The title has little to do about one of the gun boats, Much Ado V, and much to do about the fickle winds that lead to the all the black fleet, and the majority of the green and blue fleets, failing to finish the course within the 8:15 pm time limit. The forecast for the waters around Cockatoo Island was for 15 knots and it was blowing 20 on the harbour and at Sydney Airport so we set the old No1 which is now the No 2 genoa. We were reluctant to use the new No 1 which we are keeping for light conditions and as the No 2 is a big step up in area from the No 3 in our minds it was a good choice. We won the start and were first into Humbug but with Much Ado V right on our stern. Soon Jackpot and from memory Meridian or Lisdillon had smothered our wind from behind allowing the rest of the fleet to catch up. Out of Humbug Much Ado V, Jackpot and one other picked up the breeze first and bolted away. We had a private battle with Dump Truck which was to go on all evening and at the west end of Cockatoo Island we made up some ground as the fleet slowed in the wind shadow. Unfortunately there was more than one fleet there and making use of the following breeze was difficult. It became more difficult as we started working towards Goat Island in a breeze that was flicking from North East to South East in very rapid succession. Lisdillon with a short footed genoa was taking full advantage of their rapid tacking ability and soon had a handy gap from us as they went off chasing the three lead boats. Neither Dump Truck nor ourselves could take a trick. We would tack on a header and have the breeze flick back so that we were going back and forth across the course and making little forward progress. At other times we would be heading straight to Long Nose on port tack while Much Ado V far ahead was pointing at Long Nose on starboard tack. Kevin and I swapped places a few times but with the same result as the wind was changing too fast for tactics other than sailing on what we had. We were on the favored tack a few times so that at the navigation mark at Goat Island we were level with Dump Truck and after rounding Goat could see the front runners ahead. As we emerged from the Goat Island wind shadow Joli came up on our lee and almost passed us while Dump Truck to windward picked up the freshening breeze first and shot ahead. Around Long Nose I poled out the genoa and insisted that we stay in the gust we had even though we were a bit by the lee. With the breeze flicking so much I figured it would come back soon so we could make Cockatoo Island and that was the case. Perhaps it was the only thing I did right on the night but it gave us a small lead on Joli and narrowed the gap to Dump Truck. The second work to Goat was also frustrating but we did pick up a bit of breeze more from the north that allowed us to make a straight line to Long Nose. We stayed in this breeze making up time on all the fleet becalmed ahead and at 8:05 pm with not enough time left we all gave up the race and started for home. With Kevin on the helm short tacking on the shifts and me calling the wind on the genoa we did a lot better on the second leg. I found it easiest to roll under the genoa for the tacks. This seemed a lot safer than trying to jump genoa sheets in quick succession and I recommend it to the crew. We had light genoa sheets on with stripped leads and these pulled through the spinnaker pole beaks quite easily so poling out the genoa and gybing the pole was pretty efficient. In this respect the double ended pole is the only way to go so I should think about a longer one for the drift conditions. That was the last race for the summer. We still have racing for the first month of Autumn until daylight saving time ends on 1st April so there is a good chance we will have at least one more frustrating race in dying conditions for our enjoyment. May it please be in a steady breeze.
Fickle wind at Fort Denison is similar to what we had in the west harbour.
An abandoned race