Addicted to Yellow Brick!

With half hourly updates, the tracker is totally addictive!  There are loads of family and friends sending in their best wishes for Blink who is currently in the Sounds heading home.  I think you get more rest on the boat than you do being a spectator.

From Glen (Craig's sister):

"We have all been watching the boys comparing notes amongst ourselves.  They are tenacious".  "Hopefully they can play their home advantage on this inbound leg".

Blink is a few hours away now approaching the Brothers Islands.  The Blink shore crew, family and friends will be here to greet you Tony and Craig for beers, hot food and great big hugs!

Go Blink!

Happy Birthday Tony!

From all the crew at Capital Eye Specialists and Resolve. Looks like everything's under control back at the surgery Tony.

Mangonui to Wellington - Update

A great clean start for Blink.  The conditions in Mangonui were superb - A2 up from the start and carried out of Doubtless Bay around the corner.  At the sched last night, Blink reported that all was well and a tough sail change at Reinga.  Not a surprise as the Shaw Crew drive to Cape Reinga and there was quite a bit of breeze up at the top.  Not to mention the two oceans meeting and the tidal/wave action that brings.  There are numerous hazards at the top including some significant reefy rocky bits.  As the rock monitor and let's not hitting anything monitor ;-) on the boat, just looking at it made me worried.  Much better to be on the boat and see the maps of such things not standing on a hill thinking about them.

Shaw Crew - Gordie and I, had a great day yesterday driving to the top.  Had a stop in Kaitaia and Houhora for a late lunch (fish and chips at the cafe in Houhora rivals Mangonui by the way).    We were too early to wave at the fleet as they rounded the top around 7pm last night while we were having fish and chips for the second time in Monganui.

Some pics of the start from the hill top and our adventures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!

Mangonui Done! Leg 2 - Wellington

After a great sail using mostly the MHO and A3, Blink finished approximately at 7am.  An infarction on the finish line didn't detract from an excellent effort by Tony and Craig competing against some very fast 40 and 50 footers.  Provisional Results: 2nd on PHRF and 4th on Line for Div 1 and 6th on PHRF overall.  Great effort Tony and Craig!
Results here: https://www.ssanz.co.nz/results/

With a good night's sleep, the epic Mangonui to Wellington leg starts at 12pm today.  Briefing at 9am. Over breakfast, there was loads of discussion about strategy, sail wardrobe and the most optimal run.  Provisions are done with options depending on what the conditions are. Speaking of breakfast, today it was birthday cake.  Tomorrow (25th) is Tony's birthday.  There will be more on the boat as Craig said he won't be baking; he will be too busy naviguessing, sleeping, eating, driving or trimming.  Tony said he will be having the day off.

Thank you to the Mangonui Cruising Club for your superb hospitality. In particular, Roger who drove the rib to and from all the boats yesterday - you are a legend.  We remember you fondly from the last RNI too.   Also to Pete Geary for his tirelessly enthusiastic and kind support of the RNI 2020 and all our friends and family around New Zealand and overseas watching the race.

Will keep you posted.

And they are off!

As Shaw Crew we had the privilege of being on Steve and Vanessa Ashley's launch alongside the Krakatoa support crew.  With more than 40 days of no rain in Auckland, today's start was certainly not a dry one.  A great start to the RNI with 38 boats making their way to Mangonui for fish and chips.

Speaking with Tony and Craig just before leaving the dock indicated that they were ready for a seriously good and enjoyable battle.  There was much discussion in our household this morning before the start of the race of what wardrobe (apart from umbrellas) might be needed for the start line.  A3? MHO? J2?  Sail chosen was the MHO which proved to be a good choice to make it around North Head and to clear Rangitoto light.

Report from Tony and Craig for their SSANZ schedule is that all is well on board, MHO doing all the work and time for some dinner.

More  to be updated when the Shaw crew get to Mangoinui base.

RNI 2020 - Ready

After a great few days of last minute tweaks in Auckland, Blink is ready for the RNI.  Tony and Craig have been preparing for this day for more than 12 months; physically, mentally and enthusiastically.  Such a great honour to sail in the 43rd anniversary of one of the toughest yacht races in New Zealand with Sir Peter Blake as one of the founding fathers of the race.    This year there are 38 competing boats with an excellent mix in each of the divisions.   First division has a number of 50 and 40 footers.  Blink are defending overall champions for the last two Round North Island races.


