Sail Sydney 2010 - 29erXX borrowed hull, charter rig, loads of fun

by Oliver Hartas on 17 Dec 2010 Ollie Hartas: 'Hi Clynton, Can I please charter an XX rig for Sail Sydney?'

Clynton: 'Sure but be careful; unless you are an experienced 29er sailor, I don’t recommend chartering this rig. A 29erXX is NOT the sort of boat where you can rock up to a regatta without any prior training. Least of all, Sydney International Regatta.'

Ollie Hartas: 'Challenge accepted.'

As I am sure it is now clear, I am not a 29er sailor. Far from it. I am a Cherub sailor, arch enemy of the 29er class since the beginning of time, and as such, I have never been a fan. However, due to plans to take on Europe in 2011 in a 29erXX, I figured I should at least attempt to become familiar with the boat and give it a chance. So I entered Sail Sydney with a borrowed hull and a chartered XX rig.

With the regatta due to start on Monday December 6th, my crew, James Bloomfield, and I decided to at least get one practice session in, considering our experience consisted of nil time in a 29er, let alone an XX, and never having sailed together in a skiff. So at about 5pm on Friday afternoon we wheeled the rigged boat down the ramp of Woollahra Sailing Club. A large crowd gathered to watch us make an extremely ungraceful launching and offer us all sorts of contradictory advice. Once underway, we quickly figured out a tacking routine. We then became bored, so we turned around, and hoisted the spinnaker and I promptly fell out the back of the boat, caught unawares by the sudden and vast acceleration. After an hour and a half we put the boat back on land; aching, wet and stoked.

Day 1 of Sail Sydney presented the fleet with about 8 knots of breeze, tricky conditions with both skipper and crew constantly jumping in and out to try and keep the boat flat. However it did allow Alex and Sam Maloney on the purple boat to demonstrate their vastly superior skill and secure three wins from three races. American sailor Kristen Lane, sailing with Australian David O’Connor managed to put up consistently solid scores for Uncle Sam with two seconds and a fourth. Australians Jono and Lucinda Whitty were just one point behind with a second, a third and a fourth followed closely by Ollie Hartas and James Bloomfield in Vang King, one point behind, after a fourth and two thirds proved that success was all to do with time on the water. To facilitate that, all the boats agreed that after a half hour break on land after the races, some training would go down well. As such, all the boats headed out again in the increasing breeze, to the dismay of the weary crews, to do some boat-on-boat testing which concluded in a rabbit start.

Tuesday saw Sydney Harbour replicate the previous days’ conditions with almost eerie perfection, blowing a consistent 8-10 knots at east tending north-east. Day 2 also saw an increase in the level of competition and the consistency of the results. The afternoon training saw Kristen and David make a formidable opponent for the brother-sister pair on the purple boat, the American skipper narrowly out-sailing Sam and Alex to scrape two victories and a second. The Maloney pair reversed the numbering; securing two seconds and a victory which was enough to see them still sitting in first place overall at the end of Day 2. As the afternoon drew on, the wind increased steadily to 18 knots by the conclusion of the final race. Consistent sailing proved to be the key for the motley crew onboard Vang King, with fourth place finishes all day seeing them sitting in third overall. The other American boat, crewed by Lizzi Rountree and David Grace, making their first racetrack appearance of the series scored continuous thirds, making up for the three DNC’s on Day 1, giving them 27 points overall. Also on 27 points are Jono and Lucinda Whitty, crossing the line in fifth place in all three races today, however, their participation on Day 1 allows them to sit in fourth place overall at the conclusion of the days racing. It was no surprise that all the sailors were exhausted by the time they hit the boat ramp. As a result, only one boat went out again for extra training. Vang King’s Ollie Hartas could not pass up the solid 18-20 knot seabreeze that Sydney produced in the afternoon. However, having worn out his regular crew, regular 29er sailor Nina Long stepped aboard to give James Bloomfield a well deserved rest. The training session was a great advantage for Ollie in preparation for the 25 knots forecast for Wednesday, and after 45 minutes of haring around the harbour with plenty of thrills and a few spills; Nina and Ollie made for the boat ramp, hot showers and well earned rest.

