Middle Harbor Journey

Last weekend was extended for Labor Day here in Australia (I know it probably give my Australian readers the pips as I don't spell it Harbour or Labour... guess that's the nice thing about sitting on a patch of American "soil", errr fiberglass while I write) Kirsty and I had several months of boat work and projects, with the hydraulics and boom being off the boat for repairs, sails being purchased, just a ton of different boat projects had been taking up our time. So we decided to take the yacht up to Middle Harbor for the weekend... errr for Sunday night at least! Kirsty just had to watch the 2nd installment of the AFL Grand Final (Australian Football League) in which her team, Collingwood, played a starring role. The previous weekend it was tied up (score-wise) while I had her captive on the Bird Island Parking Lot race. Because of the tie, they had to REPEAT the Grand Final this weekend, so we decided to wait until Sunday morning to go to Middle Harbor.

Of course this is a cruising boat being re-trimmed for racing, so I had another project or two in the works even on the "relaxing" weekend. After I spent 12 hours in the "hole" (starboard aft locker which leads to the rear of the boat where the steering and engine are all located) fixing and replacing the broken shifting cable, I was tired and a bit cranky. But Collingwood won convincingly over my Saints, so Kirsty at least came home in a great mood! The next morning we loaded up our two spinnakers and the old jibs (our #1 and #3 have been cut down by Doyle's to perform as a #2 and heavy-weather jib, respectively). First stop was CYCA to meet up with John Anderson (he measured Nemesis and help push through the paperwork to get our ORCi rating a day before the Bird Island Race). He was there doing an inclination test on another racing yacht and would have time to measure our spinnakers to input the last correction to our measurement. With the new engine control cable in place, we easily got over the CYCA with just the two of us on board. Of course, it was a torrential downpour when we arrived at CYCA and hoped John was still there. The measuring went quick and was performed in the lee of the CYCA building, so we stayed pretty dry. Funny thing is we call the 3/4oz spinnaker (3/4 ounce is the weight of the spinnaker fabric) the small spinnaker, and the 1.5oz we call the large spinnaker. They both have slightly different shapes; so to our surprise the two spinnakers measured to within 1/10 of a square meter in size of each other!

Middle Harbor was calling, so we did an easy motor over to the Spit Bridge (drawbridge on a sand spit connecting Manly and the Northern Beaches to Sydney) and waiting a few minutes for the 1:30pm raising of it. With the bridge up, we slid into Middle Harbor and cruised up to Sugarloaf Bay for the night. This is a beautiful anchorage, in the middle of the Garigal National Park, but also right on the fringe of the city. The view is a pristine bay with all trees, rock outcroppings, birds, and just a few houses in the very back of the inlet to let you know you are anywhere near several million people. It was a rainy weekend, so we just relaxed on our Sunday night and had a brilliant sleep in the millpond of flat and calm water. In the morning we stowed all the tools and prepared the boat for a sail. It felt good to be dragging headies (jib or front sails) up to the bow while Kirsty maneuvered us back to the bridge. I would have raised the sails on anchor and sailed off; we were running late and didn't want to miss the 11am bridge hoist.... A quick lunch while waiting, then we got through and finally put up our sails.

Of course one of the few times Kirsty and I fight is when we are sailing two handed, changing or setting sails is the main cause to be correct. I visually see things and want them done my way, she thinks things out and goes about it in her own method; of course we are both right! A "discussion" was had as we got the mainsail up with shallow water and a few boats around too close for Kirsty's liking being the culprit. That done Kirsty took the helm and I trimmed us as we chased down the other sailboats that had motored away from the bridge. It's amazing how helming under sail can relax and reset both our personalities. Nemesis is really moving nicely under the new mainsail, and with the re-cut #2 up we were having a great ride. We sailed up the harbor and as we turned the corner to see the Sydney Harbor bridge we were rocking along on a beam reach... PERFECT! It was incredible bay sailing with the sun out, big puffy clouds, warm weather after the cool rain of the weekend, so we stripped down to shorts. We marveled on how this weather had to wait until the long weekend was nearly over to show itself. Figures!

After we sailed under the bridge, it was time to change headies. The wind had been a tad over 10 knots all day, but we could see some clouds and the predicted squalls starting to churn up the harbor a tad. We sailed into the next bay, Balls Head Bay, (home of the Coal Loader, the Australian Navy's HMAS Waterhen, and our favorite Northern Sydney anchorage). This is just over the hill from where we keep Nemesis in Berry's Bay and with some choice swear words, getting picked up off the deck by the errant headie, and of course having to now fight 20 knots of breeze during our two handed sail change, we struggled and got the "new" heavy weather jib up. It is an older Mylar sail, and never had previously fit the boat well, this is the one that would shake and rattle the rig in any heavier winds so Kirsty hated it. It only worked well on the Pacific crossing when we had it poled out, as it fit the length our of spinnaker pole perfectly (cruising downwind, you can place the spinnaker pole out perpendicular to the boat and hold the "loose" end of your jib sail out in order to catch the wind coming from behind). It was now totally reduced in size and just a thin ribbon of sail to keep the boat moving under heavy wind. How's the timing for the wind to blow up above 20 knots right when we get this sail up? Perfect timing for us to check out the shape of the "new" sail in some heavier wind. So with a full main still up, we turn and start to run with the breeze up the Parramatta River.

We are cranking along! 7.5 knots in 17 knots of breeze almost dead downwind (all the sailors know what I'm thinking next - with the boat going with the wind, i.e. the wind is behind us, we are moving at 7.5 knots, and you have to ADD the speed of the "apparent" wind showing on your wind gauge to your speed to get what the "true" wind will be when you turn back into it... yeah, quick calculation and it's going to be in the mid-twenties!) We finished our run down passed Cockatoo Island (where ships have been built in the Sydney Harbor for the last hundred plus years) and knew we were going to be slammed as we turned the corner. The old main would have rounded us up in an instant when overpowered, but the new Doyle sail is incredible. Perfect contours and we can actually tweak and trim it into proper sailing shape. No surprise that when we turned the corner and BANG!, we healed over and started to fly through the reach as we came onto the wind. It was heavy enough where Kirsty was struggling to pull in the main sheet and close-haul it (the mainsail).

We quickly switched positions with Kirsty helming while I trimmed and tacked us up the channel. I was reading 23 knots on the wind instrument, and while looking up at our "Windex" it showed us pointing almost dead into the wind. Damn can Nemmy now point! I checked the log and blinked as it was hovering over 8 knots! Naw, I think to myself.... hull speed is just in the high sevens so we are smoking along as fast as she should ever go. Just to verify the log (it is a small disk that spins under water and shows speed based on revolutions) I check the GPS and it too is over 8 knots... DAMN I think as a huge grin spreads across my face. Eight knots uphill... SWEET!