Tony has sailed in two of the overall line honours; with Rob Shaw in 2014 and with Vesna in 2017.  No pressure Craig!

Our friends and colleagues from Wellington and Waikawa are Satellite Spy, Arbitare, The Guarantee, Distraction and Am Meer.  It is a huge effort to bring the boat to Auckland and be ready to start.  They effectively do the race twice.   Go hard everyone, stay safe and see you all for fish and chips Mangonui.

Follow Blink's progress here and also on the SSANZ website https://www.ssanz.co.nz.

More 1s

Wellington to Lyttleton 2018 started at 6pm on Easter Thursday, and we knew before we started that the light wind in the first 12 hours would take away any chance of a race record time.  We knew also that we'd have trouble getting away from our competitors in the light breeze and that we'd spend quite some time being frustrated and drifting backwards.  Cook Strait - it's never like this ...

And so it was.  At dawn on Good Friday things were not good for us.  Josh Hayter's well sailed Young 11 Clear Vision was threatening to get further south than us as we headed inland.  The Thompson 38 Codebreaker team had stuck with us all night, sometimes ahead, making great use of their Code 0 and narrow waterline, also heading south as we sailed at almost 90° to the rhumb line.    With nearly half of the race over and with the rest of the fleet's handicaps significantly lower than Blink's, we figured we'd be well off the podium.  

Then the new NE, compressed by the Kaikoura ranges - the reason we'd suffered to head inshore - started.  Up went the A2 for one of the most pleasant day's sailing for a long time.  

Heading in towards Clarence River Mouth

Flat water, TWS 12 built slowly to 15 and then to 20 knots throughout a lovely sunny afternoon.  We gybed out when we were running out of water, then back in again as the breeze softened away from the land, almost to Kaikoura, then back out again to ride a gradual lift down the Canterbury coastline.

This breeze steadily built through the day, and it seemed the other boats that had stayed further out were missing out, by late afternoon we'd put ~50 miles on the rest of the fleet.  

Sunset in Pegasus Bay

Sunset with the A2 still up

Sun down...

... moon up ... full, of course, it's Easter.

The wind built further, soon just after sunset we had a hectic moonlight ride in high 20s to low 30s windspeed with the A2 and a full main still up.  Not really wise, but fast as long we kept the boat upright, which we mostly did.  

We deduced eventually that was definitely too much sail and we changed to the A4 and put a reef in.  Same 18-23ish boat speeds, and much more sensible for uprightness.   We had to gybe in the dark and, given that we expected to do badly on handicap results so we didn't need to push it toooo hard, decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valour (cowardice might have been the better part of discretion too?).  

So we dropped the A4, gybed, and hoisted the A6.  Now slightly underpowered but well in control which was just as well because we were converging on the harbour entrance with a container ship.  Frustratingly ... we'd been watching the lack of change in compass bearing for a long time since we were both doing 18ish knots.  We decided to drop our kite - maybe temporarily - to let them go ahead, slowing down to about 12 knots. The ship then also slowed to take on the harbour pilot.  Still on a collision course :-( ... So we sailed slowly, badly, deep downwind with only a jib up at the front for a few miles while we got into the harbour.  Eventually we ducked behind the ship, unfurled a FR0, and sped up a bit.  But it was the wrong sail so we tried to get the A4 back up but this was slow to organise and we ended up just going slow over the line.  No matter we thought, we're not really in the running for the prizes anyway, so what if we lost maybe 20 minutes or so in the harbour entering debacle.

But, as it turned out, the combination of our heading inshore to pick up that breeze early in the day, and the wind dropping as the rest of the fleet got to the harbour entrance, meant we ended up winning on handicap by healthy margins, ~35 minutes on Port Nich Handicap and nearly an hour on PHRF.  [Handicapping committee: please note that result is clearly an outlier due to fickle weather conditions  :-)  !]

