Bones and poles - all repairable!

IRC Racing v IRC Cruising

There comes a time in a yachties life when you just want to sit back, relax, and race in the cruising division.  Or as I like to call it, the Deckchair Division with minimal spillage.

This is what we had planned for Hamilton Island Race Week. 

After the week long intense racing of Airlie Beach, the four returning crew members from “Quest of Queensland” were looking forward to taking a step back and enjoying the relaxed racing that the IRC Cruising Division brings with it.  Instead of taking it easy, we are on a start line with the likes of Living Doll, Dekedance, Quantum Racing and the infamous crew aboard Secret Mens Business.

Now why would we prefer to be in IRC Crusing instead of on a start line with these hot shot yachts?  It’s all about the crew.  The professionalism that the IRC Racing Division possesses is far and beyond what Quest is racing with this week.  But that is totally our choice.  Quest is carrying new comers to the sport of yacht racing by showing the ropes to doctors and dentists from Sydney and enticing them to all buy yachts so more people get the chance to experience the awesome adventures that yacht racing achieves.

However Quest is a successful yacht and our rating just didn’t allow us to cruise along in the cruising division.  Instead we banged on the courage and took the newcomers to the start line ready for the first onslaught of Hamilton Island Race Week.

It was a downwind start.  Nice and exciting.  Full of fun and adventure as we battled it out with the pros.  The gun blasted and instead of conforming by flying the shoot we pretended we were in the cruising division and casually made our way over the line.  Once settled we looked over our starboard shoulder to see Wedgetail crossing behind us.  Not bad!  They were flying the asymetrical masthead, yet we were cruising past in a casual two sail reaching atire.

But we had to show these newcomes the excitement that yacht racing can offer.  The call for the symetrical shoot was made from the skipper and the hoist was perfect.  Nice work crew!  The cruising division debarkle was far from our minds and we banged it on with the best of them.

Then drama unfolded.  It would seem that spinnaker poles just don’t fancy too much “WANG” and snap action followed.  It all turned a little pear shaped as we rounded up and picked the doctors and dentists up after falling to the leeward side.  Oh well, as all good medics say “bruises heal and surgery works wonders”.  Luckily no one was injured, just a few egos, however they can always be repaired with gaffer tape and rum!

Our recovery from the pole breakage incident was spectacular.  The symetrical shoot was recovered and the asym hoisted.  A broken pole wasn’t going to deter our passion for continuing the race around Daydream Island.

Apart from a few slippages and the occasional slap from the boom, the rest of the race was incident free.  A spectacular sighting of a whale breaching before our eyes and the areobatics from the Rolletes created a fantastic first day racing experience for the guests aboard Quest.  The passion of racing is now in their blood and we are ready for the mammoth race tomorrow. 

Upon returning to shore the usual antics were beginning to unfold.  Quest is berthed next door to the new, yet suspect mates aboard Hardys Secret Mens Business.  This is sure to create additional excitement for the week.

Stay tuned for more.  The stories will unfold and the action recorded. 

Cheers,
OG.