To all who want to keep up with the latest in Andiamo's offshore campaign 2000, bookmark this page so that you can get the results at a glance. We will endeavour to keep it up to date during the campaign - here are links to the Pacific & Kenwood Cup results pages, and the Yacht Club where Andiamo will berth prior to the Pacific Cup, following is a diary of significant events:
The Encinal Yacht Club, Oakland
May 1999
Andrew rings the Senator, Sneaky and Bim to join him for lunch at Keelers to discuss the possibility of entering Andiamo in the Pacific and Kenwood Cups in the year 2000. It would be fair to say that this became a long lunch and the campaign was duly launched!
This link will take you to the period from May to the End of June when Andiamo was being packed up and loaded onto the ship to San Francisco Including Photos from the Fantastic Fundraising Lunch on 23rd June.
2 July 2000 - From now on this is Local US time
Andiamo arrives in San Francisco and is motored to Svendsens Yard, slight problem with the motor, but Sean from Svendsens and Steve from EYC are working on it!
Steves Comments:
"Aloha Andiamo gang!! Pleased to report that Andiamo is safely tied up to her mooring at Svendsen's Marine in Alameda, California, USA. The Direct Jabiru crew was great, and Ivan and his stevedore's off-loading her made it a two hour precision surgical manuever. Why? Because they all recognized the tug boat we had organised for the morning as belonging to former tug boat Captain and EYC member Danny Wilson (sadly, deceased). Sea Dive is now owned by his gracious widow Jackie, who loaned her to fellow EYC member Colin Dewey (the man is a master with large shipping manuevers and all things ocean) for the Andiamo mission. Also on board for the morning's duties were 'able bodied seamen' Laraine McKinnon (see her link, well, mine too at Cascade), EYC Commodore Bill Stephens, and EYC member Michael Redmond. For the afternoon contingency, we had a few new 'volunteers' (hey, they said they were bored...)- Board Member Tom Foley and Staff Commodore Joseph Melino joined us, with Joseph's capable vessel 'Esprit Victorieux' as the new tow vessel, again under Colin Dewey's formidable guidance, to complete the last leg of the voyage to Svendsen's- all 300 meters! So, that is the report- a fun and successful day! Allegedly I was in charge, though I must say that other than signing the papers, my crew and Colin's expertise made it so easy, there was nothing for me to do but 'look good' and buy 'em all a few pints afterwards! Look forward to seeing you this week! Cheers, Steve Rienhart(and Laraine too!)"
- Thanks Steve!
4 July 2000
American Independence Day!! The dedicated Steve found time to send us this:
Recent press coverage in the SF Bay Area for Andiamo comes in our local sailing 'rag' Latitude 38. In The Pacific Cup Preview - Kites to Kaneohe Andiamo gets honorable mention for the:
"Long distance award - Andiamo (Wellington, NZ) by a hair over Kiwi Coyote (Auckland, NZ).
Biggest struggle to get to the starting line - Kiwi Coyote by a hair over Andiamo. Kiwi Coyote is being delivered to Long Beach on a container ship on July 2, and then has to bash up the coast - yuck! Meanwhile, Andiamo is being shipped to Oakland via Fiji, a dangerous place to pass through lately due to a military coup in progress."
The rest of the article is fun & we've saved you a copy. I will note that our sistership the Antrim 27 E.T. is favored to take first overall "if they can keep the rig and rudder in it." (Our rudder gudgeon busted two weeks ago after 22 hours of racing, 3/4 through our race. So, we're currently landlubbers, but that leaves us with plenty of time to be ground support for Andiamo!)
Safe flight to the crew, we look forward to your arrival.
5 July 2000
Steve sent these photos from the Encinal Yacht Club party, the first features Bobbi & John (who are racing to Hawaii)and Steve with drink in hand in the background, the second is a taste of what the Hawaii bound Crew and Supporters have to look forward to in a few weeks time!
Marina Village Party at Encinal Yacht Club, as none of the Andiamo crew are there yet, we were ably represented by Steve Reinhart. Just so the crew here felt like they didn't miss out, a few farewell drinks were enjoyed at Royal Port Nick as well. During the evening Gadg presented the crew with the proceeds from the lunch - $9234.50 - WOWWEEEEEE! There was some talk of making it an annual event, I'm sure no-one would object to this at all!
6 July 2000
Almost all of the Pacific Cup crew left Wellington and Auckland bound for San Francisco:
Stephen Moir (The Senator)
Peter Sandford (Sneaky)
David Henderson (Slave)
Lesley Hamilton (Legs)
Malcolm Smith (Mal,he needs a nickname!)
Richard Muirhead (Wiz)
Mike Boyd (Chipper)
Rick Menalda (Riccardo).
