In the Twilight overall series our lead is being whittled away by the charging herd and now there are six yachts within seven points. Unless we can pull a rabbit out or the hat we are about to be dethroned. The most likely successor is Izzi who have scored second place in three of the last four races and only now the handicap system is throwing us a few crumbs.
I should not complain because we have beaten Gwhizz by a single place on handicap these last two races and still they have to give us a few seconds. A few seconds is all it will take if we keep having photo finishes with Gwhizz like Wednesday night. Neither crew knew who had won the tussle until our support staff presented a photo taken at the finish and that was how the official finishers saw it too.
Now we have not done a stellar job these past two weeks. The prior week we set the No 2 genoa and were under powered for the run around Schnapper and Spectacle Islands and over powered in the beat to Goat Island. The fleet split on the run down the Hunters Hill shore so it was hard to tell how much of the result was luck. This week we set the No 3 genoa which was more suited to our diminished crew numbers on the night. Surprising we managed a fourth fasted just holding out the back markers on the last run down around the lee of Cockatoo Island and overtaking Gwhizz on the finish line. There was very little tacking in this race so it was a test of who could keep their yacht moving with fewer round ups in the gust. In one gust we had a grandstand seat as a gust hit Jackpot just as she passed the barge in Snail Bay and there was not much room between the mast head instruments and the crane.
Saoirse is built for these conditions and reached away for a fasted time and the ever reliable Northshore 38 Izzi was second. The Northshore 38s are particularly good once they free up a bit and Wednesday’s race was about a good a conditions as they can get. Passion is not going to catch them in these conditions but perhaps the new one will.
The last race of February was around 18 knots and we set the No 2 genoa
The first race of March was around 20 knots but not much beating for our smaller No 3 jib