"Ocean Racing Rookie"(tm) Goes Hobart!

TL;DR

We did it. We finished Sydney Hobart 2021 race two-handed. It was awesome. I'm totally sold on shorthanded racing from now on, especially for long offshore.

No crew management issues. Less paperwork (I've got enough even for two of us, can't imagine chasing 15 people for their vaccination certificates). The head is always free, so I can wake up 10 mins before my watch and not 45 mins, as I used to do on a fully-crewed boats. Food is easy (our lunches and dinners for the whole race is less than one meal on Arctos..). No dealing with other people mistakes - whatever goes wrong it's my fault. Communication is easy. Shall I continue?

(photo by Andrea Francolini Photography Pty Ltd)

What went well?

We've Learned A Lot

It was a hell of a learning curve for me. I've learned a lot and I've learned how much is still there to learn (it's not like I didn't know but...)

The Start

I didn't crash into anything or anyone on the start line (thanks to Jason!).

We decided to use #3 jib even on the start (instead of a bigger jib or, for God's sake, a spinnaker!) so we don't need to do any sail changes outside of the Heads. It was a very good idea, really - at least for us. More control (I was stressed enough already), less dramas.

Overall Results

One might argue that 8th out of 10 is not something to be particularly proud of. However considering that:

• I never skippered a race before. Hobart was my very first one.
• I don't know how to sail really. 
• This is my first boat which I bought 7 months before the race and didn't sail much because of COVID
• We had just a few days of training together so we didn't know how to sail Flat White properly
• Unbelievable ORCi handicap of 1.2257 (the worst in the whole class)

I expected us to be the last. So the results exceed my expectations. And we made it there before the fireworks!

Food

I precooked, froze and vacuum-packed all lunches and dinner. Worked like a charm: get the bag, put it into a pan of boiling water, leave for a while (hint: you can use salt water even). Get the bag out, cut, put into two bowls, discard the bag. Minimal time spent downstairs, no garbage and the only washing needs to be done is two spoons and two bowls.

Hint: I cooked double amount of each meal so we were eating the same meals during our training. That allowed me to ensure the portion size is right and my co-skipper is happy with the food.

Sickness bags

On the first evening we lost our AIS so I went down below for troubleshooting. 3 minutes in that rabbit hole of my cabin and I was done.As sick as a dog - despite having more Stugeron in my blood than blood itself.... So for the first 36 hours of the race I spent 33 minutes downstairs - 3 times by 10 mins for the radio skeds and those miserable 3 mins of unsuccessful AIS fixing attempt. Have you ever tried speaking over HF radio while throwing up? Well, you might wonder why is this story under "went well" category? because of those things. They are brilliant. Made of paper, absorb liquid, can be thrown overboard after. No mess, no buckets, minimal discomfort for the co-skipper.

Strongly recommended. 

Thermos

Got one from Anaconda just before the race. So we boiled a kettle once, filled it with the boiling water - the water was hot enough to make tea 12 hours later. Again, no time wasted downstairs waiting for the kettle to boil, just jump down below, make tea/hot chocolate, get back on deck.

Safe Packing Kite System

OMG, those little things are brilliant. They allow you to "wool" a kite w/o violating RRS 55 - the yarn does stay on the sail - and they work like magic. I was a bit skeptical first but now I have them on all my spinnakers. I didn't try them on strong wind but below 15 kns the kite stays wooled until you pull the sheets. Hint: I made a mistake of sewing them on the equal distance along the luff. What makes much more sense is having them closer to each other in the middle, where the sail belly is, and separate them more near the tack and the head.

No, I'm not getting paid for promoting them.

What We Do Better Next Time

Training. Training and More Training. 

Seriously, we were sooo underprepared. We were learning how to sail her during the race. So by the finish time we were more or less ready. What we should have done is to have a training run from Sydney to Hobart and back before the race.