We saw them off with a few beers of course and just as they were set to go through the gate we found out the plane was running 20 minutes late. So there was time for just one more! It will be about 19 hours before they get to San Francisco and rumour is it they will go straight to the boat to begin unpacking and getting ready to step the mast! Just hope they remember to pop off and send some E-mails so I can continue to keep you all up to date.
6 July 2000
SHOCKING NEWS JUST IN - Just heard that Kiwi Coyote (the other Kiwi entrant in the Pacific Cup) has lost her rig on the sail from LA to San Francisco. Kiwi Coyote ended up going on the Columbus Line ship that decided not to go to San Francisco at the last minute - refer back to 15th June so ended up having to sail/motor up the coast. The weather report we recieved this morning was winds of 25-30Kt from NNW and 3m seas. Our commiserations go out to the crew and we trust you can get this sorted out once you reach San Francisco. Andiamo and Kiwi Coyote are in the same division in this race so a good old Kiwi tussle should be on! If any more news regarding this comes to hand we will update it here.
7 July 2000 - NZ time this time
UPDATE ON KIWI COYOTE from Jim Quanci (PacCup organiser)
"Kiwi Coyote lost their rig off of Santa Barbara. No injuries.
They
jettisoned the old rig overboard with minimal damage to the
boat.
They made friends with the local Southern California spar maker
and with
"everyone pitching in" are just finishing up the "new" rig
today/tomorrow
(the basic mast and spreaders were completed earlier today).
In the mean time, the boat with a few modifications to fit the
new rig
(sounded like a little deck work)is already motoring north
(rigless). They
plan to reach San Francisco in 3-4 days - where they will meet
up with the
new (aluminum) rig that is being shipped from Southern
California to a local
San Francisco boat yard by truck (or do you call it lorrie in
NZ?)for final
rigging work and stepping. The only question that needs to be
answered is
if Kiwi Coyote wants a Thursday July 13th start (as they
originally
requested) or a Friday July 14th start (giving them an extra day
of leeway
in case there are any unforeseen delays) - a decision we need
made in the
next day or so - in time for Saturday's Skippers meeting."
Andiamo news is that they got there, a bit tired, usual flight hassles, lost luggage, delays etc - all duly updated in the Guestbook by the vigilant Steve of course!
7 July 2000
Ricko also managed to catch up with an old friend from NZ at the EYC - yes there is information arriving from everywhere! The welcome Andiamo party was obviously a great success, rumour has it that Steve R bought a number pitchers of beer and required to be put to bed by wife Laraine who then returned to Clubandiamo hotel where as normal an instantanious party had started. As a result at least one of the Andiamo crew was a little unwell in the morning and tried to call home on the big white telephone.
Aloha Andiamo party at Encinal Yacht Club.
This was the first day the team spent working on the boat, by all accounts work is progressing "brilliantly" apart from a few questions of the Skipper (who is still in NZ). Of course there is lots of incentive to get lots done with the big party tonight. Also heard that the weather is a little cooler than expected, so the cry went out to send another fleece for Sneaky - when I finally found it in the dryer, I had to wonder if the real story was that he had forgotten to pack it!
8 July 2000
Today the team (some with sore heads) have borrowed a Volvo station wagon and are going to another Yacht Club for the skippers briefing. As they are leaving early Tails hopes they remember some of it and how to get home. Earlier (6:30 am NZ time) Senator and Sneaky phoned Tails who says they sounded quite good and virtuous!! The news was the mast is in boat and collar poured so nothing can happen for the rest of the day while mast collar sets.
9 July 2000
"It is so much fun to finally be able to put faces and nicknames together - though don't know if we'll ever figure out this crew's real names! A wonderful gang of energetic and dedicated people on Andiamo for sure.
And to think I got a call from Peter last night (1am SF time) trying to tell me it was all work and no play! Hmmmmmm!
Todays update is from Laraine (Steve's devoted partner!)
It is 8pm Pacific Daylight Time, and word from my significant-other Steve is that Andiamo has just had her first sail in the waters of the San Francisco Bay!!! He rang on the cell phone to say that they were under spinnaker approaching EYC and that he was at the helm. Yes he is one of those people who drive and talk on the mobile at the same time!
Last night was great fun with the surprise arrival of Andrew &
Pip. They even surprised us - we expected them around 5pm but they didn't get in until 10pm. Tails and Pip arrived at the hotel just before the crew returned back to the hotel after a massive Italian dinner at Linguini's (carbo-bulking has
started!). Some smart crew member decided that instead of having
the (obligatorily) loud 'welcome Andrew & Pip party' in the hotel
room, where we'd get what you call 'red cards' for the noise - we should all go to the hotel's lobby. Steve and I left them on the couches in the lobby around 11:30pm where they still had a third of a bottle of rum to go.
