Sundreamer takes SIMRAD Barrier 50

by Richard Gladwell, Philip Hart on 12 Jul 2005 The first of the triple race SIMRAD barrier shorthanded series took place on Saturday, with 111 entries in the two-handed event, competing in 15 divisions.

Entries ranged in size from the 57ft David Barker designed catamaran Sundreamer to the classic A-class Iorangi down to seven enties in the 22ft Des Townsn designed Pied Piper class.

Conditions were fresh for the start of the event, and got even fresher after the start with a 40 knot NW squall causing grief to much of the fleet, and forcing 11 retirements.

The course took the longhaul fleet from a start in the Waitemata Harbour around Waiheke Island to the east of Auckland, then back between Motutapu and Rakino islands (at the eastern side of the 2000 & 2003 America's Cup course), and back to the finish in the Waitemata, a distance of approximately 50 miles.

First home was Sundreamer. Owner-skipper, Philip Hart takes up the story:

'We were a bit slow getting our kite up. I was really hoping it would blow the oysters off the rocks so we didn't have to. Anyway, just after the start I figured we were going to look stupid if we didn't, specially as Steve called out from the tower telling us to get our arse into gear so up it went. We gybed at Bean Rock and settled in nice and safe. THE squall actually went across in front of us so we missed the brunt of it. It was a sight watching the carnage but great seeing the front multis get into trouble and have to drop their kites. We powered through the mess at 20 knots forcing the other multi's to climb to weather and rehoist after Browns Island.

'The slide down to Passage was fast (24 knots peak) but pretty uneventful as we had lots of searoom to run flat. We gybed too early and got pinned in the light under Orapiu (SE corner of Waiheke Island)losing a lot of ground to those ahead and letting those behind catch up - my own stupid fault. Quite light down to Pakatoa 'cept for the odd puff that never favoured us. The kite drop in the lee of Kauri Point (eastern extremity of Waiheke) was the easiest manouver of the day then it was hard on for the bash home. We started to claw back, confident we could catch all but X-factor who was powering away. Then their mainsail tore in half.

'Halfway to Rakino Island we were about to get the Raider when the hounds turning block for the headsail snapped. It took a while to get the jib down low enough to get a gennaker halyard onto it. We led the halyard round a deck winch at the base of the mast and then back to the leeward primary to rehoist with the jib still sheeted in. Fine till the turning winch started to lift off the deck (lot of grunt in those primary's) It was close enough so while we lost a little ground on Raider, we didn't lose much to the others. The boat hardly dropped below 10 knots hard on the wind throughout.

'At Rakino we got a vicious squall, total white out across the water, but only for about 10 seconds so we just hung on feathering. We did get a lucky lift inside the reef because of it which put us back in touch with Raider. After Billy Goat Point we moved ahead of them. The wind was stronger with streaks across the water and rough enough for our waterline length to help. We still carried full main and number 2 while everyone else was reefing. We picked our way through the small boats and turned the corner at Rangi Light for what we thought would be an easy run home. As it turned out we got hit by a few bullets one of which damn near capsized us as I got my hand caught in the winch trying to release. We were very careful after that and took the gun at 4 hours 35 mins taking the double.

'When we packed up the boat we noticed the jib bag was gone from the deck locker where it lives, never saw that go!. We need some bigger washers for the winch bolts and a rethink on the hounds turning block, but that's about it.

'It was my 15 year old sons first 2 handed race. He was grinning from ear to ear, so was I come to think about it!'

Silver Raider is a 30ft Tim Grainger (AUS) design set up for serious racing. In spite of her mishap, Silver Raider finished second on elapsed time, eight minutes behind Sundreamer, and 20 minutes in arrears on PHRF. The top multihulls did the trip around Waiheke Island and back around Mototapu Island in just over four and a half hours. The two catamarans took first and second overall on PHRF.

First monohull home was the Cookson 39 Akatea, which was almost an hour behind Sundreamer on PHRF.

Full results available on: http://www.ssanz.co.nz/Results/Simrad%202005/SIMRAD_2005.htm

The second event will be the SIMRAD Barrier 60 on 6th August with the series concluding with the SIMRAD Barrier 100 on 10th September.

Source: www.kiwispy.com