The much anticipated and fabled Sydney Seabreeze finally made an appearance on the harbour on Day 3 of Sail Sydney. The nor-easter was a steady 15 knots and would build to a solid 20 knots as the day wore on. This certainly made for an eventful day of racing. The purple boat carried Sam and Alex Maloney to victory twice with a third in between, leaving them with a total of 13 points overall. Hot on their heels flying the red white and blue was Kristen Lang and David O’Connor in Brick House with a first, a second and a third, to give them a total of 18 points. The Whitty’s from Australia proved to be heavy weather demons, scoring two seconds and a third, bumping them up to third overall by the end of the day. American’s Lizzi and David managed to secure two fourths and a DNF, a very respectable score considering the difficult weather conditions. This left them sitting in fifth position with 41 points. The sailing was certainly exciting for all, with incredible speeds both up and downhill, numerous place-changes and a collision between an anonymous 29erXX and a windsurfer (no injuries or damage). Although one boat in particular suffered more than its fair share of unfortunate happenings.

Vang King, who previously occupied third, moved down to fourth after not completing a single race. The only non-related Australians were plagued with problems. Soon after the start of Race 1, the vang rope snapped. At the top mark, they capsized the boat in order to apply a temporary repair. By the time they got underway again, the time limit had excluded them from finishing. On the way back to the start line, a particularly vicious capsize saw skipper Ollie Hartas fall onto the mainsail causing a minor tear in the sail. As they were waiting for the second race to start, the vang (or ‘gnav’) car slipped off the boom, which enlarged the rip in the mainsail. Although through all these unfortunate incidents, the boat remained in a good enough condition to complete the remaining races. However, the same could not be said for James Bloomfield, who, exhausted from numerous capsizes, finally called it quits as the rest of the fleet crossed the starting line for the second race. Unable to find a replacement in time, Vang King scored a DNF and two DNC’s, leaving them in fourth position, one point ahead of Lizzi and David, on 40 points.

Thursday morning saw all crews suffering aches and pains from Big Wednesday. Repairs to boats were conducted hastily as the miserable weather closed in bringing showers and cold to Sydney Harbour. Vang King hit the water early for some pre-flight checks in the gusty 15 knot nor-easter, using the extra time to get the boat set up for the heavy weather. However, come the first race of the day, the wind died away to no more than six knots which was not enjoyed by the young guns. However, the lighter wind allowed the purple boat with Sam and Alex Maloney to show the rest of their fleet their mastery of the tricky conditions, crossing the finishing line in first place with a big lead in both races. Second place was dominated by the Americans on board their Brick House, Kristen Lang and David O’Connor successfully protecting their position all day. Jono and Lucinda Whitty took out a third and a fourth with some enviable teamwork winning through the touch conditions. Ollie Hartas and James Bloomfield on Vang King struggled in the first race, crossing in fifth position, but made up for it with a comeback in the second race where they crossed the finish line in third place. Alas, the comeback proved ‘too little, too late’ and they were unable to overcome the previous days’ results. And scoring a fourth and a fifth on the final day of racing, was the American team of Lizzi Rountree and David Grace. Due to lack of wind, the Race Committee decided to bite the bullet and abandon the final race before it had begun leaving the raw numbers as follows:


Results:

Sail# Boat Skipper Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 Total Drop Score Place
AUS1 - Alex Maloney Sam Maloney 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 15 3 12 1
USA11 Brick House Kristen Lang David O’Connor 2 4 2 1 1 2 2 1 3 2 2 22 4 18 2
AUS20 - Jono Whitty Lucinda Whitty 3 2 4 6 (DNC) 6 (DNC) 6 (DNC) 3 2 2 3 4 41 6 35 3
AUS45 Vang King Oliver Hartas James Bloomfield 4 3 3 4 4 4 6 (DNF) 6 (DNC) 6 (DNC) 5 3 48 6 42 4
USA111 - Lizzi Rountree David Grace 6 (DNC) 6 (DNC) 6 (DNC) 3 3 3 4 4 6 (DNF) 4 5 50 6 44 5


As I said at the beginning of this article, I am not a 29er sailor. I never particularly cared for them and always thought they were slow and underpowered. And I thought that the 29erXX with its pink sails was a solution to a problem that should never have existed. Having sailed a 29erXX now, however, my attitude has completely changed. Sure, stepping into a 29er for the first time at an international regatta, with an XX rig on it may not have been the wisest introduction to the class. But having never sailed the boat, managing a respectable scorecard and having THAT much fun, I have to admit, come Thursday evening, I was tickled pink.

Oliver Hartas (15/12/2010)