Just Cruizin On Bluemoon

Log 74

Where to start... where tostart...there has been so many things going on in our lives since thestart of this new year... Great things that is...

The8th Royal Langkawi Regatta was quite a race!! LOL We all registered,and had to have our sails measured - which proved to be a real test ofcharacter for me especially as we rated the highest handicap out of ourseries! That meant we had to win outright to actually win! Now let meput you in the picture here.... we took off the washing machine, thegenerator, sewing machine and LOTS of books and magazines as well asswoping the anchors.... so we came out the water a touch, but we neveremptied the boat which would have been a nightmare with all the stuffwe have on board!! Two years school work for each kid, and, and, and.... our boat was H-E-A-V-Y!! (So our handicap WAS our handicap) Weshould rightfully have been placed in the Premier Cruising series andNOT in the RACING series.... which really tested each ones metal as wehad to work our butts off hehehehe (which was really fun andfrustrating in the same breath!) The one boat which is made of carbonfiber and weighs almost as much as me I am sure wins EVERY regatta andrace as they can point much better than we can even dream of and are solight!! Vertical time who were really fantastic have a Knysna, oursister, which was fabulous!! We resolved to just have fun, give ourbest and not break the boat!!! John helmed, Justine and I worked thehead-sail sheets while Jono and I handled the spinnaker while Justineworked the sock.... Jess was our beverage and food organizer who helpedpull in the sheets when the winds were strong - so we all worked verywell as a team!

Every day was two races, then we had the around the Islandrace, then another two races and our last race was only one for thelast day.... so the very first race was in Bass Harbour with NO wind!!It was so light that we surprisingly even drifted over the startline!!! We had a good laugh and worked every muscle winching thesheets, trimming and hauling out the spinnaker!! We came second in thefirst race, then by a change in Neptune the winds picked up a touch andso we were half way in a tack back to the start line when the sirenwent off for the start of our SECOND race!!! My gosh - trying tobinocular the flags to see when ours went up, then the siren for thestart of a minute then four minutes then GO was a little confusing forall of us, yet we got through the start a little late, waving to thestart boat and all on it to have a rather exciting race... we camesecond for the second race.....

Our neighbor, Richard Blair the journalist, was reportingthis years regatta by writing a newsletter for each day of the tworaces, and to our surprise we read this caption of the newsletter forthe day that really made us laugh..... "....others maneuvered then thefive sports boats and it was a stronger start for the Multihulls exceptthat Bluemoon was caught doodling far to the west of the line and tooka long time to get into the race..." We were really thrilled with ourabilities, yet realized that cruising and racing are NOT the samething!! There is just sooooooooooooo much more to racing! So Johnhopped onto the internet and started to read up about the sails andpointing and, and, and.... we had been flying our monster spinnakercommakazi style which worked wonderfully for us, but we had used it thecorrect way like a big front sail on either tack and were surprised athow easy it went except she only flies in over 6 knots! So I washanging off the bow trying to keep her out the water so we did not rideover her!

Yet all in all it went well and we were ratherpleased finishing off second... Vertical time came 1st and we wereready to take on the hobi-cat instructor here as VT had Gorge who is ahobi-cat instructor and was good! We realized how little we knew!! Sowe had to learn as we went....

The opening dinner and partywas very nice! They had traditional fire dancers, and traditionaldancers which we joined and danced along with them... the food wasdelish and receiving our trophy's were a proud moment!!! John went upfor the first race then Justine for the second....

