What a B of a Race! Wednesday Wonders Summer Series 2014-15 Race 9 26 November 2014 With the IY 60 BELLE (Doug Painter) winning the race and recording the fastest time; the Bavaria Match 42 BARNSTORMER (Brian Barnes) finishing 2nd after winning Start of the Day; and BARCARDI (Martin Power) sailing into 3rd place there seemed to be an advantage for yacht’s with name’s beginning with B. There was also some benefit to be gained starting towards the back of the fleet with 12 of the 14 late starters finishing amongst the first 14 yachts to complete the race. It wasn’t until the Farr 1020 WAVELENGTH finished 16th and crossed the line at 16:00:49 that a yacht with a handicap less than 35 minutes completed the course. This somewhat skewed result was influenced by the southeasterly breeze, which started at less than 5 knots at 1330 but had become over 15 knots at 1500. Early starters had to contend with the gentle breeze and a slow first leg not experienced by the late starters. WW Summer Series 2014-15 Race 9 Wind Speed & Direction 25 360 315 20 270 15 225 180 10 135 90 wind speed wind (knots) speed 5 45 wind direction (degrees) 0 0 1300 1330 1400 1430 1500 1530 1600 1630 1700 1730 Wind Speed 6 4 6 9 15 18 17 15 16 15 Wind Gusts 8 6 8 12 17 22 21 18 21 19 Wind Direction 180 157.5 112.5 135 157.5 157.5 157.5 157.5 157.5 157.5 time With a rhumb line length of 9.9 nautical miles, course 62 is one of the longer courses sailed on Wednesday. This 6-leg course comprised 4 running legs and 2 beats out to number 5 and 1 respectively. BELLE stamped her mark on this race sailing the course in 1:29:03. This was 9 minutes 42 seconds faster than any other yacht in the race. She was 70 seconds late for her 53 minute start from last (41st) place but was in 18th place at the first rounding of number 4 which is about 54% of the total course distance. She went on to win the race when she crossed the line at 15:52:03. BELLE has sailed 6 races in the series and this was her first podium finish and best result to date. It was enough to lift her from 15th place in the aggregate after race 8 to 6th position after race 9. BARNSTORMER has sailed all 9 races this series but a 2nd place in this race is her first podium finish of the series. She started from 29th place right on her handicap time of 43 minutes and after sailing for 1:02:56 she rounded number 4 for the first time in 15th place. With the help of the strengthening breeze she sailed the remaining 3 legs of the course in 41 minutes 14 seconds to cross the line at 15:57:10 after recording the 8th fastest time of the race. BARNSTORMER’S handicap has been between 42 and 44 minutes for this series and the more she sails the better the results. BARNSTORMER is currently 7th in the aggregate. BARCARDI started 28th, one place behind BARNSTORMER, 43 seconds late for her 39-minute handicap. She had an excellent first three legs being first around number 4 at 15:13:10. However some keen race observer’s thought there may have been a small but significant tactical error when BACARDI seemed to round the wrong yellow mark. (They all look the same at a distance its only when you get close they are different). However after correcting her error BACARDI sailed the last three legs of the course in 45 minutes to cross the line in 3rd place at 15:58:10 just 1 minute behind BARNSTORMER. BACARDI has only completed 4 races in the series but has recorded 2 top ten results with a 4th and a 3rd. She is 44th in the aggregate. (It was costly race for Martin with a few bearings to replace to get Bacardi mobile again to prevent her running aground MW.) Start of the Day produced an intriguing result with BARNSTORMER right on time and all but 4 of the fleet starting within 45 seconds or less of their handicaps. There seemed to be a record attempt at the latest ever starts with MIDNIGHT MAGIC (Bernadette Moore) missing the start by 19 minutes 41 seconds! She started 14th rather than 2nd. WW Summer Series 2014-15 Race 9 Start of the Day time (seconds) 