Against my fervent pleading Passion X has been put into the Division 1s of the RANSA Winter Wednesday Series.
We had wanted to sail in the Division 1 against our familiar opposition but to be closer to the front of the pack rather than be on the edge of relegation as seemed likely last season. So even though half of the sailing wardrobe will be the genoa off Passion from last year we will have to race against Red Hand with its massive mast head overlapping genoa.
To be fair on the handicappers they have only a short history of our sailing as a guide for the fleet allocation but I would have thought our results at Port Stephens and in the Newcastle to Port Stephens race would have been enough to convince them that the ORCi club rating of 1.11 is excessive. Both our spinnaker rating of 1.11 and our non spinnaker rating of 1.02 will come down when the yacht is weighed and surprise surprise it weighs 4600 kg, not the 4300 kg that the ORC office has given us based on the weight of the 38 ft design. We are 550 mm longer, have a 70 mm thick solid stainless steel rudder stock, an under deck Edson steering wheel for the autopilot, four batteries, a hot water system and glass cladding over all the hull. 4,300 kg gives us some grace from the 38 ft design weight of 4,000 kg but not enough to my mind.
I feel we have the weight on board of a true cruiser racer but are being rated as a more aggressive racer which we are not.
Tomorrow we will take off the category 4 anchor and empty the water from the cruising tanks so that we comply with the ORC rules for water and see how we fare.
The forecast looks about as good as it will be all season for Passion X so it would be good if we are not be last.
We will put on our biggest sails for the first race of the RANSA Winter Wednesday series
The Red Hand with their baby jib up.
Allegro with their full hoist Genoa would have been a more suitable opponent.
A view of The Red Hand which we will see only fleetingly