Our small crew was no match for the conditions today as we finished towards the bottom of the handicap results. This was particularly disappointing as we had a good first reach to the turn mark and rounded behind the mighty reaching machine, Fidelis. We held our position until approaching Steel Point when Amanti powered over the top and we fell into her wind shadow. From there it was all down hill.
With a crew of three we opted for the No 3 jib and that was fine for the strong wind reaching leg but once in the wind shadow of Steel Point we were quickly under powered allowing Amanti an easy pass. Once into her dirty air we dropped away and found ourselves on the outside of a left shift which carried a host of the following fleet above us. To make matters worse we were sailing way too low and it took a while to work out a better VMG mode. Once back in the traffic we had a few too many right of way yachts to avoid all of which costs precious seconds which builds to minutes at the finish.
by the end of the work into Rose Bay the breeze had moderated so we had no superior reaching speed to make up time on the way home.
It was forecast to lighten but we could not have carried any of the genoas on the day with the crew so as frustrating as it is that is where we were going to finish.
We did beat five yachts home and Hanni, Meridian and Leeward each had a worse day handicap wise.