Maserati Week 2016

Maserati Week Day One, Race One. A nice SW on the water, around 12 knots at the start. Good start, with a good get away.. but due to some confusion aboard we ended up sailing to a different mark. Once we realized our mistake there was no point in continuing the race as we were too far behind the entire fleet, so we retired from this race. Day Two, Race Two: This Race took place in a freshening SE. An OK start, we tacked to clear and to use the shift and came out tops at the next mark, the next leg was a fetch, with us holding a low lane and our competition holding a high lane slowly closing in so we sailed up to their lane to ensure there would be no overlap, with them luffing, then bore away with about 7 boat lengths to spare to the mark with them falling down much later which gave us a nice gap between.. and rounded the mark ahead of them. After we rounded they shouted protest.. we weren’t totally sure of why.. We managed to stay ahead to the weather mark, but lost our lead on the downwind, but through a good shift caught up to within a few seconds at the finish. We scored a first in this Race. Later there was a protest hearing, where Yolo even had supporting GPS evidence, but was DSQ’d anyway.. that is yacht racing. Day Three, Race Three. Great commanding start, and lead our main competition to the first mark buy a good distance, on the downwind to WB they were able to reel in the distance quite quickly and pass and make good distance ahead, on the next upwind Yolo made good on a few shifts which enabled her to make up a lot of distance and go back into the lead with some distance to spare, around the weather mark with lots of breeze blowing and a long distance downwind. Our main competition started reeling in the distance slowly, but a helpful shift towards the end kept us ahead a fair bit. Once on the beat to the finish, our competition was slowly reeling us in, but with not enough available distance, Yolo was first over the line.. Winning this race… Day Four, Race Four. Race was sailed, but abandoned as the wind had died as a transition zone materialized. Day Five: Race Four. A nice SW, different sort of course with a tight reach and a fetch.. A good start, but rolled by the faster class one boats, so tacked to clear and sailed a good leg, followed by a good reach and fetch and then a beat to the laid mark… we even had a Class one boat who, while ahead of us, tried to pinch well above the mark for some reason, losing them valueble time in the process.. then a fast downwind final leg. We got a first place in this race. In summary we were very pleased with our performance on the water, the boat was going well, over time we have perfected the set up and our regatta race crew is virtually unchanged for the past few years, with them really knowing the boat and how to keep her going… this all helps, as almost all the time the boat is being worked, adjusted, hiked, trimmed etc… non stop. Crew enjoyed this event on the water, perhaps felt that the 3.5 days would have been sufficient without another day… The regatta crew as follows: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Cath, Shane, Mark, Thore, Howard and Arran relieving Shane for the Thursday Race. The next big event is likely to be Mykonos Race.. Although Fling regatta takes place two weeks before Mykonos, it is a busy time of the year so likely Team YOLO will forego Fling in favour of racing Mykonos.

WED NITE SERIES 2016

Xtra-Link YOLO wins her division in the Wednesday night series which ended in December 2016. Representing the crew to collect the wares.. are regular crew: Sieger Smink, Ian Coward and Cathleen Hughes. Pic Courtesy: A Smith

WED NITE RACE 7 December 2016

A nice SW on a flat sea, around 15 knots, making for very pleasant sailing. It was a fun race with Class one and two grouped, so YOLO took it conservatively, staying away from the Class one boats.. nice fetch to Landfall, slick rounding and then although could have used the full kite, used the Codey to Woodbrdige, with a good line, Good rounded and a nice beat, playing the shift and getting right side of the new breeze... around number two and another fetch to the finish, involving sail changes... IN the end we scored a first place. Aboard were: Dale, Ian, Sieger, Cath, Shane and William.

Double Handed Race 3 December 2016

A South Wester was foretasted with varied wind speed prediction. Getting a good start, on speed, it was clear that the breeze would be stronger then set up for.. so a few adjustments on the beat to keep the boat going through the chop... with us being able ot hang in with a larger boat, playing the shifts where possible as we headed to Barker rock as the first mark.. Halfway up the beat, the winds softened, so gear changing.. and on the look for fresher breeze and shifts eventually rounding the mark in second place, but a problematic hoist relegated us to third. a nice downwind leg down the Sea Point coastline, putting in a early gybe.. as we got past Moullie Point the winds freshened... and then started gusting in the late 20's and once 30 knot range.. giving us nice speeds, we put in a gybe for the lay, but the gusts kept coming with shifts... the boats in front had already dropped their kites due to this, we decided to take the conservative approach and also strike.. with us goose swinging the remainder of the leg.. followed by rounding up just behind the second boat for the beat... which started in winds in the high 20's.. Fortunately the seas were flat.. Next to Number 2 and then the finish.. Nice race, flat seas and good breeze.. Came first in class. Aboard were: Dale and Ian.

SOCIAL SAIL 26th November 2016

HAving not sailed for a while and the last few Wednesday night races blown out.. at short notice it was decided to take the boat for a short sail.. partly social sail, partly a sail test. Sorted out the sail test and then a quick sail across the bay.. with the winds soon reaching 30 knots so decided to head back rather then a wet sail.. packed the boat in the lee of the harbour wall and then a motor back to the marina.. All well aboard. Aboard Were: Dale, Sieger, Marc and Ant.