At Greenwich Flying Squadron we have enjoyed our share of good fortune out on the race track and currently lead the twilight series in the depleted Black Fleet.
I am hoping that the Beck team will turn up for the series but understand that with a team of MC38s to train against our twilight is more of a social event.
Our results are a combination of starting the series with a good handicap and making appropriate sail selection topped off with a dose of good wind shifts.
Last week we were second to Ausreo on handicap and while we expect Ausreo to go well in 20 knots of breeze not even an optimist would have picked Passion X to lead the fleet around Goat Island and back to Cockatoo. We can credit the last minute genoa change for the No 3 Jib for that. Consequently we were only mildly out of control for the first half of the race. As the breeze abated the regular order was reestablished but we had time up our sleeve except for Ausreo.
So why did we get a second again this week. Well the No 1 heavy that we so hurriedly took down last week was still in the V berth and had to be folded sometime. That was the basis of the selection and to compensate for the flatter genoa we left the backstay very loose for the evening. Admittedly the regular order was established right from the start but we hung on to the rear of the fleet on the beat to Goat and made up a little ground on the run back to Spectacle Island. Along the Hunters Hill shore we were not in phase with the lifts and knocks but then again most of the fleet was suffering the same fate so we lost little time to Agrovation, Meridian and Joli while out in front with a freshly applied antifouling was Utopia followed by the reliable Jackpot.
Humbug is the last throw of the dice and we threw a double six lifting all the way to the finishing line. Having eyes only for the ribbons on the genoa I did not realise that Meridian and Joli were not that far ahead and so as we crossed the line our hopes for another good result were high.
Bonus points was a good photo of Passion X on the GFS facebook page.
