weird yacht race in Hawaii

[tcm]

Somehow or another, via Isis and/or some other crews I get to hear of the Yacht club here in Hawaii, at Kaneohe, NW coast in a protected bay, and ooh you have a boat in Tahiti says someone, ocean sailing? yes yes please do come to the Yacht race, Thursday evening.

The guy sez to be there at 5.30pm and I arrive, meet the guy and some others, all in t-shirts, get a beer, sort of hang about the boat, hi there, hi there. No rush. I wonder where the start is? And when? After 6pm before 6.15ish seize someone. Hum. But the engine doesn’t work. Hum again. I could have a look? Nah, no need. Um, okay. Very laid back.

5.40 and the skipper looks at me closely and points to a mooring line. Can you let that go, feed it out, when I say? Er yeah I could proilly manage that. Sheesh.

So eventually I ask someone - erm, where is the feckin start? And sort of - shouldn't we get out there wot with no engine, hm. It’s here, they say. Eh? Here in the marina? Yep. I mean right here? Yep - all boats tied up to the end of the marina, we let go at specific times and sail out. Pursuit. Jeez! Not really? Yes, really. Past all these other boats in their berths, racing? Yep. Haha.

No wonder he was v specific about that mooring line – letting go of that upwind mooring line is a racing manoeuvre, innit.

6.10pm they fling up the main and number 2, woof, I haul the mooring line to pull us upwind, and off we go, about 8 of us in a J33. I’m on main, neck breaky option, so of course I don’t see much, other than the main sail. Only 40minutes or so, back before dark, we come in second, not bad.

The finish line isn’t back at the head of the marina, tbut a line somewhere at the entrance, thank gawd, and we drift in no probs.

Any other slightly mad yot races out there i wonder?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Sounds like the old Le Mans start; first run to your car...

 

[AndrewB]

A Le Mans start is very Polynesian. We watched the Marquesan racing proas set off that way in Nuku Hiva (see pic). All very butch, with muscular chests (male & female) straining at the paddles for the annual 26 mile marathon around the island.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Looks like they still follow the age-old tradition of hollowing their canoes out from fibreglass trees.

 

[DanTribe]

I used to belong to a club that had mainly cruising types.
Many said that they would like to race but were nervous about all the pre-start manoeuvring.
So we decided to allow starts from the mooring, the race officer just deducted a bit of elapsed time depending on distance of mooring from the start line.
I believe the Old Gaffers sometimes have a race starting with everyone ashore drinking tea, and have to go out in dinghies to start sailing.
The idea being that dinghy use, hoisting sails and mooring are all important parts of the sailing skill, not just boat speed and aggression.

 

[Salty John]

The Family Island Regatta in the Bahamas starts from anchor. Then, depending on the wind direction and how drunk the officials were when they set the course, they race through the cruising boat anchorages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtEquEY0cc4

 

[sailorgirl]

Tuesday evening pursuit racing in Dubai - finishes at dusk so accordingly the start times vary with the time of year. A line is set outside the harbour and each boat is on its honour to start at their appointed time, no spinnakers and no protests permitted. With the smallest boat being around 20 feet, far less than half the LOA of many of the IRC boats taking part it must be a handicappers nightmare to fit the race in after work, get all the boats started and racing completed before dark (a coastguard requirement). Nevertheless everyone has a great time and it goes on all year round despite the heat.

 

[Blueboatman]

Well, ok. Anchors and sails down start at Geargetown regatta too. We came last ( in a two boat class), but hey a junk rig Corribee with three crew ain't much of a match for a 38ft Downeaster. Even with 'stealth' Kevlar jib rigged and ex GP14 spinnaker.

But this is island style. So 'they' won a bottle of rum,
We won a bigger bottle of rum. And name carved into a bar stool somewheres I believe. My kind of racing

 

[fireball]

Well - technically not a race ... cos we ain't insured for that - and races are so frantic ...

at "registration" you have to tell the "race official" what time you'll be back on your mooring
start time is anywhen between two times - same time for the whole fleet ...
round a course - which ever way you like - but shortest way around is about 20 miles ..
oh - you're allowed to use your engine for up to 30 minutes - without penalty ..
back to your mooring - then tell the "race official" what time you picked up and duration of engine used ...

The "race official" then decides who's "won" ... based on the above data but taking into account any dallying spotted ...

But we all have a BBQ and a few beers so it's all good!

 

[DJE]

Once ran a "Navigators Race" at our club. Provided the competitors with the course and the required finishing time. The boats could all start when they liked but their elapsed time was taken from their actual start to the required finish time. Anybody finishing after this finish time was disqualified. The idea is to start as late as possible but not too late!

 

[rwoofer]

Did Moody x-channel race once. It was thick fog and light winds, so we motored most of the way. Won the race as the only competitor who actually made the other side (fortunately others had gone across the day before).