Meridian leads the fleet home
Utopia got up and went
Avalon leads Passion X (partially obscured far right) and Flashback extreme left
Passion with the old genoa brings up fourth place.
The forecast south east fresh winds never arrived and in place was very mild winds of 7 knots dying to nothing at the finish. As the breeze faded those who had an early lead extended their lead and many handicap placings followed fastest times order.
For our part we reflected on last week and thought a bit more flow in the foot of the main would be useful but in a nod to the expected strong winds set the 40m2 old genoa from Passion.
In the pre race quiet conditions this rig looked too flat and too little but we were expecting more. The start line was similar to last week so we opted to start further away from the club so that we could be leeward lifting boat at Onion Point. That did not work out as Meridian came up from beneath and took starboard rights down the line in front of us with enough room to cross us on the gun. That forced an early tack which was too low on Onion Point with an incoming tide and the tide at the lowest point. We pinched to make the point and crossed with 900 mm under the keel which is a bit close for comfort. The yachts starting closer to the club had a better and faster lane into Humbug but fortunately they went a bit high leaving room for Passion X and Joli to pull under to leeward. As we passed Clarke Point we were hard on the tail of Utopia who was nose to tail with Flashback while Meridian did the same as last week and took the inside rounding of Cockatoo without stopping. One day she will die in the wind shadow but not tonight. Utopia, Flashback and Passion followed in single file while Avalon went high. Avalon tacked closer to the island and managed to work out from under Passion X while Flashback and Utopia maintained a lead on both of us. Now Joli steamed up from behind and looked like going over the top until a knock put them into our dirty air and Kevin on the helm was able to work to windward. Back in the cockpit the crew was deepening the foot of the main even more while I was moving the jib cars forward and with these little improvements we started to hold Joli and pick up ground on Flashback. Approaching Goat Island we carried a lift into the Island further than we would usually risk but it paid off when we tacked on the first hint of a knock and lifted above Flashback enough to tack under them for the turn around the navigation mark. Flashback did not like our dirty air and it put them in the way of a couple Blue fleet yachts which also slowed them.
Out of this one move we obtained a jump which by the finish in the dying breeze was worth seven minutes. Joli also had to negotiate this traffic and was similarly slowed.
The run home was an anxious one as the dying breeze seemed to have streaks bringing the fleet down on us while we were not making inroads into the lead of Meridian, Utopia and Avalon.
The last drift to the line was awful as the incoming tide was almost as strong as the breeze and the heading to make the finish line had to be much higher. A couple of yachts did not make the buoy and had to do very slow re rounds.
With the fourth across the line I expected to do well and was not disappointed with the fourth on handicap. After the first four races of the season the two Sydney 38s, Utopia and Avalon at last received competitive handicaps and celebrated with a first and third respectively. The they had some taken back due to their success.