GBR Fleet Savaged by Gale
To the tune of the masterfully tooted starting hooter aboard Spook, a fleet of ten multis assembled very slowly for the race on Saturday that we label the 'Great Bay Race'. This traditionally involves three triangular courses with one common turning mark. The first triangle is round Peel Island in either direction after which the other triangles can be completed also in either direction and in any order so there are eight possible ways to race. In practice most boats followed the leader, having considered the influence of wind and tide. Only Akimbo opted for a clockwise circumnavigation of Peel Island. She, Boss Racing and Cut Snake seemed to get good starts, while the behemoths like Renaissance and Beats Workin’ took a lot longer to wind up in the light breeze.
In an effort to encourage more boats on the water and also to create a challenging course attractive to smaller and slower competitors, VC Mike Hodges had also produced a short course option that proved very popular on the day. Whereas much shorter in length than the GBR Trophy (46m compared with 80m), the shorter version is nevertheless a challenge and one that is at least able to be completed before dark, allowing time to hurry home for Saturday evening brownie points.
Unfortunately, the forecast gale set in at about mid-afternoon when most of us were either just finishing the second triangle or engaging the third. Savaged by 38 kt gusts, we all voted for discretion over valour. That decision may have been tempered by reports that Akimbo had cracked a cross-beam but a more important factor was the fact that our moorings in a safe haven were closer than the finish line at the end of the final triangle. Aboard Beats Workin’ down at Cleveland Yellow, we watched the sand cloud blowing off the top of Straddie and decided to reef early, spurred on by the quick succession of radio reports of gale-force winds first from Southport, then Jacob’s well and finally from Canaipa passage. Cut Snake was in the same vicinity but a triangle ahead and she too was frantically reefing before retiring. Spook reports seeing Cut Snake go past her at Huybers with only a shallow reef and a blade jib showing a goodly portion of her aft under quarters at frequent intervals.
My own discretion threshold was the imminent proximity of the evening's engagement - our youngest daughter's engagement party. Her wrath and that of Robyne's , should I not be home by six, were potentially far more fearful tempests than a mere gale. Embarking on that third triangle carried a very real risk of yacht damage and consequent lengthy delay.
Congratulations to Viento as the only finisher for the day (albeit the Mini Bay Race ). It was pleasing to note that all vessels were able to make it to harbour without further incident. Rhythmic and Akimbo made it into Redcliffe, Spook and Kestrel back to home in Aquatic Paradise. As we sat aboard Beats Workin’ sipping well-earned rum’n’cokes, we were able to watch the rescue boats in Manly Harbour busy at their numerous tasks.
Our summer this year has produced a weather pattern similar to my memories of forty or fifty years ago. BOM attributes this to a strong 'El Nina' event and so we may see more of the GBR gale and Airlie Beach situations before our cyclone season is finished. Add to that the global warming effects predicted by eminent climatologists and we may well be in for some very interesting races before the end of our sailing season. Hopefully, this GBR (even the truncated version) will serve as a wake-up to the fleet for Brisbane to Gladstone; most of us rediscovered boat tasks that we had deferred and deficiencies in crew training. For instance, at one stage in the race our attempts to furl the heady with the door-lift line managed to partially melt that line while its similarly-coloured partner, the furling line, flapped harmlessly in the breeze. The amazing thing was that the heady partially furled itself as soon as its sheet was eased, so we were initially convinced that our frantic winch work was being effective.
