Urban Cowboy Path To RNI

13/03/2023

Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand

13/03/2023

Now the adventure is over and we are back to the real world it’s time to share the journey with you all. Here’s a selection of photos and videos in the other post sharing the highs and lows of the trip. Abit unfortunate that we didn’t complete the full lap due to the debris still floating around on the east coast but we respect the decision of the SSANZ - The Official Group of the Short Handed Sailing Association of NZ team and got to see the ”West Coast” that everyone seems to talk about. For now it’s time to get the boat back out of race mode and catch up with the family and friends and settle back into none life.

23/02/2023

Flags up time to go !

Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand

22/02/2023

If you’d like to follow along here is the link the tracker - http://yb.tl/ssanz2023

You may need to download the yp races app and search for Ssanz Round North Island 2023 and add the race to your feed

22/02/2023

3 more sleeps now and it couldn’t come any sooner. The boat was hauled and washed today the YB Tracker was fitted and most importantly we had our Ssanz pre race inspection and we’ve been giving the tick of approval. Still a couple of ends to tidy up but overall we are set and ready to go!

Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand

17/02/2023

It’s all coming together now, which mean it’s getting pretty close to go time so we are getting the boat into sailing mode again by installing the companion way spray hood and the new lee cloth in the cockpit.

We’ve also got all the iridium go system set up and working now which is highly important for communications while we make our lap around.

Apart form that the second most important thing is food so we’ve built and Installed a new simple and easy cooking setup.

The lights at the end of the tunnel and we are eager to drop line and get going. For the next week before the start, the boat will be hauled out for a wash on Wednesday and we have our pre race inspection aswell. And mainly we’ll be on the boat giving it a big sort out and clean making sure everything is there that’s need to be.

Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand

11/02/2023

08/02/2023

Under 3 weeks to go and we are out heading to Rakino to do our vhf and ais check

18/01/2023

Just under 6 weeks till go time the to do list is slowly getting shorter. So far in the last few weeks we have redone the nonskid on the decks which was well overdue!

Over at Norths all the headsails have now been fitted with soft hanks aswell as reefs added in the J1 and J3. Out of the loft the rest of the sails have been remeasured and checked over to update our PHRF handicap rating and make sure they will be good for us in the race.

03/01/2023

Been abit quite lately with the festive and new year season but we are straight back into it as we only 52 days to go!

We have been quite busy today on Urban. We decided to install a basic solar system to keep the batteries happy, while the decision to set up a new fuel tank system was made as we needed to replace the old keel tank. A new chart plotter and a vhf unit was also installed to ensure we navigate our way around the North Island simply and safely.

Besides all new items onto the boat we have also reinstalled the AIS unit. This will ensure our location is transmitted to shore and other vessels.

Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand

27/11/2022

With many hours of work put into the boat now, we are glad to get some new toys to play with. A new AIS Vhf and chart plotter ready to be fitted on Wednesday.

18/11/2022

Over the past weekend we completed out qualifying passage for the Round North Island, Starting off westhaven dropping lines at 15:00 on the 11/11/22 (friday), we motored out to the lee of the southwestern side of rangitoto to hoist sails. We were upwind and laid through to Gulf harbour (Rakauanaga Point). We tacked out towards Cape Colville till about half way across the Firth which then we tacked back into Flat Rock . With a couple more boards from Cape Rodney out to Anchorite Rock and to Bream Tail we laid upto Sail Rock which we rounded in the morning of the 12/11 (Saturday) at 08:02.

Once rounded we motored out from Sail Rock in a easterly direction to get out of the lee of the Hen And Chicks Islands. Raising the kite we socked down towards Cape Rodney, then which we gybed and headed out for Cuvier Island on a tight to beam reach.

Once at the Island we didn’t go around Cuvier but sailed past on the northern side and tacked back towards Colville, thinking with another beam reach back but ended being on the wind with the forcasted northwest shift coming early.
With a couple of boards along the shore line and out past Channel Island we laid all the way through the Motuihe Channel, dropping sails at North Head and motoring back into Pier 21 Marina closing our trip report and skeds at 03:39 on the morning of the 13/11 (Sunday).

This 235nm sail was a great benefit for us both by getting more miles under our belt together and getting a few ideas thrown around on how we can make the boat easier and faster to sail. with the job list now longer we’ll crack on and will look forward to our next outing!