Fall II

Nick helms on our way to the starting area

There was a nice wind of 15 knots more or less bearing 180. We were a bit disorganized in getting set up for the start. I was on port tack facing a wall of starboard tackers. We did a 360. What not to do on a start? Do a 360! Most of the boats headed for the pin however they found there was a bit of a struggle to get sorted and into clear air. Our spinning on the start line meant that we were slow and behind but had a clear run on port tact.

We suffered from spinning on the start but unintentionally benefited from getting clear air. The result was that by the windward mark rounding we were not too far behind. The hoist went well. Our downwind performance was OK. As we approached the leeward mark I debated about gybing, so that the chute would be on side for a starboard hoist, or doing a windward takedown. I opted for the windward takedown. This went well.

As we approached the windward mark we were with the CS 30s, i e we were doing good. We overstood and I had a difficulty in trimming. The bad trim meant that the boat was very slow. Hardtack took advantage and passed us to leeward. Once again we had a good hoist. At the leeward mark we didn’t need to worry about rehoisting the chute but our leeward takedown did not go as smoothly.

It was a bit of a close finish. We were worried about Jazz and spent most of dinner trying to figure whether or not we beat them. We were about 5 mins. ahead in real time but was that enough? Nope, we were 2nd by 10 secs in corrected time!