We did get a very good seven to ten knots sailing breeze for the Wednesday sail our of RANSA and a real bonus as only three knots had been forecast. Before the start Geoff had predicted the direction would move about and that it did indeed. Meanwhile inside the boom a shackle pin worked loose, possibly after a flogging last Wednesday and Friday when the main was reefed and the main outerhaul was lying loose inside the boom. The upshot was that we had no outerhaul and had to jury rig and fix the clew of the mainsail in one position for the duration of the race. It was too full for the windward work and too flat for the reaches but it was a reasonable compromise.
We had a well timed start off the boat end in clear wind with a slight shift favouring the boat but eventually it knocked putting the pin end starters who had persevered on starboard well in front when they tacked.
Krakatoa was just above us and as they tacked early we had freedom to move which we did to stay in phase with the fleet. I Super did something super and was clear ahead of the fleet. Back int the pack we were having some good gains and some of those shift which go down as losses. Consequently we were ahead and behind of the same yachts many times on the long work to the heads. We arrived at the top mark ahead of Allegro and Krakatoa but behind a close bunch including Amanti, Joli, Meridian, Hanni and Hitchhiker. Crosshaven snuck in there too so we had plenty of company for the run back to Steele Point. We stayed out with Crosshaven trying to emulate what they did two weeks ago by going wie around Steele Point but it did not work as the fleet close inside got a good gust along the shore and successfully shot the corner. Out wide we were still hoping to get the breeze from over the top but it came from forward of the beam and we were left in the dirty air of the fleet. Around the Rose Bay mark we gave room to a big Div 2 yacht and suffered from her dirty air so the leaders moved further ahead.
Behind Allegro and Krakatoa were coming down with fresh breeze while we were sitting in our private light patch. The three of us tried to round the Point Piper mark at the same time with Allegro getting the front spot and Passion X the inside spot on Krakatoa and that was the way we rounded the island.
For the final run home Allegro went north and picked up the first use of a new squirt and bounded away and Krakatoa persisted with giving Passion X dirty air to be successful by a short nose over the line.
Between Rose Bay and home Passion X lost 4 minutes on the leaders which is a bit troubling as it is not normally the case. I suspect we had the rig a bit stiff because as I review the video footage of the race I can see the loose leaches on the mainsails of the yachts leading away from us into Rose Bay.
Well done to I Super for the wind and to Joli for getting back onto the podium. Unfortunately for them the point score series finished last week with Krakatoa taking the prize on a countback from Passion X. It was a well deserved win for Krakatoa as they performed well from the first race.
Thursday in idyllic conditions I audited a GFS yacht and in turn was audited ready for the 2020 2021 season. Post audits I tackled the broken mainsail outerhaul and was able to replace the broken shackle and reinstate the 4:1 purchase system ready for the Friday afternoon pursuit race at Balmain.
The fleet did better close in to Steele Point
Where the fleet got away with the freshening breeze on the nose into Rose Bay