Today we were the only yacht to have a decent sail on Sydney harbour in winds that peaked at 33 knots. We had the new No 4 jib on board and were waiting for the start of our regular RANSA Winter Wednesday race when we found ourselves alone. We pulled into the RANSA jetty and confirmed the worst that the race had been cancelled. Being all dressed up with nowhere to go we sailed most of the course anyway. Our peak speed broad reaching was 12.3 knots in a 32 knot gust. At this stage we had one reef in the main and the brand new No 4 jib hanked onto the forestay.
For the tight reach back to Steele Point we put in the second reef and also tried beating to windward for a while. The peak wind gust during beating was 33 knots in Rose Bay.
It would have been nice to have had a race as the wind angle would have been to our advantage and we would have gained a better appreciation of our performance. All the same we had a very enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine and wind.
Alas the forecast for Friday is even stronger and Saturdays safety audits may have to be shifted to a less windy day.