Steve Cross, Saturday, 9 February 2013
Steve Cross and Andrew Hill took on this daunting race and almost came home with the prize.
On Saturday I headed across to Cowes on my Hobie 18 with Andrew Hill as crew. It was a beautiful morning as we launched the boat at 8.00am with hardly a ripple on the water – not good when you have to be in Cowes to register by 9.30! Luckily for us Lynn Dugay was already preparing our boat as we arrived from Melbourne as we only just made the deadline!
The race started at 10.a.m. and to my surprise, I found myself marginally in front of another 18 and second only to a Hobie Tiger (which flying a spinnaker had left the pack well behind) as we rounded Spit Point – sailing anti-clockwise. The best thing was there was none of those annoying buoys, that Westernport always seem to put 2m too close to have to negotiate.
As we rounded Palmer point we were slightly behind mainly due to my lack of response to 30 degree wind shifts which often meant that Andrew was given a cooling dip in the nowfast flowing water! We continued to tack our way to Scrub Point and still in touch with the other 18 and as we rounded the head we discovered the Hobie Tiger sat there having just put their mast back up after a pin came out – on the water! We chose to stick close the island and suddenly found ourselves with a lift that appeared to put us in front. However, as Lynn knows, I can always find a way to throw a race and suddenly we stopped for a swim. The quickest ever recovery, which was watched by a rescue boat that came out of nowhere, meant we were racing for the line. Finally after 6 hours, 5 of which was spent on the wire, we crossed the line at Cowes 8 minutes behind the winner and ended up with second place.
We had planned to stay for the spit roast but a combination of our very wet “well-packed” clothes and what looked to be a drop in the wind made us decide to head home. Out of nowhere came a 25 knot Southerly and before we knew we were pushing the boat up the ramp in Balnarring. We were the only non-Cowes boat on a start line of 8. Next year we need to get all our catamarans on the water and seriously contend this epic race, look out for the press gangs in 2014!”
Last Modified on 12/02/2013 22:33