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Richard Lawson reports, ‘The Rapunzel mob assembled at the Club to meet our fill-in crew, Joppie and Francesca, from our normal competitor, Out of the Blue.

The rigging on the hardstand boats was rattling and whistling in the building breeze. The initial squall came through at about 20 to 25 knots. By the time we climbed aboard and took off the covers, ‘Huey’ was settling in nicely at about 18-20 knots but the sky in the SE was looking very threatening. It was decided to go with a reef in the main and the #3 headsail (this sail also doubles as our #2 and #1 …….. it is the only one we have!).

We found RO Trish Stanley and her merry team on station and ready to go, so we decided to start and have a look how the conditions were ……. with no opportunity to practise and settle the new crew. It was looking a bit fresh!

As we approached the start, the breeze suddenly backed off ………. sheets on, lets go! 30 seconds in and the captain suggests/orders we shake out the reef. Halfway to N2 we were holding our own as all the boats around us were shaking out their reefs. Then suddenly the breeze picked up very quickly back to 20+ knots. As Rapunzel started to round N2 Flight of Fancy decided(?) to execute the BIG round up, directly below us …….. watch out the rigs don’t clash! We recovered nicely, got back on course, and away we went towards Bradleys, at maximum hull speed in some really fresh stuff, with Flight of Fancy close behind in our wake.

As Division 3 reached abeam of Bradleys, ‘Huey’ decided he has given us enough breeze and just suddenly bundied off! This sudden change caught us all unaware. Outfoxed had sprinted into the lead, after the early starters had been caught and passed, and the rest of us including Shorland, Lorelei, F of F, Aquatonic were drifting in company against an incoming tide. It was very frustrating!

However, the captain loves sailing in these conditions so the trim orders were coming thick and fast!
Somehow we all managed to get to the Beashel Buoy (the correct name for this rounding mark) and started heading south towards Shark Island. Still there was no breeze, so it really was a drifting contest in the tidal flow, with all moveable weight sitting to leeward. Somehow we drifted past Outfoxed and I can honestly say, I do not know how that happened!

Rapunzel led at Shark Island with a comfortable gap to the others, as the breeze suddenly started to fill in from the north …….. that was not predicted as far as we were aware. We managed to keep the old girl rolling, thinking all the time the lighter new boats would be onto us fairly soon. As it played out, we managed to stay in pressure all the way to Kirribilli and maintain our position over Shorland, Outfoxed, and Lorelei.

Those who looked at the forecast and stayed home missed a really challenging but interesting evening. We only experience nights like that occasionally and it was really worth the effort to be there. Division 1 only had one finisher in Just Quietly, Division 2, 4 finishers, Division 3, 5 finishers, and Division 4 also had only one finisher.

A big thank you to Trish Stanley and her crew for being there and making a difficult call, on the course. They certainly are a dedicated group who allow us sailors so much racing pleasure. Nobody could have foreseen what was to eventuate weather wise, and it was really unfortunate for those committed to race, yet were unable to finish simply because ‘Huey’ decided “enough was enough” and left many posted out on the course at the 19.41 hrs sunset!’
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