What could have been

Well, someone has to start.

All the crew were at the boat nice and early. A couple of introductions for those who hadn't met, and it was time to prepare. Le chef de jour burdened the vessel with enough to feed the crews of all Div 1 boats. But in weight terms nothing compared with the 2 life rafts that had to be settled into a safe location.

Doug "Slatherman" Lawler brought a little bit of Bali with him, and wanted to know whether Musto made wet weather gear with a comfort zip for the rear passage, lest it be needed in haste. Young Alistair "why are your hands on my shoulders" Marchesi woolled the kites with Ben R. in anticipation of a bit of a puff. Wise men. The RO and his tactician managed the boat set-up before Doug C presented the crew briefing. Safety and crew work was the agenda.

Despite seemingly to have lots of time, we did not have a lot of time remaining when we left the pen. Coupled with HF issues, and we were a little unsettled by start time, resulting in a less than glamorous start. Never mind, still a few miles to go. All the boats that we would like to be with had ground on us, and even TWU rounded the day buoy ahead of us. But some real nice driving got us past them before the north mole rounding. From there is was a tight blast reach to the windmills. We put good ground on those behind us, but despite my optimism, gains on the leaders were meagre, so by the time we made west end it we had a bit to do.

With about 23kts of breeze at that stage(maybe 3.3), Doug C called for the A1. With input from the crew this was changed to the A2, but as we bore away a last minute return to the A1 was decided. Once this got up we were away.

The breeze was rock solid, so the game was where to go, and for the crew to pull the boat down as many waves as possible. The pole let us soak a little deeper which allowed us to split the courses of the leaders. TNF and AlFresco going west, others nore direct.

With the breeze getting over 25, we changed down to the A2. No apparent loss of speed, and a litlle more manageable. This mode was how it remained, with the breeze buiding to 30. It was intense with drivers seeking to run down the waves, trimmers and grinders working hard. Ever presnt was the thought at the back of the mind 'what happens if the arse of the boat gets a little kick from a wave when we soak down a wave?"

But some fun rides were had. It did not take long for the old record to be broken, with a couple of really good runners giving us readings in the 15's for extended periods.

As the sun set and darkness descended. Slatherman was given the reins. Hollywood or bast is his styule, so we got both. 19.1 on the log was cause for hollerin' and thoughts of lunch at Gero started to form. We sent one watch down for a bit of a rest, knowing that there was not going to be any rest for crew when they were up. And then it happened.

Dougy yells "No steering", as we bowl out. Assuming htis meant that the rudder had lost bite, I proceeded to grind furiously to get te kite to reset. It took a moment for everyone to realise that the steering mechanism had failed. In 30kts and th boat abeam the wing and waves, getting the kite down took some effort. But, with plenty of hands it came down without a scratch.

Then it came time to fit the emergency tiller, which, although functional, is not designed for racing mode. At least not in these conditions. So with the boat in settled mode, Terry examined the steering and resolved that it could not be repaired to enable us to continue to race.

So that was that. Out. What do you do when you are 50nms up the coast, out of the race, and in 30kts of southerly? Well we aint sailing to Gero with the emegrency tiller. So beating back to Freo is the order of the day. What fun.

If tha twasn't enough, a couple of hours later saw the emergency tiller fail. The ali tube just fatigued at the very rudder post. Nothing to be done. What's left? - just the emergency steering system. Terry had gone to some trouble fitting an emergency steering system, for which we were now grateful. No dodgy arrangement with a floorboard and the spinnakerpole, but a genuine transome hung rudder. Problem was, it had to compete for control with the real rudder which was free to pivot around randomnly. I guess it is gratifying to discover that the proper rudder works better.......

So where are we now? Steering - well twin rudders, neither working. Oh, and no comms. Not even an effective VHF. We could only wonder what anyone looking at the tracker snail trail might have been thinking!

At this point, the RO went into the confines of the stern where the steering mechanism resides. Over the course of an hour he stayed there working on a very technical and fiddly task in a sea that was not particularly benign. And then joy. How he did it we won't know, but he managed to conjure up a repair job that got the steering to 90% in his own words.

Which then left us with only about 8 hrs yachting to get back to Freo. At least the wind will abate, we were assured by the forecasts. Well it didn't. It might have backed a little, but it stayed in the mid 20's the whole time.

At midday, we pulled ourselves into the pen, having been assisted by Freoseareascue. They were very handy, and their rig is a ripper. Thanks to them.

So the Gero race is over for us for this year. And unless the RO gets the boat up there during the week, we won't be on the water fore the return next week either. Memories - well hard running is fingernail biting stuff. Exhausting and terrifying, but with great hope of swapping war stories with othe boats whan you get to Gero. Turning around mid race is a monster let down, and the return, when not racing, is a hard slog. Still, at least we didn't hit a whale...

And there is always next year.........