Charles' Return

A few crew changes. Charles was racing for the first time this year. Chris was not available and David was on vacation in Europe. Mary Jane, who normally races with Harvey on Tuesday night, replaced Janet; Janet replaced Chris as Foredeck; Emi replaced David as Trimmer; and Charles replaced 'absent Charles'. Newish postions for everyone except the skipper! Jack Rabbit was out with their regular crew while our crew would potentialy be rusty in their newish positions. We did our spinnacker hoist and got a few problems solved before the race. Windlight was the only other boat in our fleet. The wind was more or less from the east, i e 87. The RC set a course from "0" to Gibraltor. Which way to go: left or right? It seemed that the wind was stronger on the right side where it was clear of Centre Island. I suspected that the Island would provide a lift. We had a good start however Jack Rabbit was ahead at the pin and in clear air. We fill in behind Victory Dance so tacked away. We were clear ahead of Avra and Polaris and easily crossed them. We headed right while Jack Rabbit stayed left. So that will be the plan: take the right side. When we crossed they were clear ahead. Unfortunately we got behind Fifth Day and stupid me didn't tack away. Jack Rabbit also gained at the first leeward mark rounding as we were fouled by Victory Dance and Avra. We did a couple of more circuits but the race was pretty much over. We finished ahead of Victory Dance and Avra (both are not in our fleet) but well behind Jack Rabbit. A second. It was an enjoyable race. We had some good boat to boat manouvres and the crew performed well even though they were placed into new positions. We finished well ahead of boats which should have been faster.