We took a couple of photos of the gang before we left & I hope to get them to Elizabeth tomorrow to post.
Off to meet them all for a late dinner..."
11 July 2000
Have also gathered that Kiwi Coyote will now start the race on the 14th rather than with Andiamo on the 13th - Good Luck to you both. Today also saw the first of the Pacific Cup boats start racing so it's all on from here!
The promised photo - they all look pretty happy! The two unfamiliar faces are the famous Steve & Laraine!
Laraine updates us again:
"Everyone was super-tired last night. Steve, Laraine and Pip raced around Alameda looking for a late dinner to take out and bring back to the crew.
Unfortunately everything on the tiny island of Alameda closes at
9pm and we were racing around at 9:01pm! Ended up calling ahead on the cell phone to a yummy burger joint and asking them to make 12 cheeseburgers and 12 fries(aka chips). They thought we were a prank call(!) and wouldn't start to make the burgers until we arrived!! The crew gobbled down the burgers, and
proceeded to fall asleep on the couches in the hotel lobby until
they were one by one sent off to bed.
Plans for today were to begin provisioning, and finish up a
couple of projects. Tonight, all of Andiamo (and Steve and me) have been invited to a barbeque at Kame and Sally Richard's house. Kame & Sally are the owners of an excellent sail loft Pineapple Sails (www.pineapplesails.com - where you
saw the advertisement using Steve and me)Kame was born in Hawaii and was nicknamed for King Kamekamea."
12 July 2000
Senator & Sneaky have given us a farewell message in the Andiamo Guestbook, the days have slipped by and the big day is now tomorrow. Laraine updates us as well in the guestbook, sounds as though the guys are eating very well, so a few pounds may need to come off so that they are the all correct weight for the Kenwood Cup! To keep you entertained whilst they are travelling I will also be posting the daily menu (as planned months ago) up on the site soon....watch this space.
The good luck wishes from all have been appreciated and go get em ANDIAMO!
13 July 2000
Andiamo commences Pacific Cup race to Hawaii at 2:10pm (SF Time) it is 9:10am on the 14th NZ time.
They were seen on their way by Steve, Laraine and Pip of course! News just to hand is that Steve and Laraine have been having such a great time they have decided to go to Hawaii to help with the Post Race work!! Just joking guys, I'm sure after the last week you really need a holiday! It will be great to meet both of these wonderful people who have been of such great assistance to the campaign in San Francisco - and buy them a beer or rum or whatever takes their fancy! Not only have they been working on the boat, they have also been the middle persons between us and the Andiamo Team, without their assistance we would not have had the "indepth" reporting that we have had from San Francisco - so tremendous thanks again to you both for the awesome work you have done.
Even with the race starting today, Laraine had time to get back to work and within hours I had all the photos from the last few days in SF right up to the Start of the race! So what are you waiting for - Click the link below!!!
Another thought that deserves to be mentioned - if you haven't made it to the Guestbook yet you will not know that Mal finally has a nick name - "Alice" - all reasons are revealed in the Guestbook. With two Alices in Hawaii confusion could reign!
As well as this development Sneaky seems determined to lose his nickname on this campaign - Steve's suggestion was "CC", short for "Cheshire Cat", though no one else on the crew felt it appropriate! My thoughts are he has two chances of losing it and neither of them look fantastic! Watch out Colette - you are next to be christened - we could end up with a Sybil (Basil Fawltys wife) she kept an even keel!
14 July 2000
Andiamo is 6th Overall, 3rd in her Division, she had madegood 156.3NM at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 1912.9 to go! Here
is a link to the Latitude 38 article re the start and another close up photo of Andiamo!
15 July 2000
Andiamo is 15th Overall, 4th in her Division, she had madegood 186.8NM (todays run) at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 1726.0 to go! Todays menu plan was:
Breakfast:Cereal, Bacon & Egg Roll
Lunch:Self-selection Sandwiches (buffet)
Dinner:Lamb fillets, pan seared with Potato Rosti, Green Vegetables
0:05:Corn Chowder & Toast, Group discussion on what time is it in NZ
16 July 2000
Andiamo is 17th Overall, 5th in her Division, she had madegood 155.8NM (todays run) at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 1570.2 to go!
17 July 2000
Todays report running a little late due to a problem getting the information to the organisers and then an inconsiderate client who kept me on site all day!!Andiamo is 18th Overall, 5th in her Division, she had madegood 85.2NM (todays run) at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 1485.0 to go!
