We were on the wrong side of a progressive lift today and lucky to escape with a fourth fastest.
Today we were on the wrong side of a progressive shift and were lucky to find the one shift back for the afternoon that let us get across to the lifting side and save some face.
On the windward work in six knots of sea breeze we were stuck on the northern shore with a huge gap to the fleet on the southern shore. As we were lifting in breeze it would have been a long way back had we tacked so we hung on and hoped. Eventually around Chowder Head we found a knock and tacked immediately to get back to the fleet. Surprisingly we got back across to Amante but Leeward and Hanni were too far away. Leeward was further up the course in clear air and Hanni was well to windward and picking up her own set of lifts. The rest of the fleet was very close behind. Of particular note were Larrikin and Agrovation who had picked the shifts well.
We rounded the mark behind Crosshaven who came in on starboard while we on port had to kill speed and time until they rounded. In the process Amante, Hanni and Leeward escaped further up the course. Allegro also made up ground so that on the reach back to Steele Point we were chasing Crosshaven and trying to stay in front of Allegro.
That game went on all the way to the Point Piper mark where we positioned ourselves to come in on starboard gybe and clear ahead of Allegro and Crosshaven. That mark rounding allowed us to pull away from Crosshaven and Allegro as they were now clear astern in dirty air but still laying the mark with no way to get clear air. On the leg to Point Piper Fidelis put in a charge and crossed our stern but fell a few boat lengths behind on the approach to Point Piper and for Fidelis boat lengths are a long measure.
The reach around Shark Island provided no overtaking lanes and the dead square run to the finish was equally follow the leader.
Leeward took the daily double of first and fastest while Agrovation and Larrikin filled the minor places and we finished back in tenth place, a bit further back than I expected even given the first work issues. Spare a thought for Crackerjack who loves the heavy air and had to put up with the light conditions today for the exact opposite of the Leeward result.