Thefollowing morning we were up at the crack of dawn ready to take on theworld lol! We had firm winds with faster runs and loads more fun andexcitement!!!! We had a rectangular course with a windward-leewardrepeat..... now the newsletter for that race caption went.... "... thecats pussy-footed across in a ragtag line ..." while he continued towrite about two yachts hitting into each other... no damage thoughthank goodness!! We were racing over white caps and beating our assesoff!!! On our second race we were rounding the buoy with intensiveconcentration as the gate seemed to small to go through when we heardsomeone 'singing' on the VHF racing channel 'Blue moon.... I saw you standing alone!!! "whahahahaha!! we were so taken back with our intense concentration thatwe could not reply lol and when we came through the gate we had missedthe moment!!! The wind was up to 30 and we were doing just over 11knots over the water... we had the spinnaker out and had to bring herin just as we passed the buoy and there the line had gone under thekeel over the prop and while holding onto the line which was useless inthose winds... pulled me down with a thump where I twisted the lowerpart of my back.... John had to cut the guy line off the spinnaker sothat Jono and I could pull here through.... we were battling with thewaves splashing over the bows drenching us and making our footingextremely slippery if we stood on the spinnaker while pulling her in...whew!! It was there that I just passed out! Must have been the heat andbeing covered in the spinnaker, but there was Jono screaming at me!!!!!John left the helm and all of us crew were checking me out while wewent off course!!!  Yet we gave it our all and entered the finish line3rd! Not bad going considering.... yet I was okay and needed alot ofbeverages to cool me down!!!

We had 28 boats/yachts racing in different series... 215participants....so we had a few moments of very close situations wherewe had to bear off almost continuously for about three minutes... wecould easily have held hands with the crew on that boat that slicedinto our starboard bow! The waves and swells were up so it was actuallyquite a nail biting few minutes, yet lost some precious time fightingnot to touch each other!!! Hair raising moments I tell you!! We had barely come in from the race when we tacked and were back intothe second race for the day!! Boy were we ready to keep going!! hehe

Here is a caption from the newsletter for the fourthrace...."Bluemoon led the Multis with Da Vinci starting tactfullylate." Tactfully late?lol!!! Not quite... we just were in the rightplace unknowingly at the right moment!! lol  Our radio went funny asone of the officials were sitting on their radio which buzzed of allthe goings on on their boat LOL!!! So we missed the news about theMultis coming around for the next race... Vertical Time alerted us asthe starting!! So we made it!!! hehehe

The 20 mile Around the Island race was the most excitingyet frustrating of all!! We were allowed to clock the start timeanywhere between 8am and 09:15am....so we were up before dawn or thesunrise and headed out for the start line just as the light startedcoming in... we were the first yacht heading for the start line whichwas off the south coast  of Pulau Tuba. We radioed in to the start boatto check if that was the starting position as they had not yet put thebuoy down to form the starting gate!!! The wind was really pumping andwe were rearing to go having the current in our favour, yet the delaywas a trial on it's own!!! Tacking and jibing by the start line tilleverything was ready to go... Jono and I were hanging off the bow to doa starboard spinnaker tack when just as we were about to let her loose,John was yelling above the whistling wind to abort!!!! They were tryingto move a fishing boat right in our path - lifting their nets!!!!! Sothe frustration levels and yelling on Bluemoon was a great stressreliever!! Tensions were rising when we saw all our competitors sailingto the start line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had lost almost half an hour!!!We clocked in at 08:29:15 and let the spinnaker loose which was such athrilling moment in 17 knots of wind!!!! We all had our nerves runninghigh in such high winds with such a huge spinnaker (170 square meters)when we had to tack her all the way downwind. We had a good run goingout to sea while other yachts stuck close to the coast. We went throughthe first gate at the southern tip of Pulau Dayang Bunting doing verywell - Vertical time on our heels!!! They passed us on the second gateand we stuck close to her wake ....Unfortunately gate 2 was in a coveon Pulau Singha Besar which fed our frustration as there was NO wind!!!We all bobbed around angling for the puffs of wind - da Vinci followingus... and both of us trying to out maneuver each other for the wind....Vertical Time fell back and it seemed we had the leeway out, but thatproved to be just a puff which Da Vinci caught and were on theirway.... then Vertical time... and a few others then finely us.... wetacked all the way up the channel... 14 tacks!!!!!!!! Beatingupwind!!!! My gosh were we all sunburned, windswept, crashing into thewaves!! One yacht had de-masted and were tying the mast on with theirmotors rearing to get to shore.... a young female crew on Koull babywas taken ashore for medical treatment as she got caught in the sheetsand ended up with a sprained arm... another crew jumped for the dock tomoor on but missed the dock hitting and maybe breaking a rib or twothen hitting his head and falling back into the water unconscious!! (Hedid break a rib but is back on the road to recovery) We made our timecoming through a group of little Optimists - the last tack whilecrossing the buoy and the finishing line.... 3rd! 6 HOURSlater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!What a day! Stomped toes, blisters, burnt hand andlegs and feet - wind swept - EXHAUSTED!!!!! We moored up with somedifficulty with the wind still blowing... slept dead to the world whenwe finely went to sleep!! Not even a bomb would have roused any ofus!!!!

