12s – Club Championship Race 1 – 28th Sep 2013

Well nobody saw that coming..

Brisbane saw a day of extremes on Saturday with the 12’s leading the charge as always.

The forecast was light and variable.. I remember looking at the readings while sipping my latte in a trendy New Farm cafe and thinking it was going to be a day for the punters..!! The wind to the North of the race course was blowing from the North, the wind on the race course was from the South and the wind down at the Gold Coast (South of the race course) was from the North..!! All readings were below 10kts.. The first two heats of the Club Championship were going to be BIG RIG..!!!

We got to the club and the bay was glass.. Clouds covered the sky and it was cold.. Awesome day to be sailing a 12..!! We all started rigging up with our big gear when John calls out to me.. Hey Skinnyman.. Check it out.. A front was coming from the North.. Was it about to be a game changer.?? With the front came some rain.. Then 20-25kts of cold hard breeze..!! I’ve haven’t had so many expletives go through my head since the infamous starter boat incident.. Basically I had left my little rigs at home about half an hour from the club.. John and I had a discussion.. We waited and waited for the front to pass, but looking at the readings further North we decided that even after the squall there was going to be a good 15-18kts.. Excellent 3rd rig weather for us..!! We decided to take a punt, hope the race was postponed and duck off and grab the other rig.. We took every toll road in Brisbane to get there and back, but we made it in record time.. As predicted a lovely 15-18kts greeted us and the other boys were still on the shore..!! Seemed Saturday was coming up Skinnyman..!! Ghetto and Allwood stuck with 2nd rig and hit the water..

Cue Sunshine..!! The boat was rigged and the sunshine spilled across the bay.. The boys on Ghetto and Allwood were already dancing with the waves out there doing some two boat tuning.. Pennyliss was on their way out to the start too.. How good was this..!! John and I hit the water and it happened.. The wind swung West.. I mean West West.. The kind of West that makes you contemplate poking yourself in the eye with a shackle key West.. We slowed from a twin wire 2 sail reach to a no wire, can’t fill the kite driftathon..

The boys had started the race and it was neck and neck between Ghetto and Allwood.. (I know this because I watched from my stationary pontoon otherwise known as The WingMan..!!) As the breeze died Ghetto had the weight advantage over Allwood (about 40kgs) and they slipped well ahead by the top mark.. Pennyliss were up the rear and with the wind maxing out at 5kts their 3rd rig looked pretty lame..

Ghetto turned the corner and threw up their black kite.. It seemed an age before Brendan and Joel got around even though it didn’t look like they were far behind.. It was definitely not the low flying dogfight we had all hoped for.. Brendan and Joel got to the bottom mark before calling it quits.. Richard and Crossy had a massive lead and with the breeze now from the West it was a one tack wonder to the top mark.. John and I finally made it to the race track and tucked in with Pennyliss for a 3rd rig battle of mammoth proportions.. John found sitting on the bow pole was more comfortable than he had first imagined.. Benny saw us pass him to windward and then tack back around to pass him to leeward before we too heard the rums a calling and headed home..

Ghetto won by a record 41mins with Pennyliss taking the second place..

Here’s hoping next week’s breeze is a little more stable and we get some more boats out there.. I have already relocated my gear to John’s house so if we need to duck home to grab third rig, it will be 5mins up the hill.

Miners went to Ghetto as they were the only entrants with two fine examples pre-start..

Another week to wait but I for one can’t wait to get back out there and race the second heat of the Club Champs next weekend..!! I’ve even bought some wet and dry to give the old girl some lovin during the week..

Until then Send it, Don’t Bend it..!!

Skinnyman