A challenging and almost unheard of light airs event.  Four 88’s were entered this year with Driving Force in the cruising division and Babe, Slipstream and War Machine duking it out on the way to prizegiving. Good fun and perfect windless weather but disappointing to have to withdraw 10 miles short of Brett so we could make it to the party on time!

Slipstream's Classic Story:

Slipstreams adventure to take part in the 2020 cc seemed to drag out for some time! After taking ownership of the boat, and Auckland deciding to go in to yet another lockdown, meant we finally got her home about a month prior. A quick anti foul was all that was needed so straight to the haul out to get sorted,this soon led to 3 full weeks work aligning engines, stern glands, p brackets, shafts, new rudder bearings and re shaping to suit design rules. No drama, this left one week to get in a practice race, and sort cat3...........one week is not enough time to sort cat3 FYI!!

We made it though,Tuesday before the race saw the delivery crew set sail from Russell for a cruise down the coast, 18knt nor east made the trip to tutukaka a Dream, if only we knew this was as good as it was going to get!! We then motored to the hen and chicks the following morning before any breeze filled in, and again from Kawau all the way to Auckland. Making it to Westhaven Thursday arvo for good sort out of the gear and off to the briefing, pretty sure this led to more questions than answers, so back to the boat for a few more jobs.

Next morning we were out nice and early,wanting time to get the boat going and settle in, we soon spy war machine cleaning the hull on the start line! We take a vote and decide no one wants to jump over and clean ours, lucky, as it turns out he was doing a mob practice!

A terrible start, thinking we were early, ended up giving us a nice position turning the first Mark, getting a glimpse of the other 88’s meant our game plan to get up the coast went out the window, and some rather good racing was had for the rest of the day. Sailing along side war machine around the hen and chicks, this is unfortunately as good as it got, with the wind slowly dying off, and managing to stay in a little breeze most of the night, morning came to show all the 88’s lined up and ready, and there we stayed!!

By 9 we decided to deploy out secret weapon, however this achieved absolutely nothing, but we had managed to turn the boat around and were now pointing to the right direction! A few more beers in the sun, lots of sunburn ( Alex the Greek god looking like he might need hospital treatment) we had had enough. 1130 we called it, deciding we all needed a swim and to get home, Good choice as it turned out the others had done the same.

What a unforgettable race, can’t wait till next year

BABE 2020 CC experience:

Three Kiwis, a German, an American and an Albanian-American is whom BABE was home to for the 2020 CC. Quite the international crew brought together by the passion of water navigation leveraging the weather element of wind. So why not yet another CC under BABE’s belt? She was ready. Freshly anti-fouled and with some extra recent TLC, she boasted with confidence.

The smiles across crew’s faces Friday morning showed excitement for the race and the days ahead on the water. Friday came and, while it didn’t bring with it sun and blue skies, it brought with it slightly more wind that had been forecasted, which is all that mattered.

After BABE was loaded with the provisions the crew had brought for the next few days, which consisted primarily of rum, beer and seltzers (not enough apparently!!!), we made our way from BABE’s home of HMB to the mouth of the Waitemata harbour. The sails were hoisted, and we hovered around the start line amidst the other sailing vessels keeping all ears open for the gun. 9:30am came and went, gun was not heard. Crew was confused, but under the guidance provided by all the other vessels making their way forward across the start line, the call was made to say the race had started.

The billowing sails started inching forward under the light, but more than predicted, winds. Such an inspiring sight that no camera would do it justice. The sails stayed closely together as they made their way exiting the Rangitoto channel heading north. Once the channel was well beyond us and the waters ahead became expansive, the sails started to break apart more following different strategies in search of wind.

The Y88 fleet made of up BABE, Warmachine and Splitstream seemed to have somewhat similar strategies when it came to which line to keep that would offer the most wind. This is what kept the fleet together for the most part, with BABE taking the lead when Warmachine’s strategy of staying close to shore at Torbay to take advantage of any local winds seemed to have failed.

If the Predictwind app could be trusted at all, since at some point it showed BABE sailing in the middle of land at Mahurangi, the Y88 fleet was together for most of the race, with BABE and Warmachine trading first and second places and Splitstream keeping up quite nicely and consistently in third. Night time came, brining with it coldness and high humidity. Crew traded places as some got a shut eye while others were still riding on high energy levels and kept it going until day break, which found us somewhere north of Tutukaka between land and Poor Knights.

Whatever light wind had been filling BABE’s sails had disappeared and we found ourselves in a bit of milk pond. According to the forecast these conditions were there to stay. The crew kept up the high spirits and all sorts of fun shenanigans broke out over the next few hours while BABE was averaging somewhere between 0 and 1 knts. After a few and somewhat hard mathematical calculations, it was obvious that unless the iron spinnaker was cranked up, we’d be missing the party in Russel. After the general consensus was achieved from the crew that making it to the party was the primary objective of the race, a group chat was started with the other Y88s in the fleet, who, by that point were just as eager as us to get to Russel in time for the party.

A decision was made at 11:30am Saturday to pull the pin and make our way north full steam ahead. The decision was rewarded by the sighting of whales between Percy rock and the tip of Cape Brett. What beautiful creatures!!! BABE and its crew made it to Russel with plenty of time for the party.

The music entertainment, drinks, food, company and the general positive aura created by all the other sailing aficionados present at the party made for a fantastic time had by all.

After two of its crew departed and a delicious brunch had by the remaining four and their loved ones who had made the trip north by land to come join in and share the celebration, the trip back home got started. Under motorsail BABE averaged a whooping 6knts which saw her at Lady Alice island, one of the chicks in the Hen and Chicks east of Whangarei, as the anchorage for Sunday night.

After another day of beautiful weather, sans wind unfortunately, and encounters with INEOS and American Magic AC75 boats, BABE was safely tucked back into her home at HMB. What an adventure and while it didn’t provide much weather for racing, it created lots of fantastic memories to be shared by all and remembered for years to come. Here’s to CC 2021 racing and stronger winds!!!

War Machine Report:

Let's do the Coastal the crew said a few weeks before the start and so the timed run with a 200 odd item check list and a lot of team work began. The plan was to get to brekky early on the day, get fed and get out there to settle in and give us time for a man overboard practice.

It was a good plan that immediately came unstuck when we ran right over the MOB (bucket and LJ) which promptly got stuck under the boat. Couldn't start engine because we didn't know where "MOB was" so Nathan was the second MOB dummy into the drink. He found it floating up high on the front edge of the keel.

Anyway back to the plan ....... we got a great start and hung at the front out of the harbour and up the bays.. steady eye on Navionics and the sounder. Never had less than a metre under the keel! Plan was working! Fairly quickly the 88 fleet compressed and the match racing began. Keep a loose cover and get the shifts right... lose a bit gain a bit, holding steady .. plan working.

Tacked out off Torbay loose cover got too loose and we found a hole!!! Plan fail... Babe and Slipstream shoot past and the match race begins again. We traded places through the night according to the tracker and by sunrise we were line abreast across a mile off Whananaki doing 0-0.5 kts.

Our plan was to stay close to shore overnight to sniff out any land breeze and it worked and we popped out in front but it was not enough. At around 1130 the call was made, 88 engines to Warp speed we are going to the party.

The rum and Margarita came out and the rest of the day was a blur. Great little adventure, perfect weather, great company including the whales, seals and dolphins. Fantastic cruise South with a stop at Paradise, Urupukapuka for brekky, a walk and a swim. Pity not to finish but that gives us something to come back for next year 🙂