It was a night for the big genoas and we set our No1 heavy which was still damp from a fortnight ago and needed a good airing. As the breeze tended to be less than the forecast 11 to 12 knots we could have set our light No 1 and possibly achieved the same result.
The trip through Humbug was frustrating as we all sat becalmed. Unfortunately for us we were becalmed the longest and Lisdillon above closer to the wind shadow managed to find a puff and pull away while Fireball and Sweet Chariot just a few metres to leeward managed to sweep past and point up into the breeze. By a long margin we were stone motherless last out of Humbug and humbled by the experience.
Once intot he breeze we settled down to chasing the fleet.
Infotrack was out in front followed by Meridian, Much Ado V, Dump Truck and Joli. Further back was Ausreo, Fireball,Sweet Chariot and Lisdillon and it was this tail that we were chasing.
Our first break was a lift along the Snails Bay shore that lifted us above Lisdillon and on the knock back we were able to cross Sweet Chariot. Around the corner of Goat Island we were chasing Fireball and managed to put our nose in front on the reac back to Long Nose when Fireball and Ausreo went low and we went high for a streak of wind coming down the course.
At Long Nose the four last yachts converged on the point so we opted for the middle of the channel and eventually were able to reach up from under the tail on the approach to Cockatoo Island.
To our surprise the leading yachts had stopped along the Cockatoo shore so we made some substantial inroads into our time deficit.
Joli and Meridian managed to extricate themselves from the wind shadow off of the end of Cockatoo Island and reestablish a couple of minutes lead.
We stayed close for the work back to Goat in a position mid way between Joli and Meridian and the tail of the fleet with Lisdillon the most threatening.
Once around Goat Island we looked to have a big break on the tail and were closing in on Meridian and Joli while a little further ahead we could see the dark green hull of Dump Truck. As the wind bent around the headlands we managed to carry our genoa poled out into the middle of Humbug and were now just a few yards below Joli and Meridian.
Had the wind been a little kinder we would have shot past Onion Point in fresh breeze like the tail behind did but alas we were becalmed and headed and both Meridian and Passion X had to tack away and tack back .
From what I could see it looked like Joli managed to round on starboard tack and get a handy jump on sistership Meridian. Across the finish line we looked back to see the tail charging in on fresh winds and being carried swiftly to the finish line.
It was no surprise then that the tail wagged and got all the good points.
Joli by clearing Onion Point was the first it the front runners then Passion X, Meridian and last were the real front runners. And the first fastest Infotrack was last on handicap.
Lisdillon won by 2 and a half minutes from the close Ausreo and Fireball and to emphasise that it was a night for the tail to wag, even Passion X was over 9 minutes in front of Dump Truck on handicap and we could still manage only sixth place.