Wednesday, hooray!!

It be Wednesday but sailing not looking like an option, wind already over 25knots. Roman Rock weather monitoring says wind over 15metres per second or in knots 29.2.... Windguru gives Cape Town speed 14 to 19 and gusts 19 to 22... hmmm.... not what I see from Table View more in excess of 25. Anyway we will report for sailing duty around 17h00 and hope for a sail otherwise drinking will begin early.

To date CHEN's twilight series got off to a good start but we were passed by

                               FarMed
              

                                                

                                                        and

Phantom

 off the wind in 1st race, but sailing was great. Took a break last week so today was to be our comeback race, could still be!!!!!!

Here are some pics of 1st Wednesday....

RCYC Opening Cruise 2010

Opening cruise had a theme this year, Rio Carnival. The regular crowd dressed up and dressed their yachts appropriately , go see some photos on the RCYC website . Chen went out with just Heidi, Lindsay, Jacqui, Johan and myself.  Conditions were perfect we did the right thing , saluted the Commodore and on way back to club got water bombed and did a cruise through the waterfront. It was lovely going through the V&A and some of the dressed yacht paraded themselves and entertained the people ashore.
Here again are some pics , thanks again to our 'O.P.' , Jacqui!

CHEN in action

Spring Regatta / MIURA National was Team Chen's first opportunity to match our racing ability against our fellow Miuras. As you can see from the previous posts we went a bit backwards but when we were good we were very good. But here are some views courtesy of Trevor Wilkins , please check out the rest of Spring Regatta photos here !!

MIURA Nationals - Sunday

After a wonderful Saturday evening  Sunday morning dawned calm and looked to be set for heavenly sailing.... how wrong could I be?? Fresh crew, Glen, Beth, Gary and Lara joined the team, unfortunately Elmarie was sick and Johan needed a break. So to the sea we went. 1st race started and on the 1st run the rain set in and that was my humour gone! We survived the 1st race , raced the 2nd and then went home, enough is enough and we were outside the prizes so no point in being wet and cold. CHEN racing has begun for the seasons, we need to fix up a few things but be warned we are re-building.....

MIURA Nationals - Saturday

Awoke to Strong SE, there was a hope for and extended delay to the start of racing, crew not feeling toooo strong.On arrival @ club it was obvious we may miss 1st race of the day, 1 crew member dropped us at 07h00, he decided not available... WHY? #%$@^&%*(...... another just no show. 5 crew can work but conservative sailing called for. We set off for race area and I decide no2 headsail, this was going to prove a bad call, as we got closer to start wind dropped off...... no time to change up must hang in and change on 1st run, which we did. See pic of 1st run. Got new No1 up ready for rest of thec race and yes you guessed , wind built and we finished racing with tooo much sail, shit cannot get it right!!! Next race took tooo long to start, wind was very strong, 'Executive decision' to the bar, so we went home. Short stay at club the home for a GREAT evening in our stunning holiday home.....

MIURA Nationals - Friday

The view from my bed, not bad hey!

Day 1, perfect sailing conditions, crew on board timeously and set about rigging for racing. Hooray out come our brand new No1, lets not damage it!! Three races were raced, geee but I'm unfit. Crew worked well together considering we have not raced together as this team before. Thank you to QUANTUM sail looks and feels great, we just need to start sailing better. Trevor Wilkins took some photos, will post some soon. Party'd at club after and celebrated Heritage Day, this proved the down fall for 'some' crew members....... anyway, ended day by going 'home' to our beautiful home in Murdoch Valley, thanks Jaqui, your taste is impeccable.

MIURA Nationals

Are we ready ????
I think so, word is out for few more crew but the core are ready. We relocate to Simon's Town on Thursday and we'll check out on Sunday 26th. In between lots of fun to be had, hopefully the weather gods treat us well, my wish it for SE 12 to 20knots and nooooo rain.
GOOD SAILING AHEAD, TEAM CHEN.

Photo's of our trip to FBYC

Here are some photos of our trip around to Simon's Town. 

First stop was Hout Bay. 

Then around the Point, 'twas, loong and bitterly cold!!

