Passion and Izzi on the first run
Another view of Passion on the wet Wednesday race at RANSA
Daybreak on Wednesday was a miserable wet one. Rain was blowing in under the awning so it was best to leave the tarpaulins on the Didi 40 CR and do some shopping pre the Winter Wednesday race at RANSA. In the miserable conditions I can understand crews opting for the comfort of a fireplace and a good book but nine hardy regular crews took to the water in Division 1.
The leg out to South Head was a tricky run sometimes square and sometimes on the beam. I chased the wind directions around the course trying to keep the poled out genoa setting. One of our crew had the day off and took some photos of us battling it out with club mate Izzi on the run. Our tactics must have worked because we arrived at the mark mid fleet and looking good on handicap. On the work back to Rose Bay I could not find the groove with the No 1 headsail. The entry was too flat for the telltales to stream on both sides of the sail so I asked Kevin to helm while I fiddled with settings. A bit more luff tension and moving the genoa cars forward a notch helped to get Passion moving. At the bow looking up at the flow in the big black No 1 heavy genoa it is obvious that the sail needs some forestay sag to get the shape in the luff. The main however needs some mast bend to free the leech so the combination works better with a bit of breeze. Now that we had settled into a groove we were holding Aggrovation and Izzi to windward. We swapped tacks a couple of times with Aggrovation and managed to be above them on starboard approaching what was to be the last turning mark on a shortened course. The last run to the finish was a poled out affair and we were lucky to get a clear run to the finish while Aggrovation was blanketed from behind. That let Izzi charge through to the finish. It was good to be so close to our club mates and even better to just pip them at the finish. With our more benevolent handicap we won the day and increased our lead on the progressive pointscore. This was our reward for braving the rain.