There was a brisk east wind. We had a good start, ahead of Windburn but not Windlight. We seemed to sail slightly lower and eventually fell behind Windlight's stern. Windburn was able to catch up and crossed in front of us. I am not sure why things went so badly but clearly not a good upwind leg. As a result of the tacks we were on port with the next windburn crossing and had to duck.
It is not a good idea to follow the boats and we gybed first. I headed for what I thought was the leeward mark. It was in an odd position south but east of the committee boat. Windlight and Windburn went to the other mark; but that would be the start pin? What should the leeward mark look like? As we approached my 'leeward' mark it became apparent that it was the wrong colour. We rounded the other mark well behind Windlight and Windburn. The adage "Don't follow" doesn't mean to not follow the course!
After rounding we kept more in the centre. Windlight was clear ahead while we caught up to Windburn. On the downwind leg we simply stayed in front of Windburn. I did not understand why our second upwind was so good while are first was so bad when the boat was sailed the same both times. Possibly we got bad air from Windlight and I should stayed clear.
I was a bit annoyed at blowing a great start. The only positive is that when finding ourselves behind we didn't panic and did what we could to recover.
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