Tacking angles from today’s race
Tonight we set our No 2 genoa for the forecast 15 knots and established an early lead in the fresh conditions but then had to hang on as the breeze died later in the race.
We started lower on the line than the fleet and managed to keep our nose in front of Agrovation up to Onion Point. The run trough Humbug was tricky as to go low would have put is in the considerable wind shadow of Agrovation. The breeze went oversquare and caused an involuntary gybe which left us blanketed by the fleet Saoirse went low and we followed them until they decided to head up under the fleet leaving us as the sandwich in the middle. Somehow we picked up a bit of breeze from around Greenwich Point which was just enough to sail over Saoirse and under Agrovation. Ahead the crew spotted a patch of breeze which we sailed up to and then bore away to the corner of Cockatoo. Tashtego followed us out of Humbug and in a short space of time we had broken away from the fleet with Saoirse chasing us. Around Cockatoo Island Tashtego and Saoirse had a close race some 20 metres off our stern. On the work to Goat Island we were intent on not letting the fleet get to one side or the other or our position as the shifts were pretty big. With the smaller No 2 Genoa we could tack on the knocks and by Long Nose had a lead on the fleet. Agrovation was making her way through the fleet and by Goat Island she was on our heels.
The breeze had move light patches now and every time it went light we could feel Agrovation gaining. Fortunately there were enough gust coming through to keep us moving and we covered them through Humbug to get fastest time by a boat length.
We also scored a first on handicap with Agrovation third.
I like our No 2 genoa in 15 knots of breeze but once it gets below 12 knots we need more power. To compensate we move the mainsail draft through a very wide range of depths through the course of the race. I am hoping the new Passion X will have enough power to weight so that we can use a smaller easier tacking genoa more often. We will have to wait and see.