The two week hiatus in racing is over, but will there be any wind? We headed out to the start towing Threes Company. As we approached the start, the wind slowly started to fill in from the east. By the start we had a very good breeze from the east.
There was a very long start line and the pin end was very favoured. Port tack was also favoured. I prefer to start on starboard. We started on starboard near the pin. That worked well as we forced Threes Company to tack away. We sailed on starboard almost to the layline and then tacked over. A two tack leg.
The downwind leg was pretty uneventful. The RC had gates. The south gate was favoured and we opted for that. This meant a windward takedown. This is a new procedure for the crew. I wasn't happy with the result but no real harm done. We lost a few boat lengths though. ": )" Jack Rabbit and Threes Company went south. I made a quick assessment: didn't look like much wind there, we were in bad air from boats ahead, "Tack". This was a good call as the wind was much better on the north side of the course. By the windward mark we got Jack Rabbit and had caught up to Threes Company. Things were going well except that Viking Blood rounded to windward and stole our air. I was very anxious that we hadn't lost way and wouldn't make the offset. We did; but we lost a bit to Threes Company.
On the downwind leg the wind died and it was very hard to keep up boat speed. I basically followed Threes Company (i e they were my tacticians). Unfortunately K.I.S.S. blocked us from our preferred track. We had to sail almost downwind while Jack Rabbit sailed on a hotter angle. It was a close finish but we beat Jack Rabbit for a third. Windlight, first and Threes Company, second.
There was a nice post race chat with Jim and Alf. We all had a good time. It was great to be back racing.
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