Team: Gordie, Craig, Jason, Alex, Cobbie, Fletch, TW.  Sadly no VW as knee still not quite ready.  

Catherine Cove 2018 - a set of 1s

Awesome race in a solid southerly
1st on Line, and on PHRF and RPNYC handicaps.  And another race record.

Video below ... pretty much says it all ... Welcome to the team Matt and thanks to Robin for joining us again

No 2017 S2H for Blink

Sadly we've had our entry to the S2H denied.
After months of work and preparation including 1800+ lines of spreadsheet items to tick off, using most of our spare time for the last couple of months, the bit that got us stuck was the clause of:

 - an ORCi stability index of 115 for the configuration in which the boat proposes to race; or
 - International Standard ISO12217-2 Design Category A except that the STIX Number shall be increased to a minimum of 35.

We knew we could have got the ISO certificate at the boat launch in 2013 but didn't think we'd need it and thought we could get it later.

We had a STIX Number of 36.697 so we thought: no problem.  We didn't know about the ORCi side, but wanted to get an ORCi rating as another handicap to compete on.  So we got the boat measured, and the ORCi stability index came out too low for the S2H, at just under 110.

No problem, we thought, we just need to get the ISO12217 and we have the STIX (Stability Index) well in excess of the requirement.

But, then we heard from CYCA who said that even with the ISO certificate and the STIX in excess of the requirements, they would not accept our entry. We thought of arguing this lack of understanding of what "or" means, but we figured we'd do that after getting the ISO...

We sent off two emails: one to get the ISO done formally, and another to ask the ORC people what we had to do to get a better number.  Neither replied immediately ...


So we thought ... how do we get up to a better ORCi number...?  Add weight to the keel.  So on the day we were supposed to leave for Sydney we found out from Rob that the boat was engineered for a keel that was 60kg heavier, so we could do that minimal adverse effects on performance, except for VMG running and light air performance.  Nobody could tell us at that time whether that would be OK, so we lifted the boat, stripped the keel to bare lead, and set about adding 60kg.

At about that point we heard from the ORCi guru we'd asked for help ... he said we would need to add __300kg__ to the keel, to nearly get to 115... !  Yikes, no way that can, or should, happen.  Not only would the rig, keel structures, etc etc, pretty much the whole boat need to be re-engineered, it would no longer be a fast boat.

Then the really bad news.  The ISO certificate criteria had changed, it now ignores the buoyancy of the cabin top and other structures above the deck.  Now we fell just short of getting that too.  He estimated that the 60 *might* have done it, but wasn't sure.

That, the very limited time available, plus the CYCA saying that even if we did get the ISO that they would decline our entry (arguable, sure, but sailing 1200nm to Sydney to then argue and possibly lose that argument doesn't sound like a good bet).  We heard that Groupama the Volvo 70 won the Volvo Ocean Race, but the same boat wasn't able to race in S2H without adding weight to the keel.  We suspect that the ORCi SI rule set by CYCA could do with some modernisation, like their insistence on SSBs.


Just for added interest, we heard via another participant in the S2H that, with a few weeks to go that NZ Safety at Sea certs would no longer be acceptable.  With no option to do a course in Australia in time, and a requirement that half of the crew had a valid certificate.   That's a little, er, underarm too.

Blink's Next Adventure - Sydney to Hobart 2017

Blink has had a few adventures in the last 16 months.  It started with the idea of doing the Auckland to Fiji Race early in 2016.  It would be Blink’s first big blue water race following her launch in August of 2013 and her local Wellington crew learning how to make her go quite fast (and who, like any good team, are still learning…).   To get to the start line was a magnificent achievement and what was to follow was just as exciting.

The lead up the Fiji race was an epic adventure in itself.  Getting the boat ready from Cat 2 to Cat 1, filling in Customs forms from NZ to Fiji; from Fiji to NZ (and more forms if crew change from Fiji to NZ), all in duplicate.  

The results for a 40 foot Wellington boat was 3^rd on Line (after a 70 foot Volvo Ocean Racer and and 88 footer), 2^nd on IRC and 3^rd on PHRF.  A nice addition to the results was winning the Wellington Muir Family Trophy for NZ Design and Build especially when the boat builder, Craig Patridge, was on board.