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 BARNSTORMER 0 WIN D SP EED 2 IN SX 2 P R IM O 2 M USKET EER 3 FUN AND GAMES 5 THE SECRETARY 7 ESP R IT 8 T EQUILA 9 JOHNNY B. GOODE 11 F IR EF OX 11 WA VELEN GT H 12 SECOND NATURE 12 P UB LIC B A R 13 WHITE NOISE 14 y C A R P E D IEM 15 CHRISTABELLA 15 P IZ A Z Z 17 a M A GIC 18 MOANA 18 c SA LT SH A KER 18 A LIB I 19 WIC KED 19 h D EJA VU 19 B ELLA B LU 21 A D A GIO 21 t A IR WA VES 21 STAMPEDE 22 LEB R OK 23 SUR I 25 SALT WHISTLE 25 F OGGY D EW 27 VANTAGE 30 B ON VIVA N T 31 P IP P A 34 BACARDI 43 ULUWA T U 43 B ELLE 70 M OR E N OISE 75 CASSANDRA MELBOURNE 110 MIDNIGHT MAGIC 1181 After starting 50 minutes apart the 41-yacht fleet came together and were only 14 minutes 32 seconds apart at the first rounding of number 4. They then began to separate and by the end of the race they were 27 minutes 50 seconds apart. There was a tie for 12th place with both ALIBI (Denis Hambleton) and LEBROK (Theo Korbel) crossing the line at 15:59:47. (Even Stampede was separated from Wicked at the finish by 9 places this race after being together first time past No 4. This is a rare event. What’s going on Mr Walsh? MW) WW Summer Series 2014-15 Race 9 Results 03:21:36 02:52:48 02:24:00 01:55:12 01:26:24 00:57:36 00:28:48 time (hh:mm:ss) 00:00:00 INSX SURI ALIBI PIPPA BELLE PRIMO ESPRIT MAGIC PIZAZZ WICKED MOANA LEBROK ADAGIO FIREFOX DEJA VU DEJA TEQUILA BACARDI VANTAGE ULUWATU BELLABLU AIRWAVES STAMPEDE WIND SPEED WIND MUSKETEER FOGGYDEW PUBLIC BAR PUBLIC CARPE DIEM CARPE NOISE MORE BONVIVANT WHITE NOISE WHITE SALTSHAKER WAVELENGTH SALTWHISTLE BARNSTORMER THE SECRETARY THE FUNANDGAMES SECOND NATURE SECOND JOHNNY B. GOODE B. JOHNNY CASSANDRA MELBOURNE CASSANDRA yacht Handicap Sail Time This race was one for the late starters with only one yacht, ULUWATU (P Geary and M Billings), recording a top ten finish from the first 23 yachts to start. Unfortunately two yachts were unable to complete the race with MIDNIGHT MAGIC and first timer CHRISTABELLA (Paul Johnson) recording a DNF. WW Summer Series 2014-15 Race 9 Position at Start, Nos 4 & Finish 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 position 10 5 0 SURI INSX ALIBI PIPPA BELLE PRIMO MAGIC ESPRIT PIZAZZ MOANA WICKED ADAGIO LEBROK FIREFOX DEJA VU DEJA TEQUILA BACARDI VANTAGE ULUWATU BELLABLU AIRWAVES STAMPEDE FOGGYDEW SPEED WIND MUSKETEER PUBLIC BAR PUBLIC MORE NOISE MORE DIEM CARPE BONVIVANT WHITE NOISE WHITE SALTSHAKER WAVELENGTH SALTWHISTLE BARNSTORMER CHRISTABELLA THE SECRETARY THE FUNANDGAMES SECOND NATURE SECOND MIDNIGHTMAGIC JOHNNY B. GOODE B. JOHNNY CASSANDRA MELBOURNE CASSANDRA yacht Start Nos 4 Finish The fleet had an average sail time of 2:01:19 but it was BELLE that sailed the course the fastest with an extraordinary time of 1:29:03. This time was 1:15:40 faster than the “best value for money” time and is the fastest time for any yacht in any race in the series including race 2, which was shortened. Only 4 seconds separated WIND SPEED (Les Browne), PUBLIC BAR (Clive Sondheim) and ALIBI whilst 2 seconds separated ULUWATU from WHITE NOISE (Daniel Edwards). WW Summer Series 2014-15 Race 9 Sail Time time (hh:mm:ss) 00:00:00 00:28:48 00:57:36 01:26:24 01:55:12 02:24:00 02:52:48 03:21:36 BELLE 01:29:03 STAMPEDE 01:38:45 CARPE DIEM 01:38:49 ESPRIT 01:40:33 WICKED 01:41:27 THE SECRETARY 01:43:34 MUSKETEER 01:43:46 BARNSTORMER 01:44:10 INSX 01:44:29 WIND SPEED 01:44:43 PUBLIC BAR 01:44:45 ALIBI 01:44:47 LEBROK 01:46:47 BACARDI 01:49:10 FUN AND GAMES 01:51:38 MORE NOISE 01:52:10 ULUWATU 01:52:20 WHITE NOISE 01:52:22 PRIMO 01:57:10 WAVELENGTH 01:58:49 BELLABLU 02:02:24 yacht SECOND NATURE 02:02:36 MAGIC 02:06:55 DEJA VU 02:08:26 FIREFOX 02:09:19 VANTAGE 02:10:25 SURI 02:11:01 SALT WHISTLE 02:13:03 TEQUILA 02:14:44 PIZAZZ 02:14:47 JOHNNY B. GOODE 02:15:09 BON VIVANT 02:19:23 FOGGY DEW 02:21:51 MOANA 02:22:03 CASSANDRA MELBOURNE 02:23:59 ADAGIO 02:25:08 SALTSHAKER 02:26:31 AIRWAVES 02:39:53 PIPPA 02:44:43 Being the last Wednesday of the month meant it was the second Century Class Race of the series.