All accounts say that there is very little wind out there, so we may have to do the Kiwi "blowing" thing to get them flying. Hopefully they have enough sunblock and Tails has let them go fishing! Their ETA is now 29th July, but this should improve as they get closer to Hawaii.
18 July 2000
Andiamo is 15th Overall, 4th in her Division, she had madegood 147.0NM (todays run) at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 1337.9 to go!
Their ETA is now back to 27th July. A total of 15 boats have now retired. According to Pegasus, the sled doing the radio reports on the link above and below, the wind is starting to come in and things should improve soon. Their ETA by the estimations is 25th and they say they will be in Hawaii by the 22nd - so don't get too concerned about ETA's just yet. Their crew have also been swimming, hope ours have too!
19 July 2000
Andiamo is 14th Overall, 4th in her Division, she had madegood 178.6NM at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 1159.4 to go! The halfway pinot must be getting nervous! ETA is now 26 July and improving every day. Look like the awards ceremony and some of the Kanehoe parties may be postponed - watch here for an update when it is to hand! I wonder if they'll delay the Kenwood for us!!!
20 July 2000
Andiamo is 16th Overall, 4th in her Division, she had madegood 171.9NM at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 987.5 to go! The halfway pinot should have been consumed! ETA still 26 July. Looking at the charts - is it possible that the Andiamo and Kiwi Coyote got together for the halfway party? Guess we'll have to wait till they get to Kanehoe to find out.
21 July 2000
Andiamo is 19th Overall, 5th in her Division, she had madegood 171.7NM at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 815.8 to go! We need some more wind for our heroes - GO ANDIAMO!
22 July 2000
Andiamo is 20th Overall, 5th in her Division, she had madegood 187.9NM at the 0800(HST) Sched this morning. Only 627.9 to go! ETA now 25th 18:34:02. The race for first across the line continues between Rage & Pegasus. Steve Reinhart's sister ship E.T. is also leading her division and is 12th overall. Octavia is now leading the fleet overall, having just pipped Lina - their ETA's in Hawaii are now very close so looks like a bit of a battle developing there too!
24 July 2000
Andiamo is 21st Overall, 5th in her Division, she had madegood 214.0NM at the 0800(HST) Sched on 24 July, and is closing in fast on Hawaii - only 253 to go! ETA now 25th 07:40:02. The race for first across the line was won by Pegasus, with Rage finishing only a few hours later. Octavia and Lina have both finished - Octavia is first overall, with Lina finishing just 22 minutes after Octavia, and in second position - wouldn't that just gut you!
25 July 2000
here is the on-the-spot latest report from Laraine:
Aloha from Hawaii where it is just now half past noon on Tuesday Pacific Standard Time. Apologies for the delay in the "on the ground report" but due to Andiamo's 4am arrival at the Kaneohe Yacht Club (and the following 2 hour celebration!) we needed a little sleep before reporting in!
Pip, Roz, Steve and Laraine spent Monday checking in at the Kaneohe YC, with rum & cokes at each milestone: 100NM, 25NM and 5NM check-ins were announced over the PA system. At about 4:30pm, Pip, Roz and Laraine rushed off to get back to Waikiki (about 30 minutes drive from Kaneohe) to shower, shop and
provision for Andiamo's early morning arrival. Back at KYC, Steve hopped in an escort boat (approx 35 ft power boat) to greet White Caps with Kame Richards on board. The women picked up Les' friend Robin at the Polo Hotel and sped back to Kaneohe...to wait for 5 more hours!! Upon their arrival,
ET (the sistership to Steve & Laraine's Antrim 27) arrived with remarkably little damage, and 3 happy sailors on board.
At about 1:45am Tuesday, Pip, Steve and Roz were offered spots on the escort boat heading out the channel to greet and guide Andiamo. Laraine stayed behind to guard the pitcher of rum and be the dock greeter. (Due to liquor laws in the US, the bar closed at 2am. Thankfully Pip used her charm to convince the bartender that it wouldn't be illegal to give us a "last call" stash of booze: a couple of bottles of chardonnay, a pitcher of rum, a bunch of Pepsis and plastic bags of ice. A very attractive pile of liquor to leave unattended!) Reports from Pip were that the escort boat rocked and rolled, and that Steve-of-strong-stomach napped throughout the trip. Two boats ran aground in the channel despite being escorted by local boats - what a way to end a 2000 mile ocean trip!
