On the work home from Cockatoo Island we flopped from tack to tack and maintained almost direct course to the finish
In very light conditions a clean bottom does help and the divers gave Passion X a good scrub today just before the race. I had taken two spinnakers off to lighten the boat and with three of our crew away we were manned by the lightest contingent we have had on board for a long time. As well Don and I spend some time adjusting the shroud tension and putting a little more bend back in but at the same time stiffening the rig with that bend in place. Also in the very light conditions we lowered the mainsail until the load of the boom was taken on the rigid vang and used the main halyard for leech tension control. Sort of like sheeting the main from the head and not the boom. Whatever the reason all the rig seemed just right for the day and we felt more in control than usual.
The start favoured the leeward yachts for a while but once they cleared Onion Point they were headed severely. We were still on the club side of the point and could tack to starboard and take a leg out from the point on a good lift. When we tacked back we took the stern of Avalon and worked further along the Onion Point shore before tacking back now in front of Avalon. Meridian was still clear ahead but we lifted inside her line and made up quite a few boat lengths. For a few tacks the positions see sawed until we lifted along the Snails Bay shore while Meridian closer to Balls Head knocked looking at our stern. We covered and maintained a position to windward going to Goat Island. The lead stayed much the same all the way to Cockatoo Island with Utopia and Avalon catching up with following breeze. We had a bit of a scare approaching Cockatoo as the breeze headed quite sharply while we had the headsail out on the 6 metre pole. I had to square away to get the pole down and then found ourselves quite low on the line to the Island. Fortunately we had breeze and a good angle to recover our position. Around the western end of Cockatoo Island the breeze deserted us and what was left was shifting. Behind Meridian’s genoa was drooping just as much as ours but i was concerned for the breeze bringing them and the now much closer Utopia and Avalon down on top. Our position in front was rewarded with the first breeze over the end of Cockatoo and we shaved the shore line keen to clear Clarke Point without tacking. That worked nicely but once beyond Clarke Point the breeze went away for a long rest. We could see the Blue fleet returning directly from Goat Island and struggling with little and erratic wind. The crew made some good calls and we flopped from starboard tack heading to Onion Point to port tack heading to Onion Point almost effortlessly. Next we flopped back to starboard to clear Onion Point and the tracks show little deviation from a straight line to the finish.
In similar conditions we have several other fastest times results and on three occasions out relative performance had been better but this was enough to take the double first and fastest.
Only time will tell if the tuning has paid dividends but we are getting more comfortable in a breeze and hopefully more consistent.
The poled our Genoa had to be lowered quickly when the breeze headed
Genoa backing in the light and shifty winds
At last some breeze while the fleet languished around Clarke Point
Time for a quick look to see the gap to Meridian