The adventure then extended to the Round the North Island 2 handed race in 2017.  After withdrawing in Wellington due to Tony being injured in nasty west coast conditions in 2011 being the worst weather since race was founded by Sir Peter Blake in 1977, Vesna had the wherewithall to get herself and Tony to Port Hardy after Tony’s injury and hypothermia.  After 17 hours on a mooring waiting for the storm to pass, Tony and Vesna completed the longest leg on Clear Vision to come fourth.  With injury and storm warnings for the Cook, it was sensible to stay in port for the start of the next leg. 

With unfinished business, Tony and Rob Shaw (Blink’s designer) then went on to win the 2014 RNI on Blink.

The task for the husband and wife team to win the 2017 race therefore seemed unreachable.   Not to be one to shy away from a challenge, and having some unfinished business, the thought of “just achieve” was not an option.   Vesna’s three goals of “alive, married and first” were set.  Tony tempered this with “alive, married and on the podium”.  Like any good marriage, the wife is always right and Blink was the overall Div 1 winner, 2^nd on IRC overall, First lady across the finish, Div 1 PHRF, Elliot Trophy for 1^st Overall and overall Line Honours.    Winning the RNI was a huge achievement for Blink and her crew. 

Following the RNI and with memories fading of the hard bits of the adventure, (memories of pain are generally poor, which possibly explains why women can bring themselves to have more than one child!), the adventure has turned into the Sydney to Hobart.   The Sydney to Hobart is an epic race and like rounding Cape Horn, top of sailor’s minds.  Blink would be one of the smallest boats in a race like this but she is very capable and strong so it seemed a logical next step especially when goals are set. 

The myriad of requirements which start with NZ Cat 1, move to Australian Cat 1 and then add in Sydney to Hobart requirements, the spreadsheet had some 1800 lines to ensure that the boat was ready.  The preparation started some months ago, entry completed in August and the list taken on in bite sized chunks to ensure that everything was covered.  Craig Shearer, Boat Captain and Chief Amazingly Good Guy (aka ‘Mr Wonderful’),  with Gordon ‘McGyver’ McDougall kicked everything along ensuring that all the requirements were met.

With having to deliver the boat from Wellington to Sydney just to get to the start line, Blink’s crew knew that they effectively had 4 weeks less than Sydney entries.  Delivery crew are Vesna, Craig, Gordy and Janet Mills.  The crew have advised that Captains Happy Hour may be allowed.  Dave Roberts has prepared some special coffee flavoured rum.  

We are grateful to Kim McMorran of McMorran's Boat Building who not only taught Tony and Vesna how to sail across the Cook in 2008 but is always interested in Blink's progress and who did Blink's Cat 1 safety check a couple of weeks ago.  He also kindly lent us Young Nichs SSB being a S2H requirement and provided many of the charts required to be carried.  Martin Hammond (aka Irish) carried out Blink's ORC and inclination test also a couple of weeks ago  - that was a huge job but Irish made it easy. Rob Shaw, designer of Blink, for helping with all the numbers Irish needed.  

The start of the S2H is Boxing Day.  Crew on Blink are all (or have been) Wellingtonians – Tony and Vesna Wells, Craig Shearer, Gordon McDougall, Jono Clough, Matt Stechman, Alex Mitchell-Barker and Luke O’Connell.  Five of the crew had to have sailed together in a major offshore being one of the Sydney to Hobart requirements (Tony and Vesna Wells, Luke O’Connell, Craig Shearer,  Gordon McDougall. Jono Clough (sailing on Giacomo to Fiji) is the sixth. 

Shaw (Shore) Crew are Janet Gibb (regularly sails on Blink) and Carol Rothschild.  Janet and Carol will be driving from Sydney to Hobart in a van with all of Blink's non racing and delivery gear.  

Janet Gibb is in our team photo here (centre). Carol is also a Wellingtonian but is now based in Melbourne, Australia.

Blink departs from NZ Shores on 1 December weather permitting.  Stay tuned for more updates…..

[Thanks to Chris Coad of Chris Coad Photography chriscoad.co.nz for taking the team's pic before departure].