It is a late report but only because I have been very busy working for a client and for Elaine. I worked to 4 am Friday morning for a deadline and today painted the lounge room. I hope both the paying client and the non paying one are happy. Now for the report on the sailing on Wednesday. We had another lovely Autumn day on the harbour and a visit from my brother from Perth to augment the crew. The extra crew was desirable as the forecast was on the margin between No 1 genoa and No 3 jib. We opted for the No 1 genoa but left the lazy jacks up in case we needed to reef the main in a hurry. At the start we were as leeward of the fleet as we could be but found Joli even further to leeward aiming to be the first to the pin. Unfortunately for both of us there was a very large header just before the start which found us both pinching to make the mark. We would have cleared but Joli was so low they were stuck head to wind on the pin and we had to hold back for what seemed like an age for them to round the mark and restart. By the time we were able to clear the bow of Joli the fleet was well away. A broad reach is our best angle and we quickly caught all but Fidelis. As the wind died Hitchhike pulled through to leeward and we rounded the mark in third place. Now this is where things took a turn for the worse as we tacked right on the mark back into the starboard running fleet coming up to the mark. We could not go above the windward boat if it headed up but if it headed up we could go to leeward through the gap with Krakatoa to leeward. Unfortunately I misunderstood the intention of the windward right of way boat which left no choice but to shoot the gap and hope for the best. Unfortunately Krakatoa had boats to leeward and could not give us more room so we had a collision. Don on Krakatoa was most gracious when we went over post race to apologize. It was our first at fault collision in all the years we have raced at RANSA and I have no excuse. It took time to find a clear area to do the mandatory 720 degree turns and we set off after Amanti and Allegro who had passed us in our tribulations. The two turns allowed Joli to catch up quickly and she caught us on Port and Starboard which required an unplanned tack with the crew still on the rail. The tack away from Joli took us too close to Steel Point and we suffered in the wind shadow. That was the last of the incidents for the day and we made a cautious way home. Ignoring Fidelis which is a rocket ship in the reaching conditions we finished three minutes behind Hitchhike and Amante, two behind Joli and one behind Allegro. After some recalculations we finished 12 out of 16 on handicap and would have needed three minutes to finish in third place. The two incidents were disappointing as we sailed well on the reach when the wind was fresh and did the return windward work better than we sailed last year. I saw some VMG to windward up at the 6 knot mark for the first time and the tighter back stay, flatter mainsail and tighter forestay seem to be working in the heavier winds. Top wind speed for the day was 22 knots but there was plenty of light air as well. Top boat speed was 10.4 knots. On the bright side we get a bit more handicap next week and on the dim side I have a repair to do to the sugar scoop stern at the deck level. It is not structural and for now is taped up to keep the moisture out of the timber.
Top wind speed was 22 knots
We sailed off the course to do our 720 degrees turns. In the breeze they were pretty quick.