During the 20 minute delay waiting for wind we had a perfect view of the city and harbour bridge bathed in winter sunlight. We are indeed spoiled with this venue where sailing in mid winter is better than some places in mid summer.
Picture perfect harbour views waiting for wind
After the delay we lined up for a start on starboard at a place that seemed appropriate but for the high pointing Hanni a couple of boats to leeward. The leeward yacht sails in the lift from all the fleet and when it is a high pointing yacht that points even higher when to leeward we were squeezed out. The tack to port was short lived as the starboard tackers from the boat end charged through so we were forced back onto starboard but this time in clearer air. Amante, back so soon from the Sydney to Southport race was a bit too eager and broke the start but was quickly back to restart, sailing low until a good knock came through and half way up the leg she was back in front of Passion X. Hanni had made a good start and together with Crosshaven and Allegro were out in front by a good minute or more. We played the shifts as best we could and by the top mark had pulled back the gap to Allegro and hung on to Amante better than expected considering it was a long beat straight into the wind. At the rounding Crosshaven was well in front of our little group with Hanni almost a dot in the distance further ahead. We all poled out the genoas for the long dead square run back and again this is not our favourite angle so we were pleased to make little gains out a bit deeper into the harbour risking the outgoing tide.
Around Steele Point Hanni and Crosshaven kept wide while Amante, Allegro and Foreign Affairs went in close enough to be becalmed. Wider out we stayed in the breeze and sailed away for a very significant break. Along the leg from Rose Bay to Point Piper we were passed by Foreign Affairs who is a casual entry so we let then go and sailed for speed making up a little ground on Crosshaven. Hitchhike was making better use of their genoa poled out and coming up from behind in a disturbingly fast fashion but we held on till the Point Piper mark.
The finish was shortened to to the top of Shark Island which was another beat into the wind and I was pinching to keep Hitchhike from climbing over the top. To our relief they tacked away as we were getting lifted so we held on for the final tack to the finish.
Across the line we were third of the regulars a long way behind Hanni and just over a minute behind Crosshaven and considering the amount of windward word and dead square running we were pretty pleased with our place. On handicap Hanni blitzed the fleet and will no doubt pay dearly at the handicap adjustment. Agrovation, Senta, Star Ferry and Crosshaven all finished in front of Passion X but courtesy of a small relief in handicap following our last place last week we scraped in ahead of Rainbow and Larrikin who are just behind us on progress score.
Star Ferry in the calm before the start
The tracks were pretty good considering it was at the top of the tide and not a lot of assist on the way up the course.
Quite respectable tracks at the top of the tide