4am saw the safe arrival of Andiamo at the KYC dock, to a large crowd with leis, mai tais and Aloha! greetings. A quick inspection, required by the PCYC, and the crew was released to party! Tails stepped off the boat and immediately said "where's Hui?". Big smiles on all of the Andiamo crew - a remarkably clean bunch - apparently fresh water showers with Joy dish-cleaning soap were unrestricted for the last couple of days. Sneaky took one look at Steve and Laraine on the dock (Andiamo left without knowing that S&L would join them in Hawaii) and said that they hadn't even bothered to take bets that they'd turn up in Hawaii! A two hour cocktail party aboard Andiamo ensued with loud music, lots of laughter and impressed looks
from the Americans on the dock. Finally the dawn sky began to break and the crew decided to take their first steps on to land. Half of the crew stayed on Andiamo, the other half hailed
taxi cabs for the jaunt back to Waikiki.
Hopefully all have slept heartily this morning.
The crew of Andiamo are happy, healthy and are certainly in high spirits (and I don't just mean rum!)
Aloha to all friends and supporters!
Laraine
27 July 2000
27-29 July 2000
31 July 2000
This race is known for its strong winds and fast racing. Due to a Tropical Cyclone - Daniel the winds are not here at present. Racing was abandoned today during the first race!
Apart from a missing liferaft, a thief in the hotel who has taken a liking to Andiamo crew gear and must be getting together quite a collection from our laundry, life is going pretty well. We had to feel sorry for Roz & Wiz who just couldn't stand to leave and had their flight delayed 24 hours forcing them to spend yet another day in paradise!! The folks at home don't
believe them - but it was completely true!
Crew Party this evening held at the Sheraton Waikiki was the introduction of the "Betties". Our supporters shirts caused a bit of a stir and when asked what a Betty was we came up with Buxom, Educated, Terrifically, Talented Yachties - what else!
1 August 2000
Andiamo has arrived in Hawaii!! Her finish time is 25 July 02:05:46 (Hawaii time)- Andiamo finished 5th in her division, 21st overall.
The 2000 West Marine Pacific Cup Awards Banquet.
Additional Kenwood Cup and Support
team arrives in Hawaii. Here is the additional crew (after Wiz left for Auckland)
Geoffrey Meyer (Bim)
Andrew Spencer (Chunky)
Chris Pettit (Shakey)
Colette Kraus (Nickname needed!)
Rob Tomkies (Tonks)
Practice Races for Kenwood Cup, with Crew Aloha Party in the evening. The real racing starts tomorrow. The team is working really well together - according to Legs, the Pacific Cup crossing was the best she has ever done as far as a team working together goes!!
Kenwood Cup begins, with two races today. The light airs - you might as well be in Auckland, clocking round the dial making life hard. Andiamo gets a great start and causes our friends from Sydney on Yendys a problem. On the first beat the NZ team of High 5, Sea Hawk and Big Apple 111 are finding the light conditions tough but not as much as us. At the end of the race the committee advsies there
will be no race 2 today and we head home to join the NZ team at what has become known as Kiwi Corner.
We have a great spot right outside on the lawn of the HYC and it is a 50 meter walk to the NZ teams compound where we enjoy Steinlager after each race with the rest of the NZ Team.
2 August 2000
The Slave, Bim & Chipper put jury systems in place which got us to the finish line. Before Race 2 started we arranged engineers in Honolulu and we started in lessening breezes. The line up was good, but the power of the 62ft Bumblebee from Australia blew us off. After about 20 mins racing on the first beat our hydraulic problems forced us to withdraw in order to be
ready for the 55 mile race to Kaneohe starting at 9am tomorrow (HST).
We got the boat repaired (a $2 filter!) and tonight we colleced our Mount Gay hats and look forward to a great ocean race tomorrow.
Betty Update!!
Jann now had two new pairs of shoes - PINK & Orange!! Plenty of shopping going down here! Also lots of beach and compulsory tanning. All intending to wear nothing but white the first week back at work:-))
Tomorrow we head to a beach on the other side of the island to watch the boats round the top mark, whilst we force ourselves to lie on the beautiful beaches once again. Today Fiona & I accepted a generous offer from the delivery team of Kiwi Coyote and motored out to watch most of the first race - very bumpy out there, but we were pleased to see some racing and cheer the Andiamo Team on!! Besty pointed out that our team in a 15 year old boat is competing with the latest technology - so don't expect any miracles - how many of us are running around in 15 year old cars?? That's the difference! So the guys are doing an awesome job and hopefully having some fun and gaining experience.
On Friday we will not miss the Bledisloe!!
Two more races today, followed by the Mt Gay Party at Hawaii Yacht Club. First race this morning was great, much more to our liking, in winds of 19-25knots. The kiwi contingent did well and provisional results are a 1,2 & 4. On the second to last leg Mal called for more vang and Sneaky had to advise hydraulic pressure had dropped and was innconcistant. After a quick check throught the system we realised we were stuck on 2000lbs on the backstay and nothing else.
