We scored a fourth place today in a windy West Harbour Winter Series. Only nine yellow division yacht braved the forecast of 30 knots and were rewarded with a rain free gusty sail around the inner harbour.
The aim was to start low and pinch up to the start boat on starboard but we were too late and too low and just made the pin but the breeze was flicking around so much it was just a case of hanging on for the knock. Upwind we were clearly overpowered with the No1 A on the furler. We have three No 1s, the black one is No 1 B, the pentax base with carbon and Kevlar tapes is the Big No 1 and the North tri radial is the No 1 A. The thinking was that we needed a genoa that was easy to skirt and not too small for the downwind legs.
Our strategy worked out well for the varying breeze and at the peak of the wind strength we reefed the main and made good progress at catching the fleet. Even during the reefing process we seemed to pull away from the adjacent yacht and not loose ground on the fleet.
For most of the competitors it was too windy for spinnakers so our big genoa kept us in the game downwind and wound the boat speed up to 9 knots at the peak of the breeze.
The anxious moment was when Elaine copped a flick in the face from a wildly flapping genoa clew. Thankfully apart from the shock the trauma was mild and she quickly was back in good spirits.
The final drama for the day was the position of the finish boat on the leeward end of the line just next to the turning mark of the previous leg. It would have been obvious where the finish line was if the boat had been on the windward end or if the flag on the pin mark end of the finish line had been the colour specified in the sailing instructions and not the faced bit of rag that it was. This little misunderstanding cost us a minute which would have given us third place but we are happy with the fourth place and retaining the lead in the series.
The results for the race and the series are here.
The tracks for the day are below
Windward works in 15 to 22 knots
After the rain front there is usually a good sky and tonight the city of Sydney looked like an array of golden temples.
Sydney on sunset looking over Woolwich ferry wharf
Now if you don’t like that you are not human.