For example we did lost a lot of ground because we didn't put an asymmetrical up on the first night of the light wind.

- Shall we get the kite on deck?

- Our very first asymmetrical hoist at 2am? Absolutely no, unless you like to live dangerously!

....as our 6am hoist clearly demonstrated, I was right...it was a dog's breakfast...

Navigation

It was the first time I ever navigated a race and clearly I was underprepared (do I keep using the word 'underprepared' over and over again??)

Expedition setup wasn't completed, the YD gateway was half-connected (if there is a such a thing as 'half-connection'...smth like 'slightly pregnant, I guess). 

Light Wind Sailing

The first 36 hrs - when the most of retirements happened - were actually easy. No, I do not enjoy being sea sick and bruised. But sailing in strong wind is easy. You grind everything tight, set the course and wait for seasickness to be over (almost like a hangover...). If the boat doesn't break - that's it. What's really challenging is the light wind conditions. Constant focus, attempts to keep the boat moving. Exhausting - probably because I'm not very good at it, to say the least.

Find the Right Committee Boat to Report PoB and Storm Sails

It was hilarious. First I went to the wrong side of the start line. Confusing east and west sounds like a great way to start the race. Then I forgot that it's a boat on the second line, not the forth. Finally I demonstrated inability to count to two, and tried to report at the line #3.

Arrive to Tasman Island Before Sunset

Tasman Island is beautiful, I like it. I really do. But I've got enough of it, drifting there and back from 9pm Dec 30th till 11am Dec 31st. "Hobart Race Control, it's Flat White again. It's 5th time we are south of Tasman Island, ETA is unknown".

Highlights

The start line

(© Copyright Salty Dingo 2021)

We left CYCA very early,  around 10am - so I had time to control the breathing, lower the heard rate below HIIT zone and get myself familiar with the start line. 

Jason talked me through the start procedure, which calmed me down significantly. I guess I'm really nervous when I don't have a clean action plan, an algorithm, a picture of what exactly we are going to do, how and when. As long as I can describe to myself the expected sequence of events  I'm (reasonably) calm and focused. Otherwise I'm in panic mode.

Needless to say, we were very late for the start. Not as late as I initially suggested ("we have 4 hrs to start, so how about we leave the dock after the start signal?") but still. 

- It's one minute countdown, may I suggest we start thinking about unfurling the jib and going for the line?

We were not even the last boat out of the harbour though. The run towards the Heads was better than any rollercoaster I've ever ridden (and I've ridden a lot). During out training the phrase I heard from Jason much more often than anything else was 'Jen, you steer, I'll do the rest'. That's exactly what happened there. "Hold this course. Come up a bit. Follow that guy. Down now". I'm not often satisfied but I shall say it wasn't bad. I even avoid a committee boat about the first mark (why were they so close??) and the media boat outside the harbour (my expression on that photo actually means 'could you please get out of my way???")

Psychedelic Sailing

Evening of 27th. Twilights. Wind eased, sea state calmed down, the temperature dropped. I managed to eat a banana and get a glass of yoghurt. I'd been on deck for 36 hours. If any law enforcement officer sees what I was seeing, they would have made offshore racing as illegal as LSD. I always blamed sea sickness medication for those vivd visual effects, but it looks like sleep deprivation is really a key. I still saw water, and lights, and clouds. But there were also buildings, cars, trees. People. Like a colourful overlay on top of so-called "objective reality".Very beautiful and very annoying - I was trying to figure out what's this red light ahead of me and seeing medieval buildings around it didn't help at all....Like it's not enough, my brain decided I needed a full multimedia experience, so it turned the autopilot noises into voices - speaking indistinctly in a language I don't understand.

Fortunately Jason appeared on desk soon after dark and I felt reasonably confident I can jump down below and crash on a bank w/o getting sick immediately. 3 hours later I'm as sane as usual - until the next offshore race, I guess. 

Will I do it again? 

Definitely! So stay tuned...