Tonks has arranged a live coverage at a local pub, so we'll be hollering with you this time - kind of the organisers to have timed the day off on the right day!
3 August 2000
BBQ at our hotel tonight in lieu of the Hawaii Yacht Club Party - great Kiwi tucker at last, thanks to meat from Taylor Preston! The evening degenerated as these things are want to do and most ended up in the pool fully clothed! A great night where Sneaky became Streaky in order to evade the pool dumping, but was caught in the end!
Race No 5, a 55 miler back to Kaneohe, followed by the Hawaii Yacht Club Party. The results for the long race that have been posted on the Kenwood Cup
Website show that Andiamo was 11th accross the line and 8th on corrected time. Andiamo is tied overall on corrected time at 8th. Considering the amazing technology that is a creditable position. The longer race certainly suited them better with some of those on the faster more modern boats, very suprised at how she sped along considering her age - must be the great team of sailors!!!
4 August 2000
Kiwis outnumbered Aussies by a large proportion and a few Yanks came to check it out as well. We were very vocal and their was no doubt who we wanted to win, however as we all know the result enough said. It helped that the bar had a special on Maitai's at $2US so we could drown our sorrows in style!!
5 August 2000
The Kiwi Coyote delivery team were supposed to leave on Wednesday, but had a hiccup in customs so postponed their departure (shades of Roz & Wiz!) For some reason it is unlucky to leave on a long trip on a Friday (or was it the rugby??), so they should depart this morning - but at the rate they keep
showing up again I don't think anyone will be suprised if they are at the party tonight!! Colette has also postponed her departure till tomorrow - can't drag herself away from the sun and sailing!
Later: Some very happy sailors hopped off the boat late this afternoon, saying that they felt really great about the days racing, after following the big guys around the track for the short races so far they felt very much in touch today during both races especially the last one. The reward was that in the second race they got a 5th on handicap and improved their overall position to 7th in IMS Cruiser/Racer class! Scoring 12 points was certainly the best result so far.
Betty News:
6 August 2000
7 August 2000
Our Betty T-shirts have caused a real stir!! So many people come up to us and ask what it means at the parties - so our response now is Buxom,Educated,Teriffically,Talented Yachties!!! A member of the American Press asked me about them at a party recently (I didn't know she was press) so I had to give her the "Boat Betty" version too!! Tails has a less appealing version, but we are ignoring that one!
So we are wishing the team all the best for today, the word is that Andiamo has never gone faster upwind!! Send us a good old Wellington blow for tonight and all will be very happy!
8 August 2000
"KENWOOD CUP As the last finishers in the final race of the 2000 Kenwood Cup, the 148-mile Molokai Race, loom over the horizon and fly towards Diamond Head, things are beginning to look ominous for the series leaders Australia - and good for the defenders, New Zealand. The accumulating - and still highly unofficial - points tally is definitely building in New Zealand's favor. Taking just the top two boats in each team, New Zealand appears to have amassed 491 points to Australia's 467 - a cushion of 24 points with the results of each team's third boat still to come in. To beat the Kiwis, the Aussie third boat must beat the New Zealand third boat by eight places - a possible but not very likely occurrence. Critical is what appears to be the relatively poor performance of Australia's big boat Yendys (Farr 49, Geoffrey Ross). The pale grey/blue Yendys surfed across the line as third boat to finish, but hard on her transom were the flying Kiwi pair of Sea Hawk (Farr 47, Naohiko Sera, with Roy Davies skippering) and Air NZ High 5 ( Farr 47, Mick Cookson, with among others David Barnes at her wheel). Sea Hawk and Air NZ High 5 quickly corrected into second and third places behind USA Red team's Esmeralda (Farr 50, Makoto Uematsu, skippered by Ken Read) with Yendys fourth. The smaller boats began to finish. Sea Hawk and Air NZ High 5's places remained intact, but gradually more and more boats began to slot in ahead of Yendys, until with just two boats to finish the Farr 49 was in 8th place.
Now we come to the complication. During the night, at around 0200 local time and somewhere off Molokai's north coast Cha-Ching (Sydney 41, Scooter Simmons, USA WHITE) lost the top part of her mast. In around 18 knots of breeze and with the towering sea-cliffs of Molokai close under her lee, Cha-Ching was for a time in some peril, though not actual danger. Big Apple III (Farr 45, Hideo Matsuda/ Dean Barker, NZL) and Smile (Beneteau 40.7, Simon Whiston, AUS) both pulled out of the race to stand by Cha-Ching. Cha-Ching suffered no casualties and eventually was able to proceed under her own engine power, allowing Big A and Smile to re-join the race.
