I know we might be cocky today and eating crow next week but we had a great windward work to finish off the day and snatch a fourth place. This also lifts us to fourth on the leader board after eleven races.
It was a soldiers course for much of the race starting with a broad reach to the heads. On this leg we could not match the speed of the fleet and dropped back to be second last around the first mark. The next leg was a tight work back to clear Steel Point but as the fleet approached the point it was headed and only the leaders were able to clear it without tacking. On the headers we kept falling into the dirty air of Izze and in turn GWhizz fell into our dirty air but generally we had height and speed to start winding in the mid fleet yachts.
By the time Rainbow tacked to clear Steel Point we had made up a lot of ground. The run into Rose Bay continued the soldiers course theme but once onto the breeze for the beat to Point Piper we restarted our advance up the fleet. On the run around Shark Island we could see Rainbow and Enigma being given a bit of a nudge to windward by the Etchell “The Biz” which suited us fine as we ran up to all three. Rainbow seemed to come out the most affected by The Biz’s moves and she was now within catching distance.
On the beat from Shark Island to the finish I gave the crew a heart attack by tacking after the mark right towards the shallow water post. It was I thought the best option since we had three yachts dead ahead and no way of progressing forward in their dirty air. Having gained the two boat lengths to windward and clear air I prayed for a progressive shift to lift us above the fleet. We did not get much of a lift but the breeze hung on until we reached the line of moored yachts and then right on cue headed us so we could tack now with a line well above the early tackers. It was the lift that kept on giving and it gave long enough for us to pass Rainbow. Kevin called for us to tack back on the first header towards approaching breeze out of Double Bay and the tack on the next header lifted us to the Naval buoy and right onto Enigma’s stern. The tracks for the day show just how fortunate we were with the wind shifts.
Great tacking angles against the tide
It was another great day on the Harbour and thanks to all the crew for the great result. After rowing ashore after Passion was safely back on the mooring the sun was just above the horizon and shining on the city. The light was not a golden as in a previous post but still worth the time to pause and take it in.
Sydney at sunset from Woolwich