But wait there's more

What I skipped was the last race. Jenni had to leave us but we decided we were able to manage with 6 as the winds were forecast to be light. With Celine's knee rather bad after the near overboard moment we put her in Jenni's spot on main and strings and Dee went forward for the spinnaker hoists to help Karen. We started at the Eastern line again and had another excellent start. The course was very short, no Lindeman race for us this year because of the very light winds. We chose the right side of the course and headed south to the laid mark on the west side of Pentacost and were a bit dismayed to find our sister boat which had taken the left side of the course was right beside us again.  They beat us round the buoy in near windless conditions but got caught in a mess of other boats. We stayed out and got clear air, a perfect hoist and ran home passing several other boats on the way. As we prepared to gybe into Dent Passage Dee almost jinxed us saying "what can possibly go wrong". What went wrong was that Dee and Karen could not free the spinnaker pole from the mast.  We tried dipping (pole too long), Dee swung on it (still stuck), lowered it to the deck and raised it to vertical with no success and then Karen belted it with a winch handle and it came free. We then gybed and headed for the finish line. With boats ahead we could see dead spots to avoid and where the current was running favourably. We had a neck and neck race to the finish with a fellow, but larger, Sunsail boat which we lost by a whisker but we were elated by the fact that we beat a number of boats in our division that usually were ahead. An anxious wait then brought the results. We came third, yes a podium finish at last, and even better we were fourth overall for the regatta. A fantastic result, and even more so given it was only on count back that we lost to the third boat.

 Champagne on the Yacht Club deck

Podium finish

It was a fantastic week and we know we have raised some money for Pinnacle Foundation although not yet how much. In the next few days I will post more pictures as they come to hand and also what the fund raising effort was when the accounts are in.

And so goodnight...

This morning we stripped all the improvements off the boat, I had a sad moment pealing our pineapples off the bow, put the ton of second anchor back on board and packed our bags. Jenni left yesterday, Dee was first to go today. Then Celine and Karen, Anni and Julie with Laine staying one more night. Meanwhile some of the less beautiful people than us were on the island playing.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/private-sydney/private-sydney-super-stars-billionaires-and-super-yachts-20130823-2shh5.html


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Dusk and Dawn

Gorgeous sunset last night and still morning for our last day of racing. Another day of light winds and big tides. We are all getting a little tired.





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Some pictures

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Awesome and Awful

Today we had an awesome sail, a great start, third across the line in clear air and then a great sail in light and shifty winds all the way south to the north of Lindeman. Then an excellent spinnaker hoist with our new longer pole and after a short unfortunate lull when our sister bost finally managed to pass us, we ran home under spinnaker. Then, you know when you see those photos where the spinnaker is flying off the head of the mast with nothing else holding it, that was us. And Celine was almost swept off the deck. Very quick thinking by Dee and Karen saw her back on board a bit bruised and battered. We got across the line, came 9th and are now 4th in the series. Not so bad.


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Another 4th

We had a very mixed day today with a great start, a nasty spinnaker wrap quickly unwrapped by Celine. Then some long tacks to Pentacost Island with good speed and then a big spinnaker run back.
And we came 4th which is very pleasing given the glitches. We have high hopes for tomorrow.


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Pinnacleadas reach the Pinnacle

This morning, still high on the tug of war victory, our boat people accompanied by Julie climbed the mountain on Hamilton Island. Then they came down and cooked us all a very fine brunch.


Celine and Karen


Julie


Dee


The view from the top.

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