The action has had two effects, both of which will have significant influence on the outcome of the entire regatta. First, Big Apple and Smile are well behind their contemporaries, and thus correcting to positions apparently well down the fleet. Second, both will, it must be assumed, seek time compensation from the International Jury. This, of course, is perfectly legitimate and indeed normal in such circumstances. The Jury will, it must be no less assumed, give both boats some sort of time credit, depending on their navigation logs and the time they can show they spent out of the race. That time credit will be taken off their elapsed time, and their corrected time re-calculated. And on the outcome of all that could well depend the outcome of the entire regatta.
Doug Taylor's Farr 40 Zamboni sat ashore at Alawai Marine after her spectacular T-boning by Glama! (Sydney 41, Seth Radow, USA), and Seth Radow has withdrawn Glama! herself from the series. The full extent of the damage to Zamboni, all but cut in half by Glama!, is now apparent, and although final decisions have yet to be taken it appears that the most likely course of action is for the boat to be shipped back to Carroll Marine, her builders, for the situation to be assessed. Seth Radow and the core of his Glama! crew had gone to Zamboni to offer what help they could, including working all night if necessary, to keep Doug Taylor and his crew racing, but once Zamboni was ashore it was only too apparent that the boat was beyond First Aid. (Subsequent dock talk has it that Zamboni will be declared a total loss by the insurance company.)
Results cannot be finalised until, first, all boats have finished and, second, the International Jury has finished its deliberations over the time credits to be given to both Big Apple III (Farr 45, Hideo Matsuda, NZL) and Smile (Beneteau 40.7, Simon Whiston, AUS), for standing by other competitors who were in difficulties.
While it is always dangerous to predict the outcome of a hearing before an International Jury (once described by the famous Irish sailor Harold Cudmore as 'rather like going for a day at the races') it would seem unlikely that any award of time credits to Smile would move her the eight places ahead of Big Apple necessary for the Australians still to win.
IT HAS TO BE EMPHASISED THAT ALL THIS IS STILL SPECULATION. INFORMED SPECULATION, WE HOPE - BUT AS IS ALWAYS THE CASE IN THESE MATTERS THE OFFICAL RESULTS CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE ANOUNCED UNTIL AFTER THE JURY MEETING.
ADDENDUM: The International Jury, currently hearing the Request for Redress of the New Zealand entry Big Apple III, has set the hearing time for Smile's request for redress at 0900 Wednesday 7th August. This means that there will be no final result until tomorrow. The situation remains that, taking into account the results of the first two of each team's yachts and ignoring the results of each team's third yacht, New Zealand is currently 24 points ahead of Australia. For Australia to overhaul New Zealand, their third team yacht must finish nine places ahead of the Kiwi third yacht. - Susan McKeag"
- Fantastic!!! Fi & Alice and I watched the first 5 boats in today, then got the message that the next boats were quite a distance away so we caught the shuttle to Waikiki Yacht Club and spent an hour or so in the pool and soaked up some more sun. We hopped on the shuttle back and saw that Andiamo was in her dock -the feeling was that it was not a great race, but the real battle is in the jury room.
Tonight we are all on tenterhooks as a very tight Big Apple Crew arrived with lots of issues - see above. Cud be some time till final results are known.
Tonight the crew and betties enjoyed a relaxing barbque around the pool (the best food in Hawaii!!) together with the odd Glama crew and we had a great time!! The internet cafe opened as usual in my room and it is now rather late in the peace..... We still have no inkling as to results, but have our fingers and toes crossed for Team NZ, where as usual we enjoyed great hospitality today and James had Dean Barker sign his Team NZ Jacket!!!!
EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRIIIIIIBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
9 August 2000
10 August 2000
There is so much to tell you, we have really enjoyed our adventure and thank you for your support!!! EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRIIIIIIBBBBBBBAAAAAAA!!
Love Peter,Elizabeth and Geoffrey (late at night) Thank You very much to the NZ team at Kiwi Corner, we will finish the Steinlagers (128)
ps. These guys will not like this, but the crew of Andiamo would never have experienced this adventure without the support of Andrew,Pip & Stephen.
14 August 2000
Thursday & Friday saw the team finally have time to do some sightseeing, shopping, surfing and sun soaking!!! Thusday night we said farewell to Chunky, Shakey & Mandy - delighted to hear they were met by the press in Auckland and Shakes was interviewed by TV3 - ED1 in great form no doubt! Rach and Beau were also there to meet Chunky - who was no doubt suprised, or did he do a Chunky and not see them??
Friday, more last minute things and the Kenwood gear all now reduced to half price!!! The rest of us except for Pip, Tails, Justine & Chipper said farewell and left Ricco to board Glama! for his trip back to SF on Saturday morning.
