Report from Achernaries
We were motoring out to the start
line just at the mouth of the Tamaki
Estuary and I noticed some splashing
near the reef. At first I though it was
a school of fish coming up to the
surface but as we got closer it soon
became apparent the splashing was a pod
of dolphins. This is the first time I
have seen dolphins in so close to shore.
What a magnificent sight!
We delayed the start of the race
while we waited for the wind to pick up.
After a few snacks and coffee it was
time to get going and we started tacking
towards the line. We got stuck in some
sort of wind or tide hole near the
barges on the northern end of the start
line so we headed off towards the
northern end of the line.
The race started at 11:00 hrs and Monty
Python was first across the
start line. Safilo
appeared to get caught in the same hole
we did, but eventually caught up with
the rest of us. The wind was a gentle
but steady 5 to 8 knots from the
southeast and we glided along past
Devenport towards the Harbour Bridge at
a steady 3 knots. In front of us the
crew of Safilo took turns
to snooze down below and read while the
skipper manned the helm. Safilo’s
colorful spinnaker looked
magnificent against the backdrop of
houses.
Problems with a broken spinnaker pole
fitting aboard Safilo gave
Achernaries the chance to
sneak past at RONA buoy. Tacking against
the tide and wind proved exciting under
the bridge. The concrete bridge supports
look like they could cause a lot of
damage to fibreglass. Having made it
back under the bridge the next challenge
was to navigate through all the class
races just off Westhaven. It was a nerve
racking few hours tacking through all
the traffic against the tide and wind
back to North Head.
It was decided the race should finish
at 15:00 hours as the wind was starting
to drop. We concluded the event with
beers aboard Safilo.
Places for the Harbour Bridge Race
are:
- Achernaries
- Safilo
- Monty Python
