Archive for January 2020
Another pursuit race and another lottery in and out of Humbug mixed up the results tonight except for Joli who proved to be the king of the pursuit series with a win in the last race of the series.
Fireball put in another good performance to score a second after their win last week and as we approached them around Cockatoo Island the last time they did everything they needed to keep us in their dirty air and keep us at bay.
We might have been happy with that but for a late gust through Humbug that brought Meridian reaching down on top of us beclamed and pinching hard for Onion Point. The route along the Onions Point shore was not as successful as it can be and Fireball did better out mid stream than we did in close.
Lisdillon started on the same mark as Passion X and we had a very interesting tustle with them with the lead switching according to who was on the lifting tack.
The later starters had trouble catching the early ones on a three island course compared to the four island course last week so Jackpot went from second to second last which is not a reflection on their on the water performance.
Agrovation had a good day with the third fastest elapsed time behind Joli and Meridian.
Next week we will be back to scratch starts and hopefully less of a lottery.
The forecast was a bit over our full mainsail range and as we had a young sailor on board we opted for caution and put in a reef before the start. At the race progressed the conditions were too light for the No 3 jib and a reefed main but we were keeping up with Caliban who we consider a pretty useful benchmark in windy conditions. Had we know the earlier starters were pulling further ahead we might have taken out the reef earlier. Much Ado V took their reef out at the first rounding of Goat Island and had we done the same it might have been a different story. As it was Dump Truck and Much Ado V came flying down the leg from Goat to Cockatoo and still pulled away on the beat back to Goat Island. We did take out the reef on the last rounding of Goat island and suddenly became more competitive with Agrovation who by this time had caught and passed Caliban. In the meantime Much Ado V completed the course ten minutes faster than Passion X to rub salt into the wound and Jackpot which was twelve minutes faster has some explaining to do compared to last week. Quite frankly “It was our conditions does not cut the mustard.” The final dig through Humbug suited the lighter Passion X more than Caliban so we escaped the wooden spoon this week.
Fireball took the handicap result from Jackpot and Sweet Chariot and these results are a good reflection of their fresh air performance relative to the fleet.
We are hoping to make the rig on Passion X a little more responsive so we can carry the full mainsail through a wider range or wind strengths as last week was too windy for the No1 genoa and full main and this week too light for the No3 jib and reefed main but that improvement could be a little bit away so for now we just have to get the sail selection right.
A lot has happened since our last race of 2019 at GFS. Chistmas has come and gone with the family at Ballina and Elaine and I enjoyed five days going to Refuge Bay for a quiet rest. Since then it has been pretty hectic with my Dad passing away in Perth after a very long and productive 98 years. The whole family was united in giving him a very appropriate send off and then quickly back to family and work.
As hard as a farewell may be it was good to remember the good times building boats with Dad and catch up with cousins and friends from years past as it has been 40 years since we have lived in Perth and for our children it was a rare chance to reconnect with family.
In the family moments there was a show of Edmiston competitiveness playing Catan with our grandson and various family members and just as in sailing frequent checking of the rule book.
So after a red eye special back from Perth it was into our first race of the 2020 year. I thought we performed quite well but the conditions were not conducive for a win due to our small handicap and the breeze being above our range at the start of the event.
The yachts that perform better in stronger winds did just that with the mighty Caliban winning by less than a minute from heavy air specialist Fireball and three minutes from the very fast finishing Joli with Sweet Chariot just 21 seconds later.
For us we had only Utopia starting three minutes behind and Jackpot starting five minutes behind to keep us company on the course.
We did stay close to Joli for a while but eventually with faster up wind performance they drew away. Utopia caught us mid race and then had trouble passing Joli who seemed to draw ahead in the closing stages of the race.
We did try cutting the corner on a couple of islands which while it looked promising at times did not work out well but we were playing catch up and it was worth trying for a change.
In the closing stages Jackpot powered up from behind making up some ground around Goat Island where we were having a last roll of the dice trying to catch Joli and Utopia.
After a long four island race we could see the handicap leaders working up Humbug to the finish but that was small consolation. We cannot give six minutes start to Caliban and eight minutes start to Fireball in those conditions where we are happy to just match them for speed. Next weeks forecast is looking a more favourable for Passion X so we will look forward to that.