The reason we set the No 2 genoa last night was because we did not want to put in the three long battens in the leech of the No 3 Genoa. We figured No 2 and a reef would do if the breeze stayed up at the 25 knots we saw across the deck up in the Lane Cove River. As it turned out the No 2 was the perfect choice for the evening. We were sent out on a short course around Cockatoo and Goat Island in anticipation of the breeze dying. Well it did abate but not by much. We made a well timed start and Izzi, Avanti, Saoirse and Passion rounded Onion Point line abreast. We had Izzi to windward and Saoirse to leeward and were delighted to keep clear air and climb over Saoirse. When we had to tack we took Izzi’s stern and came back in front on the next tack. We rounded Cockatoo first but with the big sails on Saoirse blanketing us we did not get far away. Saoirse, the leeward yacht took us up into the wind shadow of Cockatoo allowing Izzi to fly down the Balmain shore and into a never to be headed lead. We managed the doldrums around Goat quite well and emerged with a good lead over Saoirse but with Worlds Apart charging through. Fortunately for us Worlds Apart was kept on starboard tack by the Green division Rex well past the time to tack for Humbug and while she made up a lot of ground by bearing away a few degrees we did manage to keep our nose in front courtesy of a final whirlwind around Onion Point. First honours of the season went to Izzi with their new mainsail I spotted on Ben Gemmel’s facebook page.