Crew with new crew shirts posing on the back of Passion X on our first race day in 2017
It has been a year since we first raced Passion X in race 5 of the Autumn series. In that first race we were second across the line to the old Meridian, the 44 ft Dehler yacht, that usually took fastest time. We had a few second fastest as last year came to a close and were pretty happy with the performance. This season in the first series we were one point out of second place on the most fastest times with the good places shared around among new yacht, Much Ado V, and old ones sailing better including Flashback and Lisdillon. Jackpot returned with new owners and after a tentative start they now have her back near the front of the fleet. In the more casual summer series we were second on the fastest times table with some average results and were helped by the absence of some of the better yachts. After four races in the Autumn series we are second on the fastest time table but other have a big number to drop and we will end mid fleet unless we can pull a rabbit out of the bag. Our target in building Passion X was to be somewhere near the J122, Jackpot, and while we have had a few narrow wins while they were getting used to the new yacht they have had many more wins by a larger margin. Based on handicaps the pecking order appears to be Much Ado V, Dump Truck, Jackpot, Flashback and then Passion X with Joli and Meridian yet to have enough races to establish a base reference. As of now we still have not hit the target of matching Jackpot and the improved Flashback and new starters Much Ado 5, Joli and Meridian and a more consistent Dump Truck will make difficult to stay near the front of the fleet. It is hard to know if we have learnt anything over the past 12 months. The overall improvement in the fleet and the generally heavier air conditions mask any changes. We have now four races in what should be lighter airs to see how we go compared to last year.
Passion X enjoying first use of the new breeze in a good December race