Limit - into the racing

Well it's been a hectic couple of days at the Limit Sailing Team. We raced on Tuesday in the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge. It was an awesome day on the harbour and a great fleet of boats on the start line. We had a cast of thousands on board (ok 28 people!) and sailed pretty cleanly through the traffic to come out with a third on IRC.

Wednesday was a day of preparation, we achieved a lot and continue to work through the job list.

Thursday was day 1 of the Rolex Trophy. It was great conditions for our first serious day out on the windward leeward race course, a light nor' easter building a little in the afternoon. Only six boats in our division but a competitive fleet nonetheless, we came out with a third and a second, to be tied on points with Ragamuffin and Yendys at the end of the day.

The Australian Sailing team coach Mike Fletcher was out on his RIB coaching us and took the following photos.

Rolex Trophy racing continues through to Sunday.

Limit sea trials

Just arrived in Sydney after delivering the new Limit up from Melbourne. We left on Tuesday and had headwinds most of the trip and didn't arrive in Sydney until late Friday night. It was a great test of the boat and crew in preparation for the Hobart race, we had three reefs and a storm jib up at times and slammed off plenty of waves. Apart from a few issues down below such as leaks and bunks the boat passed with flying colours and we got to look at all our race sails on the way up.
Now it's into race preparation mode for the big boat race and rolex series starting Tuesday.
Photos and more updates to follow....

Hi Fi 2nd in King's Cup 08

Well the last three races weren't so good for the Hi Fi team. On Friday we had two windward leewards and came out of it with two thirds. This dropped us back from first to third on points, one point behind Island Fling.
On saturday we knew we had to win and beat Island Fling by more than a place to win overall. It was a lighter breeze and the race committee set a long windward leeward course. We had a great start and match raced all the way round the course next to Island Fling knowing that we had our time on them all the way. Unfortunately there wasn't much we could do about the other boats in the fleet and we ended up third in the race, while Quantum won and took out the King's Cup 08. We had a great day and ended up second overall.
All in all a great weeks racing in Phuket, awesome weather, good company and good parties.
The Hi Fi asian tour now takes a short break before the next regatta in Langkawi in Jan.

race 5 king's cup

Another awesome days sailing at the King's Cup in Phuket. The race committee sent us on a coastal race around the islands. Conditions were moderate about twelve to fifteen knots fading to eight to ten as the morning wore on.
The start didn't go well for us, we were called OCS with Island Fling and had to round the pin again. However we quickly found our spot in the fleet and hung onto Fling on the reach. Stevie Benjamin didn't give us much room to find clear air on the long beat but it was good clean racing and we rounded the top mark close behind Fling.
After a long run with the a1 and spaysail we went into the gate and hoisted the a5 for the reach into the finish. We couldn't hold it all the way and eventually hoisted a jib.
We ended up with a first and are now leading the regatta by a point from Island Fling.
There are three races to go, today is meant to be windward leewards.
Sam standing by in Phuket....

king's cup 08

We've had four of the eight races completed so far. The regatta started on Tuesday with very strong breezes and a long passage race round some islands at the south end of Phuket.
After a short beat it was a long reach out to a turning mark before going upwind. Island Fling passed us on the reach, but once we got our staysail up they didn't seem to draw away too much. We mad some gains on the long beat and changed to a heavy jib. At the top mark we set the a2 and spaysail and ran downwind in the moderating breeze. Another reach into the finish with the staysail up and the race was over.
We were happy to come away with a second on irc in this race behind island fling, it was quite windy and our boat is optimized for lighter breezes.
Wednesday was scheduled to be windward leewards. It was a long day on the water in moderate winds with the medium jib and a2 all day. We thought we sailed quite well and were a little disappointed with our results of 4-2-3. In the first race four boats including us were over the line early and the results were close we were just 30sec out of second. Jelik had a win and Quantum had two wins.
So the points stand as Quantum 10, Jelik 11, Hi Fi 11, Island Fling 12, Mandrake 16.
Very close with four races to go....
Photos and updates to come...

happy birthday silas

It seems to be the month of birthdays for the Hi Fi team. This is a choice photo of Silas at Nha Trang after the Vietnam race....