The vintage Northshore 38 and the more recent 370 are great examples of good quality yachts. These Aussie made icons are good value for money and with many in excellent condition will be racing around the harbour for years to come. As much as I admire them I prefer to admire them from a distance and not at the close range we experienced on Wednesday when we were jambed between a luffing NS38 and a non responding 370.
Very sadly some damage was done to the lovely NS38 and we will wait for the outcome of the protest meeting next Wednesday before I say anything more.
This early incident took the gloss off what should have been an enjoyable day on the water. Sadly we can blame only ourselves for the mediocre sailing performance. For once we got the sail selection horribly wrong. L’ Eau Co started with a 100% no 3 which looked tiny on her and she suffered a little on the run to the heads but she certainly made up for it on the work back. Her showing in the breeze was a surprise and shows how the correct sail selection is key.
We started with the big black genoa anticipating easing conditions through the afternoon and could not handle the conditions regularly up towards the 20 knot range. Despite the reef in the main we were over powered and rounded up even with the main flogging.
The strain of the big genoa was too much for the genoa sheets which gave in to age and overwork and tore apart at the turning point on the genoa lead.
Poor Passion, she has been worked hard and not given the same passionate care as in previous seasons as I have a love affair with Next Passion. Still we did try to make amends with all the safety checks up to Cat 4 completed and next week I will give her some new genoa sheets.
Now to add insult to injury as well as the poor sail selection, the on course incident and the broken genoa sheet we copped some pretty poor wind shifts. It might have been bad luck or it might have been that we were so busy surviving that we did not look far enough up the course and plan or tacks accordingly. Perhaps it was a bit of both.
Next week is the final race and our last chance to beat Rainbow and L’Eau Co on the water.