Infotrack politely came up from leeward and blasted off ahead
Clear skies and a refreshing 12 knot sea breeze promised a great evening sailing but a failing breeze disappointed leaving the back of the fleet limping home with ever lengthening finish times.
Team Beck or Infotrack Inc demonstrated the advantage of superior boat speed with Much Ado V taking the gold and Dump Truck the silver. Jackpot and Utopia held on to the leaders well but then there was a gap to Joli, Passion X and Lisdillon who were having a good battle until the breeze finally ran out of puff off Long Nose and the finishing times expanded to embarrassing levels.
On Passion X we had the right gear up for the night, a clean bottom and no excuses but at best could have finished mid fleet but finally managed only 9th out of 11 starters.
We started well but not as well as Jackpot and Utopia. In fact the breeze died at the start and we were probably too slow to power up. Soon were run over by the fleet taking our wind. Infotrack did the sporting thing and reached up from below before pulling away and scooting clear ahead. Then Much Ado V took our wind then Dump Truck and Joli in turn gave us dirty air. We managed to keep clear air below Joli but to leeward of a fleet that lifted strongly. We stayed with Joli but low on the course and did not recover as the lift was a progressive one which only reached us as we tacked away from the earlier fleet on starboard around Long Nose.
On the beat to Goat Island we crossed tacks with Lisdillon who was enjoying the earlier fresher breeze and kept chasing Joli who was half a minute ahead at the navigation mark off of Goat Island.
Around the island we held out our larger genoa and picked up Lisdillon while negotiating a gap between the ferry and the fleet. The reach back to Cockatoo seemed promising as Utopia was just a minute 20 seconds ahead at the concrete dolphin in Snails Bay but the breeze now started to play tricks. Lisdillon ran up along the Balmain shore to our stern but then fell into a hole so that we could reestablish the prior gap. Joli drifted into the wind shadow of the earlier fleet heading for Snapper Island which allowed us to run down to their stern but no further. At this stage it appears that Utopia and jackpot had a better run as they were by now nowhere in sight.
We did the long work back to Goat Island keeping pace with Joli and keeping an eye on Lisdillon and were pleased to be just 35 seconds behind Jolia at the Goat island mark the second time however this is where the wheels fell off. By the concrete dolphin in Snails Bay, Joli had extended her lead to a minute 20 seconds before finally pulling away to a four minute lead at the finish and eclipsing our corrected time by four seconds.
The wheels really fell of our wagon on the way from Long Nose to Humbug where we languished with no breeze. A shift northward in the wind left us pointing at the Woolwich wharf on starboard while ahead already on port Joli was sailing straight up Humbug.
Once in Humbug the mood improved as we had a very safe passage with the Blue Fleet being particularly careful with port and starboard crossings and we had some breeze to keep moving. Our mood got darker again off of Onion Point where we needed to tack away from the rocks but were prevented from doing so by a port handed yacht motoring past after the finish. We were forced to stall off the point until the yacht passed and then had to tack into the path of Salty Sea Dog. The tack to port and back to starboard took 35 seconds during which we made almost no progress other than to slip down the handicap place rankings behind Joli, Lisdillon and Fireball. Sweet Chariot and Ausreo could not overcome the effects of the dying breeze on the elapsed times and drew up the rear.
The dying breeze is a characteristic of sailing in Sydney and gets worse further inland and it is tough when the difference between promise and disappointment is 43 seconds.
Much Ado V goes over the top
This is getting boring. Dump Truck and Joli go over the top
The lift finally arrives and Joli lifts ahead
Lisdillon opts to give us their dirty air. Thanks Andrew.
Overtaking Lisdillon around the back of Goat Island
Very careful Blue fleet yachts through Humbug. Thank you.
Last tack to the finish line in almost no breeze.