Last Wednesday the RANSA race was cancelled for lack of breeze. on the plus side we did get the mainsail back on Passion X and had a little beat to windward before the race was cancelled. Our three knots to windward in the light winds was not enough to convince the starters and it was a good call to send the fleet home. Our race around the islands on Friday with the Balmain Club was a slow event but we managed a lap of the course for a third place finish and managed to keep our nose in front of the Sydney 36 despite the best efforts of the Sydney Ferry to block our path to the finish line.
Saturday was a bonus sailing day with Kevin and Sue and Ian on Brisbane Waters. The light winds were enough to get us around the course but made for tricky conditions with many big gains and losses to be enjoyed or bemoaned as the case may be. Kevin’s Ross 780 beat the Adams X around the course while on Sunday in Passion X we could only beat two out of three of the Adams X’s.
Glassy water behind the crew of Kevin’s Ross 780
Sunday was a windy West Harbour Winter Series race and despite a losing a minute at the start we performed well. The 22 knots we saw before the start encouraged us to keep one reef in the main for the whole race while some of our smaller competitors braved the course with full mains. To our delight we held our ground downwind with the reef and pointed well in the flat water. A few hardy souls tried spinnakers but there were less and less on display as the race progressed.
I was pleased with the result on handicap as we had not performed so well in breeze on previous occasions. This time we finished mid fleet on PHS and were not last on ORCi. Allowing for the minute we lost at the start we would have been mid fleet on ORCi and I still expect this rating to reduce when Passion X is weighed.
I think the flat water assisted in managing the stronger breeze as I was able to feather into the gusts and still keep speed with great height. I have not been able to do this on the Wednesday races with a lot of the tacking in waves coming through the Sydney Heads.
We are on schedule to have Passion X weighed next Tuesday and will soon see what happens to our ORCi rating.
In other news Passion has been sold and while it was sad to see such a good yacht go we cannot be fleet owners. I hope the new owner gets as much pleasure as we have had from her.