We travelled with some of the Kiwi Team and Tony Rae reiterated his invitation to James to join them for a sail when we are next in Auckland!! One very excited young Kiwi! As we had all had so much of a good time together over the last couple of weeks, it was down to Dockside for a celebration of Shakey's birthday, just 4 hours after our arrival on Sunday morning!! Suckers for punishment we all are, I don't know about the others, but I came home and basically crashed - just too much fun catching up at
last.
Just checked the Kenwood site again and there is a great photo of Andiamo on Day 5's race. Final results for Andiamo are 9th in the Cruiser/Racer Class. The Molokai race saw Andiamo finish 2nd across the line on Class, but corrected time saw them last. However a great adventure has been had by all
and I'm sure the experience gained has made it a fantastic holiday and all remaining good friends - which was the intention after all!!
Many thanks from the crew to our supporters for all the messages - it was always great to hear from home and beyond.
Where to next???
Today was a "no sailing" day with most of the team shopping or learning to surf with some opting to play tourist - others only managed to do lunch. All met at Legends Sports Bar for the Rugby - we were warned to be early as the bar only held 70 people and we arrived with an hour and a half to spare which was just as well as some disappointed fans had no alternative but to watch from outside the door or the one small window.
Two more races today, followed by the Waikiki Yacht Club Party. Today the "betties" are working on their tans - again, the kids and I have opted for a domestic day doing washing and hoping over to the Waikiki Yacht Club this afternoon for a dip. The pool at the Club is fantastic and you can see the boats come in after racing, then it's a quick shuttle ride over to the Hawaii Yacht Club to meet the team at Kiwi Corner for the compulsory round of Steinlagers!!
The sungoddesses found a lovely beach and an equally good place to eat in the vicinity, they loved it so much that they will be at it again tomorrow.
Tonight we had the Waikiki Yacht Club party, which was the "Bacardi" party - more hats and some flashing badges! Mrs Shakey caused a stir by collecting two and turning them into "hooters"!!! We had a lot of fun and the highlight of course was getting the race results later in the evening. There was a great band and some pretty good roast beef sandwiches - not as good as our own barbque the other night of course, but
Tails just had to have seconds!!
Two more races, a triangle and a Windward/Leeward. No parties, rest for the big race tomorrow! Not a good day at the office - Australia have clawed back the lead for the Cup and are now eight points up on the Kiwi Team. All three NZ boats need to beat the Aussie boats in the 150miler which is the final race and starts tomorrow at 6pm. Andiamo had a good second race today, but not so great in the first so are now on 9th position in their division. The lighter winds
yesterday obviously not suiting the Kiwi's all round.
Colette leaves us tonight and James Sandford is joining the crew for the long race and his first ocean race, after a wiegh in and safety training tomorrow morning. GO ANDIAMO!!!
Glama! & Zamboni were involved in an unfortunate collision, which has damaged Zamboni severly and she wont be racing again. Glama! is the boat Riccardo is joining to sail back to the States, so we know the team fairly well - they were pretty gutted about what happened, but say it's just one of those things. There were minor injuries incurred by the Skipper of Zamboni, but he was taken to hospital for a quick check up and has some lacerations - the only damage to Glama! was a few scratches. If you have website access check out the photos for day 5 to see the damage to Zamboni.
Last race - 150 miles to Molokai. Unfortunatly todays forecast is still light as the trades are dying away again. However we'll be barracking for the team as they leave the dock around 4pm as loud as we can! The team are today organising the shipping of the boat back to NZ and planning for the next adventure is being discussed hee hee!!!
Everything happens here on aloha time - we have no idea where things are at apart from this scuttlebutt E-mail:
From Shakes - ya need to see the video!
Awards Banquet at Sheraton Waikiki! Well what can we say, forget the Bledisloe, the Kiwi team has saved the day and retained the Kenwood Cup.
As for individual results, we are still awaiting protests and jury to decide final positions.
Prizegiving tonight was magic!!! We saw a video where Andiamo featured at a wonderful start and surfing thru the finish line doing 18 knots, a sight the Kenwood organisers had not seen in a long time.
The NZ team have been very gracious and we have been made most welcome, autographs are freely given!!! It is quite amazing to meet these people socially and to discuss race tactics after the event.
Today the boat was packed up, the mast is on deck, a huge kiwi initiative which all the professionals and locals thought would not happen. The logistics were awesome and the entire crew can now enjoy two days holiday, prior to returning to NZ for Shakeys birthday.
The winds of paradise have been left behind for most of us!
COMING EVENTS:
??????????
Watch this space!
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always welcome, please E-mail clubandiamo@hotmail.com or sign our GUESTBOOK
Comments to be added to the diary will be particularly welcomed!
Visitors since 5 June 2000