from the flat offs to push PD and Simon on de Real R very hard. They finished 9th. Bad luck for Sean and Tom, who tore their mainsail in half.

Race 5, Mon PM:

Southerly 12-15 gusting 20.

The fifth consecutive win by the Macs sealed tbeir fifth Leander Trophy. Mk.II, RRR, MMR and the Reg had a serious battle for the minor placings in the first lighter breeze of the contest, but what Smutty described as a "huge puff" put him and Andrew down the mine and left them in fifth. Force and Tones on the Reg squeezed Mk.II out by a comfortable 12 inches or so by throwing a tack under them just on the line and grunting the Reg up on twins in the nick of time.

Mark Mac and Paul had their best race finishing 6th. Mac and Paul had a disappointing series coming 16th overall, suffering some rudder problems and two DNFs.

Race 6, Tue PM:

SW 8-10.

Just to prove it wasn't all a fluke and to make it a clean sweep, the Macs did it in the light, too. Sean and Tom pushed them harder in their favourite conditions, with the Macs covering them for most of the race. Sean eventually broke cover in an unsuccessful bid to get through them, letting them get away a bit, but still held onto 2nd.

It was also U Boat's best race. Kevin roped sister Lynn in for the contest, and turned on a 4th in this race to win the Handicap title. Jony and Andrew got away from a bunch on the last downhill and beat to finish 6th and clinch 5th overall.

Results

Other Bits

The Whistling Buoy race was a good lumpy race in strong conditions. Smut and Andrew are official winners after pushing Sean and Tom wrong side of the start mark. Challenging gybing in massive rollers at Cashin Quay. And yes, it's true - Sean and Tom came from behind the 14 footer Toby Bohica on the last downhill and beat them to the bottom - Hot R!

In the club race last week everyone watched Acid Rock to see if it went as fast without a Mac on board. The answer - yes - right up to a big spill at the bottom 2nd time. Owner Aste steered with brother Hemi on front from 50m behind at the start to 80m in front at the spill, finishing 3rd. Honours - BBV.

Sail Area

Wellington (the Squadron, not that other lot) has approved in principle taking the kite area out to 200 big ones measured in a triangle. ie. doubling the kite. Yeeeeeehaaaaaa! This will take a while to go through, but speaking as a skipper, goodbye side tank. For the working rigging, they're concerned about the cost of changing rigs over to bigger sails, but as we see it, if we change the measuring system we'll have to buy new sails anyway. J.Smut and J.Bowie took RRR out last Sat with a gross looking Jav sail strapped on (JavR?). Although they couldn't get the leech under control. Smut reported that it was excellent, he'll be able to sail Rs till he's 55 now he never has to hop off the wire. He also reports that it gave him an extra 6-12 inches margin between bow and water downhill under twins - lots of lift. That's a big margin for a Mk.II hull.

New Boats

Chappie and Nell are definitely keen. Jony and Andrew are in. Force is keen, though Tones isn't sure yet. Bowie is definitely in. Steve Bell might buy materials and build to a different design. So be in to win. Materials for the hull will be about $2200 plus a lot of sweat. If you're flush but busy pay someone like Sean or Bevan to do it for you, they're keen for the work. Do it.

Cheers. Hemi (Douglas Royds).