After a disappointing result sailing ultra light in Wednesday I loaded Passion X up with at least 400 litres of fresh drinking water to establish a decent bow down trim and provide some low down weight in lieu of a lot of crew on the rail. The aim was to set the full genoa and reef the main if the winds blew up but pre race it blew up to over 20 knots and not a little cowardice crept in. For sure the crew were willing accomplices in this public show of reserve as we hanked on the No 3 genoa for the day.
Pre race the breeze held up so as we started a minute in front of Maxishambles we handled the windward beat well, not losing any ground and claiming our first victim racing with a reefed main at Snapper Island.
Presently the breeze dropped out to seven knots with the very occasional puff up to eleven and the little poled out No 3 genoa was doing her best.
Deliciously we had eight more minutes of the strong breeze than Avalon but suffered from three minutes less wind than Odyssey so Maxishambles and Passion X had a large part of the western harbour all to ourselves.
At this point Maxishambles did a pretty decent change up to a big light air genoa without losing much ground and then proceeded to draw away for a good half minute lead around Goat Island.
We did not negotiate Goat Island well and I put that down to both being under canvassed and under height compared to Maxishambles. Despite these drawbacks we stayed in touch all the way back to Spectacle Island .
The last run home was pretty quiet and so much so that Odyssey and a group of yachts were stationary at the ferry wharf looking like they could be our next victims. Luckily for them the breeze picked up before we arrived and they had a clear finish some four minutes ahead and almost a minute faster around the course.
So we did about three minutes better on Avalon than usual and three minutes worse than usual on Odyssey but what does that prove. Our trial of the extra weight in the water tanks was completely destroyed by the cruel breeze that sprung up pre race and then died mid race. Only Avalon could claim to be more sorely done by and we sympathise with them trailing the fleet for the day.