General Lee Racing

Great looking boat on the cover of the latest RNZYS Breeze magazine!

🚨 The latest edition of the BREEZE Magazine is out now, and available to read online.
👉 rnzys.org.nz/publications/breeze
📦 Packed full of members update and stories, this edition of BREEZE will have you coming back for more!
📫 Members: If you receive a hard copy of BREEZE, it will be heading your way in just a few days time.

The General Lee merch has arrived! Massive Thanks to Marc Marshall at Aimco www.aimco.co.nz
Only ordered last Thursday!

What a glamour day for yachting on Saturday for the final race of the SSANZ Lewmar Triple Series!

Holgate made his return to the boat for two handed racing after resolving yet another clash in his calendar! (Going to have to up his game on the front for next year!)

It was a bit like the first race of the series with ch*****ne yachting! Great breeze, sun and blue sky... followed by rums in Issy Bay.

We started the race at the committee boat end to quickly get clear air and accelerate away. Blackout got a fantastic start and popped ahead but we were closing in with Rehab emerging from the pack behind.

After gybing I thought we could heat up and get clear air from ahead of Blackout.... but they were abit quicker than thought and we couldn't get through. We didn't want to gybe or sit in bad air so decided to go over the top. This got Blackout into a luffing duel so we tried to have a discussion about not battling each other and creating some separation but they were having none of it! So helm down and over the top we went! Blackout then gybed away as we headed off into Issy Bay. Rehab had profited from our tussle to take the lead but it was still pretty close.

With a strong incoming tide Issy Bay paid off for us. making big gains on Blackout and closing on Rehab as we gybed out to get around Emu point. It was interesting how little some spinnaker boats thought about the angles of boats sailing with gennakers and also if they were on port or starboard. A 1020 (who shall remain nameless) rather than making a decision to heat up to cross behind or gybe instead just sailed into an awkward position. It was interesting to see the same boat doing something similar at their start when they were on port and an Elliott 7 was on starboard!.

Another gybe in to escape tide behind Otahuhu Point saw us pop just in front of Rehab. Another 5 or gybes got us to Durville Rock just behind Rehab, but with a later drop we effectively went round overlapped side by side.

It was then a very tight two sail reach to Tiri, Rehab popped up a staysail and we debated if it was too tight? There was virtually nothing in it between the boats for a long time. A slight freeing of angle saw Rehab edge ahead. We popped a staysail for a while but felt it didn't help us so dropped it again. On approaching the northern corner of Tiri we climbed of Rehab but they extended forward. The big question was when to tack and be able to clear Bollon's Rock. Rehab was conservative so we tacked inside them and managed to sneak back only just in front. After clearing Bollon's we popped the staysail up and outboard sheeted the J2. This leg had a fraction more angle so worked better for this configuration. Rehab set up a code sail from the prod while we wondered how would they be able to run it so tight? They must have thought the same as it was never unfurled and they popped up their staysail again instead to be a click faster than us. We got on their wake for a tow and for a long time had a good view of their keel canted out in front of us.

After getting through Rakino channel it was staysail down and tighten up to lay through to Motuihe Green before a tack to finish in Issy Bay. Rehab extended on us by a few minutes but we were close enough to get them on handicap. We ended up second to Nosaka in the division.

Obviously the highlight of our race was the battle with Rehab, going at it boat for boat virtually the entire race. Rob Shaw and his crew are great to race against, fight clean and push hard! If it wasn't for Rehab our race would have been rather boring! This is the first time we have really been close with Rehab in a race (they are often well ahead). I think this comes from how much we have learnt over the RNZYS winter series especially in regards to angles downwind. General Lee does seem to have a sweet spot in the lighter stuff too!

A friendly note to course designers for next year... both this race and the first race had a lot of tight 2 sail reaching, which doesn't add much to the race in either tactical or boat handling challenge. More angle to enable extras or proper upwind legs are preferred. I know the coursed are planned well before the forecast is known but there is also a high likelihood of SW featuring.

Thanks Shorthanded Sailing Association of New Zealand and Live Sail Die for the drone images!

