Moomba hits high gear

by Will and Marty on 3 Aug 2006 Moomba moved up a gear in the last 24 hours and the fun has started.

After a cautious and slow first day where, when in doubt we droped the spinnaker (and lost ground), we decided to move up a gear and start racing. With a new crew feeling its way on the first day and stooging around at the back of the fleet, we decided it was now time to have a go. Up came the spinnaker mid yesterday morning and we went for speed. During the night when Boots and Ingenue changed down we kept going full steam. Will, for the third time in 48 hours, was able to claw past Boots. Not unexpectedly within hours of a freshening SE breeze (18-20 knots) our new spinnaker snap shackle on the clew blew, it was retrieved and replaced within minutes (l. We powered our way through Boots and Ingenue and by 1:30 in the morning were feeling pleased with ourselves. The spinnaker halyard snap shackle then blew and left us with a mess to clean up in the morning. Early morning Chris was back up the mast retrieving the halyard and we were off again, but only just in front of Boots.

Tevake II has been excelling in the fast, following, SE trades and is a clear leader with Ocean Skins in a clear second position with Gusto and Alien fighting out third place (for line honours). Yoko was running fifth leading Moomba by 11 miles who was just in front of Boots and then followed by Ingenue. Pleasingly, Moomba was beginning to be sailed better and we made up some ground on Yoko overnight as well as overtaking Boots and Ingenue.

With the moon setting by midnight, the black hours of the night limits the crew's confidence to continue working the spinnaker overnight. Tevake has been running its asymmetrical spinnaker from the start,and is achieving up to 250 nm per day (Moomba 180 per day) Tevake is currently talking about a five day race (Moomba looking at 7-8 days).

The emails from friends and supporters have been greatly appreciated (special thanks to Terry Hill of RMYS).

Bob has just launched the infallible Huntington Silver Spoon lure whilst the crew have surveyed the remaining cans of tuna - the cans are sure to triumph again.

The mornings skeds in the fleet are patchy with little opportunity to chat over the difficult 8 mh band chosen for morning communication. Boats are resorting to the VHF chats and to exchange their various recipes.

Moomba has been dining well. As well as the world's finest smallgoods, courtesy of the Kaiser of South Pacific smallgoods Werner Pecham, we have enjoyed fresh green vegetables, fruit and yams from Port Vila's produce market.
The sun is starting to shine again after the showers of yesterday, and Port Vila's 'World Breastfeeding Week' is now just a fading memory as we run comfortably under the spinnaker, passing Petrie Reef and New Caledonia during the night, via the the Grand Passage, in good conditions.


Compiled jointly from the miscellaneous ramblings of Will and Marty