After a line of rain went through last night the day cleared to bright sunshine for our first West Harbour Winter Series race following the lifting of some of the Covid 19 restrictions. With a small crew we opted to set only the fractional Code Zero for the down wind legs so set it up before the race.
In ten to fifteen knots we started at the pin end pinching to clear the pin but clear it we did. Right from the start it seemed that Matagi the MD35 would walk away from the fleet which she did beating us by 12 minutes around the course. Ophir the Flying Tiger was second fastest around the course but we did manage to beat her on handicap. The very beam Pogo 36, Odyssey, was too powerful in the breeze and with a good compliment of crew on board she had even more power for the conditions. Next was the Sydney 36 cr, Another Planet. These yachts set spinnakers on the run from Drummoyne to Goat Island while we sailed with the less effective and smaller Code Zero so I was quite pleased with the result. While happy with a fourth place on handicap it would have been better have more than the six yachts competing in our division.
The photo shows the significantly greater sail are of the front runners today compared to our 58m2 Code Zero.
Three of the four yachts in front today photo courtesy Mark Palmer