The RNZYS Winter Series finished up on Saturday on a miserable grey day with continuous rain. Despite a few crew (and co-owner) threatening to mutiny and stay dry at home in bed... we did get the whole team to the boat!
As is often the case when yachting, the days you find hardest to get motivated to get out there are often the most rewarding. Despite the continual rain we got reasonable breeze, numerous shifts, puffs and lulls and a good tactical course.
For the General Lee crew, this is our first fully crewed series. The overall series result was never the focus... more about learning the boat and continual improvement. To that end it has been a success and we have seen continuous improvement in performance.
They say "you're only as good as your last race" and to that end we are pretty happy! Finishing the series with a win on handicap for the final race and sailing what we felt was our best race of the series! Although we did score a 2nd on line earlier in the series, that was a super light and changeable day but this time was a much more consistent breeze and we had to work for it.
We have had quite a few youngsters (under 20) on the boat for the series and it's been great to see them learn and improve. The biggest gains and learnings made have been reducing the crew number down to 9, this gives everyone a job, stops us tripping over each other, improves downwind performance yet doesn't seem to hurt upwind. Improving the inhauler system and adding a small strop to the jib tack to lift the clew. Initially the inhaler pulled to a fix point which was too far aft and effectively made the jib car position irrelevant. This combined with a clew too low (which also kept damaging the cabin top) meant we couldn't deepen the sail to add power in the light. The new and improved system allows the inhauler fairlead to slide and self align. The other key learning is downwind angles... we still have a way to go here... coming from spinnaker boats where you can pole back and run deep, it takes a bit of getting used to gybe angles that are greater than tacking angles! Also key is when to switch from trying for as much depth as possible to heating it back up and sailing hot with pressure and sending it!
Thanks to RNZYS and LiveSailDie for the photos from the last race...

I'm about to do a merch order for the General Lee. If anyone wants to get some General Lee Merch here is your chance! Will need to pick up from Auckland as I'm not interested in posting items everywhere...

T Shirts - AS Colour Staple 5001 or Women's Maple
In Black or Orange

$38.90 ea

Hoodies - AS Colour Stencil 5102 Heavyweight
In Black

$75.70

Hoodie - AS Colour Supply 5101 Midweight
In Black

$63.05

Hoodie - AS Colour Supply 5109 Zipped Hoodie
In Black

$66.50

I'm not a psychic so I need size and for T Shirts what colour is required!

Sometimes it’s the little details that set a boat apart… and beautifully spliced ropes and soft connections are one of those things. If you need any thing clever with rope then you just can’t go past Robin at Caniwi Rigging!

Another Two Handed race for the General Lee last Friday... the SSANZ Anzac Enduro! Holgate was kicked off the boat to give our young bowman entraining a crack (plus we needed Holgate to bring the mothership to the finish).

Luke Tucker finally got his call up!

It was a great race. On the wind, just laying out to North Head then a gennaker ride to Navy Buoy before back on the wind just laying the Cow and Calf before a reach with the FRO to Pakatoa finished with a short beat to the finish.

Nice flat water all race and a lovely night sail. The General Lee took line honours and second on handicap, however we lost a fair chunk of time with a M.O.B drill in the middle of the night a few miles before the Cow.

During the RNI we had a few issues with our Liferings which were mounted on the sides of the pushpits on the outside. So before this race I replaced a damaged mount and moved them to the rear of the pushpit, but still on the outside. This obviously didn't work as a Lifering managed to unclip the securing bunny and try to escape! I saw the light activated and told Lukey to grab it... but we were seconds too late! Hence the MOB drill.

It took us at least 4 goes to pick it up... not the easiest job under sail in the middle of the night in 15 knots. But we did mange to retrieve and get back on our way. The nearest competition had been out of sight but we could now just see the faint glow of their nav lights. As the lifelong had a pretty bright light attached we figured we really did need to get it back as it could ruin other competitors race trying to collect and then wondering if there was also a person in the water!

The FRO ride back from the Calf was awesome, constant 12-14knots in 14-17knots of breeze.

Lukey passed his first test with flying colours with a top class effort all weekend.... and Holgate did pretty well with the support crew (Caroline) and mothership providing great meals, comfy beds and pirate strength rums!