A couple of classics out yesterday

[John B]

We've had pretty bad weather for a month or two now, regular wind warnings, gale warnings and two 'weather bombs' ,which is weatherman speak for what amounts to a tropical cyclone only they can't call it that because its below some particular latitude. 70, 80 and 90 knots plus a barometric pressure of 962 or 3 ( I forget) makes for a windy day.300mm or a foot of rainfall reported in one 22 hr period in one of them.
So It was really nice to get to go for a sail in 10 or 12 or 15 knots in the sun yesterday. Really nice.
A quick beat up the harbour a wee way and set the kite only to be headed .. ah well... stick with it.


Breeze , the Ralph Sewell brigantine out stooging around.

[John B]

We managed to hold through the bridge span and got a lift to carry us down harbour a bit .After that the breeze then went aft so we could carry through to North head and nice left turn downwind out to rangitoto light for a few gybes. We've a 2 handed 100 mile race coming up so we wanted some extra practise to trouble shoot some issues .
On the way we had Jases Loloma appear looking nicely powered up and fast.. 1910 ,Isn't she Jase?




and then a really nice beat back home in a perfect breeze really.

And Spray , the 1940's ?Logan

so good we sailed right past westhaven marina and went back up harbour to greenhithe way for a couple more hours.
Poifect day .

[Joe (SoCal)]

God I freakin love you John B

Thanks

[John B]

Um.
Loloma is forumite Jase's boat. Shes been accused of being a bit tubby and apparently she has a hankering for meat pies occasionally( so I'm told). Lured by the promise of a home delivery from Nannas ye olde pie shoppe on return, she's been known to pick up her skirts and fly through the classic race course.
Last year she was treated to a major makeover and rig enlargement, so now people tend to overlook the flakey pastry and crusts floating around her counter and refer to her as the Gloloma or Goloma, depending. Sloloma has been relegated to the rubbish bin along with the paper bag the pie came in.

Breeze is about that Tony. Ralph was Peter Sewells dad, I'm pretty sure Peter worked on her build, which was in about the late 1970's ?
She's run by the maritime museum now.

[John B]

She's much improved with her big rig and glossy varnish. fast and shiny.

Spray II is actually 1938, which I knew but it slipped.

http://www.classicyacht.org.nz/infus...p?detail_id=76

[dhic001]

Breeze is about that Tony. Ralph was Peter Sewells dad, I'm pretty sure Peter worked on her build, which was in about the late 1970's ?
She's run by the maritime museum now.

Breeze is 60' on deck, 80' overall, 16'6" beam and 7' Draft, built 1981. Yes, Peter did work on her build, as did many others in the traditional boat world. One thing that most people don't realise is that the timber was delivered to the build site by 15" steam railway, also built by Ralph. Breeze really is a lovely vessel, easy to sail, relatively fast, and quite a comfortable vessel in a seaway. The sailing on the weekend were for Master's sitting the eir square rig endorsment for their tickets, quite an unusual thing these days.
Nice shots,
Thanks,
Daniel

[dhic001]

What, with nothing more than a tops'l, reefed mains'l and a couple of jibs in what looks to be 10 knots of breeze at most? I thought they were just out for a jolly!

Yeah, goodness knows what they were doing. I presume the reef had been left in from the previous day. If anything needs to be reefed, its that tops'l, its a big sod that one! I don't know what the practical side of the course consisted of, and I wasn't crewing on the weekend, so can't tell you much more. Had I been sailing, I would have wanted the lot up in those conditions.
Daniel

[dhic001]

I've just noticed that the anchor is hanging from the hawse, it hasn't been catted yet. I wonder if they were having to practice anchoring under sail, backing ship etc. Would be a plausable excuse for not putting the bruce to bed, it doesn't pay to leave it banging against the hull, its solid, and the hull isn't heavily built.
Daniel

[John B]

Yes, they definitely did that,we wondered what they were doing as we sailed up harbour and then we saw the anchor come up. I suspect they put the reef in for practice too.

[dhic001]

Yes, they definitely did that,we wondered what they were doing as we sailed up harbour and then we saw the anchor come up. I suspect they put the reef in for practice too.

Makes sense then. You would have thought that reefing a square would be a more important type of reed to practice on a square rig course. I'll have to have a talk to those who were on it, find out what was happening.
Daniel

[John B]

Makes sense then. You would have thought that reefing a square would be a more important type of reed to practice on a square rig course. I'll have to have a talk to those who were on it, find out what was happening.
Daniel

They may well have done that , they were stooging around quite a bit in between Watchmans and the bridge ( where they had anchored) and back down around fishermans wharf and Rona.

[Jase]

Cheers for the flattering photo's John Riada was looking a picture too. We were on route back from Issy Bay after spending a night there. One of the crew had a 2pm scoccer match we had to get back for.....(sod), twas a beautiful day out there!

[abe]

Thanks for the photos John. Had forgotten what sunshine looks like. 40 days and nights of rain here in New England USA.


abe

[John B]

Its been that way here too Abe, july had 27 days of rain here apparently amd its persisting down again now. and cold.
I want 15 to 20 and sunny and with a full moon at night for my 100 miler in sept. Thats a booking I'm making now.
I was going to ask where you'd been Jase. good ole drunks eh.

[Jase]

well it's close and easy for us people wif widdle chubby boats I think they should rename it from Drunks bay to Comatose bay after the last few performances!!!

[John B]

Comatose bay, sounds exotic.

[Rum_Pirate]

Great pics

Looks like you had a fantastic day.

[Lew Barrett]

Thanks for the pictures, John. It's nice to know you're having fun while we're sleeping!

[John B]

I'm counting down to summer.

There's a guy on on one of our local forums commented that he's begun to think in terms of 'how many summers he's got left'.
Another guy has replied that by having summer here and taking a boat north to the islands in our winter, he's doubled his life expectancy.

Sounds like a policy worth investigating eh.

[AO1Kaihautu]

Hi all,

Stuart here. I am one of those who were on board later that day, i think these were the morning lot- and yes we were each going through a set of maneuvers, mostly under sail to test our abilities to command under sail. Would have been easier with a bit more wind!
Re the question regarding why the main was reefed- it was purely for sail balance, with the lack of sail set forward. Breeze's helm goes up fairly quickly when the full main is up and sheeted, and she will slow down as well...
Beautiful vessel to get sailing properly. She has a great sweet spot. Will steer herself in most conditions.

Cheers!

Stuart