Then it was up early -totally disorganized....having a strong cuppa while sailing out to the start line...  the windwas yet again pumping and the winds were up!!! What an exciting day!!!!We were up to 9.4 knots and had already reefed in the main! We wereflying!! We came about on a very fast jibe and the lazy line fouled onthe mast winch... what an ordeal to sort it out!!! We were allscreaming as we saw the pink flag go up and siren go off!!! We allthought it was the start so coming in last, just behind Da Vinci, werealized the boats had passed the line before the time so we slackedthe Genoa, and bumped just behind the line!!!! The others had to do a360 around the buoy for default while we thundered through at thecorrect start time!!!! What a feeling!!! 1st!!! Vertical time on ourheels!!!  When we tried to sea wing the sail, the main was stuck andwould not release completely open!!!! The sheet had pulled through therunner and would have torn right off from the broken wheel so we had toput a preventer which lost us alot of time using the priest to hammerher out!!!! Boy what a defeating moment!!!!! Yet we raced on under theconditions and again it happened so we decided after the radar bowlcame crashing down that we had to take it easy, so we reefed in andkept at a steady pace beating da Vinci for a good run! Vertical timepointed higher and so missed doing a few tacks which gained them bigtime!! We were cheering them on just as we eased passed da vinciwithout us colliding!!!! Boy was it close!!!!! John and I were hangingonto the Genoa almost off the boat with our curtain out the back just10 seconds after Da Vinci who used a tiny spinnaker.... the wind wasway up in the 30's so could not consider it..... We came yet againthird while the other boats cruised through the finish line afterus.....

We had an awesome finishing cocktail dinner andparty! The kids danced the night away while everyone was throwing eachother into the pool!! John and I danced, ate, and enjoyed chatting withall our competitors... the camaraderie was incredible and the feelingof doing something totally unknown to us, succeeding and coming thirdwas a great moment for all on Bluemoon!!! We all went up for our trophyand photograph dressed in our Bluemoon shirts!! It was now over....what an achievement for us!!

We partied till midnight where we celebrated the 16th - my 43rd Birthday!

I was awoken to coffee and a gourmet cake and my gift!!!!

Aftera shower and getting ready we headed for the Cinema complex where thekids were up to something while John and I went for coffee... my firstsip and my cup slipped and spilled all over me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Musthave been the swollen raw fingers!!!! hehehehe

i was thentreated at a stunning spa, a facial, and reflexology - back, face, legsand feet!! It was just stunning!! With sore muscles and raw body partsit was such a treat!!

We then went to the movies andwatched Jackie Chans latest movie... then it was off to Amanda's togive her, her gift as it was also her birthday!!!! We bought the taxidriver a coffee too while we had coffee with Amanda and Fakhrees, towish her. Then it was back to the club for a wonderful dinner atCharlies.... we ended it with coffee and a longing for bed!!!!!

Wokeup with a touch of a cold this morning!! But fighting it with 1000 VitC!! Then Ben popped over in-between getting our stuff back ontobluemoon!! Gosh, packing again all the books and, and, and... what aday! Then Gina and her parents arrived - and had a great visit.... thekids getting ready for the start of school tomorrow while I catch up onthe log and stat planning our next adventure in a few weeks which Iwill share with you all later!

Till more news, keep on living life to the fullest!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love always, John Jenny Justine Jessica and Jonathan x