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Omokoroa Beach
(click images to enlarge) |
The Omokoroa traditional small craft gathering was a small
but interesting magnet for John Welsfords designs. Craig
Gordon and I sailed up Tauranga harbour to Omokoroa which
is a sleepy backwater on the western side of the harbour
made up of baches and retirement homes. It has a great jetty
an active yacht club, a cafe and a small sandy beach (when
the tide is in). All in all a very nice place for a mini
regatta.
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The trip up was very interesting
as this was the first time I had sailed my new sloop rig, |
Sulphur Point with Virgin
Spars |
I had spent most of the last week
finishing my new mast and boom on my Pathfinder, and on
arriving at Craigs house on Friday evening the varnish was
still drying! Up at six and I was screwing on fittings and
positioning vangs, goosenecks etc to 9:45. Craig was a great
help offering coffee and support but letting me get on with
it as much as possible.
Down at Sulphur
Point launching ramp I was a bit nervous about the untried
rig and my hasty finishing off job as the wind was a good
15-20 knots. Craig confirmed this later with his wind
meter which recorded a minimum of 14 and a maximum of
26 knots. But after heading out into the channel all doubt
was gone as the new rig performed flawlessly, more on
the reasons for conversion later... |
Craig in Action |
We basically had to beat all the
way up the harbour against a strong outgoing tide in full
flow. Not much fun, but still the gps was giving 4-5 knots
over the ground. A great opportunity to compare performance
and handling between a gaff and a bermudan and as expected
on the wind I had superior boat speed though not neccessarily
pointing higher than Craig, but he was pinching as Cavatina
was well overpowered in the gusts. |
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The opposite should have been true,
he should have been under control and I should have been
over powered as my rig now towers over 6 metres above the
deck, talking afterwards we both came to the conclusion
that it was the 60 odd kilos of ballast in the end of my
centreboard tha helped. Craigs board weighing in at 35 kilos
was practically half of mine plus I weigh 15 kg more than
him. |
On the way home
in a strong tail wind |
There was very little difference
between the boats the main thing that I noticed was that
my new rig seemed softer perhaps it was a flexible mast
but the boat didnt react so suddenly to the gusts. In a
straight line its only about five or six nautical miles
to Omo from Tauranga but we had to sail around a few difficult
points and through shallow channels with the elements against
us. There is a lot of water trying to get out of the harbour
at once and lots of sandbars to hit, I felt the bottom on
three separate occasions, once the rudder became stuck on
a particularly shallow bank and I feared the wind would
drive me over before I could free the cleat. Around one
point I noticed I was not making any progress at all so
I dropped sail and went for Mr Honda much to Craigs disgust,
I wanted to make Omokoroa that day! Even so I was only making
2 knots with the motor at full effort, looking behind I
saw Craig merrily tacking back and forth and receding into
the distance, eventually he capitulated to the superior
force of petrol. It wouldnt have been a problem but with
a time limit... . |
Styling |
On arrival at the jetty there was
a lot of interest in the boats and I took Owen Sinclair
out for a quick blast up and down the channel, he seemed
to approve of the thrill factor of Pathfinder on its ear
in a good breeze. Nice to have another sailor onboard, I
was getting a bit weary at this stage as the whole week
of midnights plus a full day of sailing began to sink in.
There was a nice wee social event at the caravan park up
the road. Where the 5 B's came to the fore- Boys, Beer,
Boats, Barbecues and you guessed it Bullshit. Actually it
gave me a great idea for a weekend event instead of a raid,
we could call it B-Five where you would need to produce
a minimum of 5 elements (which wouldnt eliminate the women,
wine etc) |
Craig and John in
the nicest legs final |
Craig and I returned to the boats
before dark and motored to another windy place and rafted
up for the night. It was very pleasant indeed, I had no
cover so if it rained it would have been very unpleasant
but the gods smiled and it was only the wind that howled
and rattled the halyards all night reminding us that we
were very small corks in a very big pond. |
Homeward bound
with lead in the pencil |
Going home was easy, once the very
strong breeze settled down to about 15-18 knots. A group
of us sat in the sun on the jetty for practicing a few of
the B's for a while before it was time to head off. Actually
it was a fantastic leisurly Sunday and there was a session
in the cafe as well. Eventually the wind eased and we took
the opportunity to take the inside route home (there is
an island smack in the middle of the way back to Tauranga)
and made a flat run at 7.5 knots all the way home. The picture
above doesnt look much but I am holding my hand up to shield
my face from the sun and cranking along at ridiculous speed.
There was an F-26 Trimaran going downwind with us and it
wasnt making us look silly, sure it went well but not $80,000
better on a sunny downhill run in sheltered water.Who needs
high tech, give me a lead pencil any day (its good to have
a bit of lead in your pencil so they say!) A good weekend,
looking forward to the next year. See you there. |
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