What a nice day for a drift! The sun was out and with no breeze the conditions on the water mid winter were very comfortable. Gone was the cold of the previous two days when the east coast of Australia recorded some very low temperatures and in its place was soft winter sunshine.
We started in very little breeze with the 1s fleet which started five minutes early still just in front of the starting line. The division 2 boats also started while we were just in front of the line so it appeared like one big slow moving fleet drifting seaward on an outgoing tide.
Much debate was had about the best end of the line on which to attempt a start and our final position right on the line in the middle was a reasonable choice.
After a while of drifting we lowered the main halyard enough so that the boom sat on the rigid vang allowing the leech of the sail to droop to leeward. Next we sat all of the crew to leeward and then we just relaxed as we inched closer to the lead. Soon it was Arunga, Amanti, Hitchhike, Passion X and Larrikin battling it out at the front of the fleet with Larrikin clearly ahead on handicap. By this stage this little group had passed the division 1s yachts, Duende and Blue Chip and were fast overtaking The Red Hand. In these conditions the less slippery the hull the better the tide gripped it and carried it to the front of the fleet. The though of poling our the genoa was tempered by the amount of resistance it might make to our progress with the tide.
Mercifully, just like this post, the race was abandoned.