Apollo Bay Sailing Club

Tell Tales

Sat. 7th March 2020

This particular Saturday was one that not all sailors like to remember as any race. Because, ladies and gentleman, in terms of races this one was gold. Especially when one speaks in terms of the total costs racked up with all the breakages involved. One might even tell you grand stories about their wild adventures on board their vessels. They will tell you about the dangerous situations they ended up in while Sailing in Bass Strait attempting to sail with something broken.

To start out Tim Cobb’s (Affrodite) attempt at competing in the race this week could be termed a wild goose chase. So much so, that his crew was almost beheaded by a flying goose neck that broke off Affrodite’s mast.

Our second casualty was Quickmatch who turned out to be a big fan of Joshua Kadison’s hit Jesse. Sailing two handed, Jesse started to paint the picture, 'bout how it's gonna be. By now Mick should know better, his dreams to win a race are never free. But, I’ll tell you all about, our little incident by the sea. Oh Jesse, you can always drop your mainsail randomly. Oh Jesse, you can always drop your mainsail randomly.

Right! Dear reader, time to get on with the race. The duty crew for this week (Shiralee w/ assistance of Russell Smith) sounded the mark for the keelboats and off they went. Boheme and Wildrose crossing on starboard and 10+1 on port. Always a risky move to start on port. It pays off sometimes, but in this case Ken and crew were forced to tack away.

It turned out that just before the start 10+1 lost control of their mainsheet due to a broken shackle pin that connects their traveller and mainsheet together. They fixed it in the nick of time to make the start only to find when they were forced to tack their Jibsheet got tangled and stuck. It took them nearly 3 minutes before they were back on track.

Time for the Dinghy start ladies and gents! We are well of, racing for about 5 minutes when Helena G  (duty boat) receives a call from Ziff! The gist of the message was that April Dancer broke something.

When the duty crew arrived they found a floating April Dancer with sails down and no forestay to be found where it was supposed to be. It turned out the strong metal wire that holds the foresail, rig tension, and mast in its place snapped right through. Rumour goes, Ken paid the boat a visit the night before with a hacksaw. You be the judge!!

They got towed back into the harbor by Helena G. After which, she was able to resume her duties back with the race.

A bit got missed during these stages, but it turns out that Boheme found themselves with a broken Jibsheet. Apparently, they were using an old, previously retired sheet. I guess the crew is getting ready to live up to the “retired”; i.e. having left one's job and ceased to work.

The last one who broke something was Miss Molly, but not until the end of the race. While sailing in second place throughout the race they (Pete Bourne and Gary Summers) were doing really well. But, then during the last Triangle they had to sail it happened; their spirits got broken. Their dreams to finish 2^nd were taken away; emotionally beaten down to the point where they go from being who they were to someone who have lost all hope. You might think, “they’ll get over it”. But, honestly, it must have felt like a stab straight to the hart as the boat to blame was skippered by the original crew of Miss Molly. Anton Tibbits and Kelly Hurley (crew) sailing on Euffamism sailed passed by making some slightly better strategic choices.

There is nothing much to tell about two boats who raced and they were left unscathed. They sailed, they started, they finished. There is something to be said about that. But they did not win. If this was a movie they would be the extras who got a mention in the credits but no one would remember. Yet, you might see Wildrose and Ziff headlining a feature film one day.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks’ tales. If you want to come around sailing, you should! Heaps of fun!! J

Life is good. Come Sailing!

To find out more see our Facebook group - Apollo Bay Sailing Club