Kevin and I had great difficulty seeing the difference between last weeks exceptional tacking angles into Rose Bay and this weeks. True this copy cat performance was with an incoming tide while last week it was against the tide but it was a good performance never the less. I have to confess to one mistake when tacking into Rose Bay I saw the yachts ahead lifting on starboard tack and tacked early in anticipation of the shift but it was only a bullet coming across the course and it never reached us. Rainbow who was a little ahead lifted into the gust while we dropped away to leeward. That one error and an unhelpful becalming at Point Piper put paid to our chances of second place but we still managed a good fourth on handicap.
Good tacking angles into Rose Bay for a second week
Back at the beginning we made an excellent start behind only The Biz who we soon rolled with our full main and No 2 Genoa in winds gusting up to twenty knots. The downwind leg was our best performance ever as we were ahead of such stars as Allego and Luce Change at the turn. Izzi had a spectacular broad reach and Rainbow was not far behind her at the rounding.
We soon pulled in Izzi even as we reefed the main. So well did the reefing go that we lost no one and pulled away from the following pack with the help of a bit of a lift on our side. Rainbow battled on under full rig just ahead until the above mentioned mistake I made in tacking early. I think she was also helped with the full main as the breeze was lighter in Rose Bay so we shook out the reef as soon as we rounded the mark.
It was the last tack into the Rose Bay mark that allowed Allegro to slip through but this is the first time we have been up with her all the way to Rose Bay. At this stage I felt we were ahead on handicap of everyone except Rainbow and we were until we reached Point Piper and were becalmed. It seemed to take forever for the wind to return and while we waited the rear guard were steaming along in fresh breeze. There was wind just to windward but we had the genoa poled out and could not go up to the line of breeze. It was here that Izzi recovered some ground lost on the windward works and Enigma made big inroads into our lead.
On the run Geoff spotted Krakatoa tacking back towards Shark Island and suggested that was the way to go. As we rounded the mark for the beat around Shark Island wind and tactics and strategy dictated we follow Geoff’s advice which recovered a little ground for us and we rounded for the reach home still in front of Luce Change. Hopefully the second place last week and the first this week will bring Rainbow’s handicap back so we will not have to give her time again but we will have to wait and see. Izzi’s magical streak continues as she gets better every week.