Need Crew for Marley Point Race

[brianhar]

We are putting our boat in this years Marley Point Over Night Race (MPONR) and need another crew member. So far it's The Admiral, my 23 yr old son and myself. I really like to have a forth crew member to help out.

For those who don't know, the MPONR starts at 7:30pm in the southernmost of the Gippsland Lakes, through the Mclellan Straits and then along Lake Victoria to Paynesville. Total distance about 34nm. Typically 100-150 boats. The faster boats do an extra lap of Raymond Island.

My intent is to drive from Melbourne early on Saturday Morning the 07 Mar, putting the boat in at Paynesville. Fast motor to Marley Point, sign-in, safety check, then get some shut eye before the start. We are not looking to win as the boat still does not have an accurate YA CBH (handicap) to race against. We're just looking at it from the point of adventure.

After the race, will be draggin the boat out of the water, then getting a bit of shut eye before driving back to Melbourne.

I need someone to help out as crew, who is comfortable on a Mac and would have no problems with controlling / working the boat.

So is there anyone out there who wants to join in the adventure?

On edit: I just received the sailing Instructions for the race. There is another Macgregor 26 in the race. Boat name: Sandra M. No idea as to if it is an X, M or something else. I suppose I'll have to wait and see eh!

[brianhar]

Well the race is over, and no one came along for the adventure.

The race started at 7:45pm when it was still light. A good 10 to 15 kts of wind from behind has us flying the kite straight away. We took it down for the turn into the straits, where the wind died out to only a couple knots. Entering the straights was hair raising as boats were not concentrating and causing a few collisions. One clown called for water room to a boat that had already ran aground. We managed to go throught he mess with out even tacking once.

Further down the straights and I could hear this splashing noise behind us, to suddenly see a pod of dolphins jumping out of the water right next to us. Not a common sight at midnight, but perked us up nicely.

A gybe and shortly the kite was back up agin and stayed there for the rest of the race. We finshed at 0245, making it a seven hour race for us, and quite an experience.

As far as the results are concerned, outright we were 32nd across the line in our division out of 62 finishers (150 in all divisions). On handicap we placed 48th. Before the race I asked that our Class Basic Handicap (CBH be lowered below the .7 mark from .715. We were given .685. By doing some back calculating after the race we were well below the .6 mark. I'd like to see something like .615 as being possibly acheivable as compared to the current CBH.

The other Mac in the race was an X. We saw it for a while after the start, but it did not run a kite, so naturally we pulled away from it quickly. On handicap the boat came last.

By the way, the Start boat was a 26 M.

This was a great experience and we'll definitely be doing it next year. Would be great to see some more Macs take up the challenge.

Have a good one.

[Clemo]

Brianhar, what can I say, well done. I am so envious.

I saw a picture before the start, clearly featuring a mac on another forum. I was going to ask here if it was a member of this forum, and here is your report. Thanks for that, like I said, pure envy. Perhaps next year.

Were there any major mods or equipment that you had to have to get through scrutineering? I imagine that the same kit would be required for the Heaven Can Wait.


Tks
C ya.

[brianhar]

Clemo,
good to see another person interested in doing a bit of racing of the mac. I am heavily thinking about making it up for the Heaven Can Wait Race this year. Just need to do some more research on the logistics side. Would more likely go up there for a couple of weeks to make the 1100km each way trip worth the drive. Looks like a great event though!

As far as mods are concerned, not that many really. Being a Cat5N race most of the stuff can be stored anywhere. The most expensive item being a Heavy Weather Jib. Which I had made up out of an earlier failed attempt at making a self tacking jib (I'm hoping the next version, which will be tried out during Easter fares a lot better). Mechanical mod, being the 'Alternate method of Steering'. Which ended up being some pre manufactured bits from Bunnings to make a metal fence. A bit of a cut, a small weld and the jobs done. I made up a small fitting that fits onto the outboard motor, the pipes slide together easily and makes a very useful tiller for using the motor. My concept being that if the steering broke, I'm not going to race effectively anyway. Retire from the race, disconnect the steering, raise the rudders, fit the pipes and tiller steer the outboard home. Very Cheap mod. Other than that, I put red celephane over the interior lights to conserve night vision. Stocked up the fridge, with plenty of drinks and chockies and had a ball. The only other mod I'll make for future night races is to replace the stern light with an LED globe and replace the front lights with dedicated LED lights, as the accessories battery was a bit low after the seven hours of sailing with the Nav lights and stereo running. Oh! and the 2 DVD's we watched on the 17" LCD probably didn't help either

Have good one

Brian

[Clemo]

Brian, we are a complete novice crew re racing, much more into cruising. But the challenge of 24hr and charity aspect of the HCW is attractive. Enclosed waters as well.

From your comments above, you run a fridge, TV, and a couple of batteries. So you didn't go without. We are similarly set up, and we run a little computer with memory-map GPS and wireless internet. So LED lighting would be good.

The tiller attachment to the outboard strikes me as a very effective mod. I have wondered what I would do if we had trouble with the cable. How would we control the outboard? Simple stick under the transom seat.

I shall look into a storm jib.

Thanks for your reply. We too have logistical problems in getting the boat to L.Macquarie. Still, plenty of time to prepare. Be good fun to sail with a fleet of Macs.

Tks again,
C ya.