At It Again...

Well after 3 months of being landbound and surviving on surfing alone, this Sailor Girl has finally gotten a skid in. Sunday 15th of August I raced on a Birdsall 37 up in Whangaparoa, a mere 2 days after having food poisoning. After a pleasant hours drive at a sparrows fart on a Sunday morning, and getting increasingly antsy along the way, I arrived at the Weiti Yacht Club in Whangaparoa. The boat is one that I am hoping (fingers, toes, eyes and ears crossed) I can do the White Island race on later this year and the skipper wanted me to come out for a race to check out the boat etc. It started off as an overcast morning with a light breeze as we motored down the river. The course we were racing was an olympic course set up in front of Gulf Harbour. An olympic course is like a big triangle, with a windward leg, leeward leg and a reaching leg. Which means you sail with the wind on the nose, the wind behind you and the wind on the side so that you get a bit of everything. There weren't very many boats out - probably due to the painfully early start of the race, and on a Sunday morning no less. The 4 main crew took care of the helm, mainsheet and grinding for the starting sequence and I happily sat on the rails scooting under the boom as we tacked and gybed precariously closely to other yachts all jostling for the best spot on the start. Being the only crew member not in the cockpit also meant I got to scoot around the foredeck skirting sails, releasing snagged headsails sheets, tightening the leech on the headsail and tightening the cunningham at the mast - all while the boat is leaning so far over that the railing is in the water, which makes none of that an easy task. Especially when where you are standing ends up underwater as you struggle with the leech cord inches from the railing whilst trying not to fall in the drink. What a rush!! We started the race with our number 1 headsail, which is the big one for lighter winds - but after tearing it as the wind increased we ended up finishing with the number 2. A smaller headsail more suitable for the 30 knot gusts we were getting. In our downwind legs we also cranked out the genniker and even got so daring as to fly the big spinnaker. The skipper wasn't playing it safe that day! I even got to do some bow work and help with the kite drops (pulling the big genniker and spinnaker down into the forward hatch), and even had to stand right on the bow where the anchor sits and lean right out over the railing to pull the spinnaker out from under the boat - all whilst the boat is ploughing through swell and heaving all over the place. For the second half of the race I got to winch and trim the headsail, which made me a very happy sailor. I've missed my winch =)
Apart from tearing the headsail it was a great race which I thoroughly enjoyed and very much needed. Despite the cluster of bruises, pulled muscles and aching limbs - it was SO worth it!! Can we go again? Please?