CHEN is now in Simon's Town @ FBYC

We are around, starting around noon Saturday, we motored to Hout Bay. Beautiful day but noooo wind, seen along the way, Dolphin riding the bow wave of a fishing boat ; Whales within 5 meters lounging around ; Seal playing , feeding and drifting ; and the beauty of  Table mountain and the 12 Apostles ; Surfers at Dungeons in big waves. Overnight in Hout Bay, catching up with friends. Sunday not as early as expected, but by 10h00 motored to Slangkop through rough choppy, 'kak' sea. Hung in , put Genoa up and started sailing, much more comfortable and headed offshore, long tack as wind for the day was 15/18 knots SE. Eventually rounding the Point at 16h30. Sea state at Point lumpy and confused, very uncomfortable and in the bay much the same till Millers Point. Last hour and half wind strong SE and surfed in at 10 knots. Whole day was cold but at sunset became bitterly cold. But  we can now relaxed and look forward to Miura Nationals and Spring Regatta...... (Photos to follow.)  

Look, Look !!!!

Just goes to show, if you are not there then you are not in with a chance! Check where Chen is in the Winter B Series.... 3rd.... Great, we had fun and didn't even extend ourselves, had we been there for all races 'who knows what our result could have been ? ' Let's look at extending this to Miura Nationals.....

Plans for our trip to False Bay around Cape Point

Hello Team, Went to bed with rain , awake to a South Easter, don't we just love Cape weather. This leads me to our plan for going round to Simons Town. Been looking at the 14 day forecast, weekend next, Sat 11th; Sun 12th , wind SW, temp low 20's. Weekend after , Fri 17th- SW, temp 18 ; Sat 18th- SE, temp 18 ; Sun 19th- S, temp 19. Sun 19th is also the race to Simons Town. I think we should plan for 11th/12th. TO DO's are, Diesel, Fresh water, Utensils, Gas and cooker head, Food- cup o' soup;viennas/ham;bread rolls;BarOne; etc Let's chat !!

What a day, stunning Sailing....

What more can I say, Cape Town weather cannot be better at present. At 11h00 weather threatened 'rain' but as the day moved on it just got better. When we crossed the finish line it was warm , steady breeze and flat calm sea..... we should have stayed at sea for sunset, much better than 'rugby'!

CAPE TOWN ROCKS !

Spring has sprung, oops!!!!

Spring has sprung .... or has it, to-day is the official start of spring but true to form Cape Town is delivering all seasons in 24hours. What this signifies is that Spring Regatta is a mere 24 days away and we need crew and practice. Starting this Saturday, let's race and plan our trip to Simon's Town. I must get our entry in and hopefully order that new Genoa!!!

The coming Weekend

Hi Team, I'm having withdrawal symptoms, weather put an end to sailing last weekend, so lets try again for Saturday. Hmmmm ..... looking at the forecast not promising, winter has not 'Left the room'.. !! Windguru forecasts strong wind in morning dying off in afternoon, Let's go for an afternoon sail.

Bad weather, no sailing.

A wise Sailor never goes to sea in bad weather, he only gets caught at sea! Here is today's 00h00 synoptic.

Weekend Ahead

Hi TEAM, Here's hoping the weather does not get too bad on Saturday. I'm planning a bit of skills training, MOB Drill and some boat handling, to assist Gary and Lara.

CHEN's clean up

Great day yesterday, big THANKs to Lara, Jacqui, Gary, Johan and Ian, really great to have you folk helping tidy-up, sort out and generally fix up our goood yacht CHEN. Still lots to do but we'll succeed. Cheers Russell .... picture to follow....

Saturday work party

we are meeting from 09h00 to clean and tidy up Chen. Lunch will then happen at 13h00. Job list:- Clean fenders and wrap in cloth ; clean Hull and Deck ; remove Mainsail ; Sails to loft for repairs ; clean and sterilize bilge ; Chart table and tool draw to be sorted ; etc See you there !

now Team Chen's Blog

I'm going to make this Team Chen's official blog. Our sailing activities will be posted here.

Sailing

Organised crew for Senior Race, Saturday. I'm still tooo young to race my own yacht, so Charles Pace is skipper.