The forecast fading north west breeze went AWOL well before the start and allowed a sea breeze to settle in at about six knots. The favoured end was switching around in the pre race preparation so we opted for a start on starboard towards the boat but away from the pack. At the start the starboard tack was tending to lift and as we had good boat speed with the rig powered up we held on for as long as possible. Below Philosopher tacked to port and tried to cross where there was insufficient room. The result of us avoiding contact was that we ended in their dirty air needing a bear away to get clear air. Eventually Philosopher tacked away from Bradley Heads so we could follow but on port we drifted down into their dirty air.
Crosshaven went for the Steele Point side and mindful that we had lost out to that side a few weeks ago we followed suite as the shifts allowed. Over on the Vauclause shore we trades places with Philosopher, Meridian, Joli and Crosshaven and on the way passed Monkey Magic, Foreign Affairs and Agrovation who were already running home.
We were the last of our little group to round the top mark and head back to Steele Point. To windward Meridian and Joli had run out of breeze so we stayed square behind Philosopher for the run home. Meridian gybed out to the north and when we took her stern we did wonder how it would work out. Well it did not work out well as the breeze died mid stream and filled in from the Vauclause shore.
Along the run back to Steele Point we kept watching the following fleet for signs of freshening wind. Allegro and Amante were a good guide and we were pleased that they did not make up ground.
Joli rounded Steele Point the first of our group followed by Crosshaven and Philosopher. We went widest of the group and passed Crosshaven but could not get past Philosopher until the mark in Rose Bay. To our good fortune Philosopher stopped just beyond the mark allowing Passion X to pass to windward and from there keep a few metres ahead. Joli pulled out for a small lead amongst our group of four while we had trouble passing a lower division yacht around the Point Piper mark. Learning from past mistakes we kept on heading north from the Point Piper mark to clear the disturbed air as soon as possible. Crosshaven tacked along the shore behind us and allowed us to get a mini break and hold out Philosopher, Crosshaven and Meridian to the finish.
In the dying breeze the front runners took all the silver while the tail enders fell further and further behind in the handicap places.
The first six places went to Monkey Magic, Agrovation, Foreign Affairs, Joli, Passion X and Philosopher while Crackerjack, ISuper, Larrikin and Leeward retired gracefully from the twenty two boat fleet.
At this stage Monkey Magic is blitzing the fleet on points score followed by Britannia, Agrovation and Meridian. Our fifth place brought us up one point behind Meridian into fifth place.
On scratch we are equal sixth with Monkey Magic well behind Agrovation and Foreign Affairs.
For Passion X it was a good race as we concentrated hard all day on keeping moving and at the same time picking the right side of the course. It was a long work from the start to the heads and a shorter run home to the finish line a windward work from Point Piper to the top of Shark Island. While we could not keep up with Agrovation, Monkey Magic and Foreign Affairs in the windward working stakes we did hold our own with the rest of the fleet.
