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Racing to Coffs book preface

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Racing to Coffs
By Angus Gordon

book_cover_copyThe 148 page soft cover book “Racing to Coffs – Memoirs of a Coffs Race Addict” is a celebration of the 30th year of the Pittwater to Coffs Race.  It contains a detailed history of the race starting from its birth out of the South Solitary Island Race.  Highlights of each year are presented along with the placegetters in all major divisions and a rundown on the weather experienced in each race.  A few little “out of school” stories creep into the text to expose the otherwise forgotten exploits of some competitors such as the surprise of one crew as they involuntarily surfed across the Edith Breaker bombora, the beaching of a couple of yachts that tracked too close to the surf zone of Newcastle Bight and the cutting off of the mast of one yacht, at a height determined by the clearance under Swansea Bridge, just so they could get a drink at the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club…….having pulled out of the race after a challenging first afternoon.

A comprehensive section on preparing both vessels and crew has been included.  This covers a wide range of topics from compliance with the regulations to sail selection, provisioning, and clothing and crew experience and training.  There is a seven page detailed checklist of maters to be attended to in preparing your yacht.  The checklist contains suggestions as to who should carry out each of the actions and is setout for easy use.

There is a chapter on the weather that can be experienced in the race.  This covers: system winds; sea breezes; land breezes; catabatic winds; thunderstorms; microbursts and local modification of winds due to the shape of landforms.  The weather systems are described and their likelihood of being experienced on various legs of the course is discussed along with ways to predict wind changes ahead of their arrival, with particular reference to unusual phenomenon specific to some legs.  The chapter also covers both wind waves (sea) and swells, how they are generated and the way to interpret potential weather changes by “reading” the wave forms.

One of the trickiest tactical issues in racing to Coffs is how you understand and play the currents.  To better equip you for this challenge the book provides information on the East Australian Current, wind induced currents, wave induced currents, the tidal currents near the river mouths, inshore currents along the beaches outside the surf zones and how the various currents interact in different locations along the coast.  

Route planning is discussed and tables of waypoints and the bearings and distances between waypoints are included along with suggestions and cautions as to the choice of route depending on weather conditions.

There is an extensive and detailed section on tactics.  This breaks the course down into six legs: the start and Broken Bay; Third Point to Sugarloaf/Seal Rocks; Sugarloaf to Crowdy Head; Crowdy Head to Tacking Point; Tacking Point to Smoky Cape and Smoky Cape to Coffs Harbour.  Each leg is discussed in terms of the suggested tactics for differing weather conditions and different size/speed yachts.  Dangers to watch out for along the way are highlighted along with ways to get the best out of the weather, currents and characteristics of the various coastal embayments.  Ports of refuge and marine rescue facilities are also mentioned in case a yacht needs to seek shelter or help.

A chapter has been included on returning to Sydney with suggestions as to the fastest course to take and potential waypoints.  The appendices present a summary of the race results for each year of the race and some background on the history of the construction and shoaling of Coffs Harbour.  A list of thirteen accredited Volunteer Marine Rescue stations is included along with the channels each monitors, their phone numbers and email addresses and whether they are 24 hour stations or not.

The book is available from RPAYC please order your copy online here. The author (Commodore RPAYC 2005-2008), who volunteered his time, has dedicated all profits from its sale to development of young sailors. The 148 page book comes with a 330gsm gloss soft cover for easy storage and access on your boat.

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