We motored out of Tarban Creek and felt the the strength of the southeasterly piping out of Five Dock Bay so we reefed the main rather badly and sailed up to the start. We decided to shake out the main and use our number two jenoa knowing that we would be over powered in Hen and Chicken Bay.
We probably got the best start but were soon overtaken by LOEG. Out in the Bay we had to duck SF but we misjudged the speed of Axis of Evil much to the dismay of Speedo. Sorry Speedo! So we were last around mark four and followed the fleet in the direction of mark one. At mark one we could have overlapped AOE and had the inside run but decided to keep out of their way seeing we had previously infringed them. The race progressed and we couldn't seem to keep away from AOE on the run to the clubhouse. In the meantime LOEG was being sailed superbly to keep SF at Bay. We noticed that the Division 3 boat Farrago was also flying in the heavy conditions with only two up. The second time working to number four was quite brutal but because we were last, there was no traffic to dodge. We over stayed the mark and because we were overpowered and could not turn the boat because the lee bow was digging in and with two hands on the tiller the helm would still not respond. We learnt that all sails must be released to allow the boat to come flat to have control of the helm. I thought we lost about five minutes with the stuff up but Colin said it was only one. The rest of the race was uneventful for us but from quite a distance we saw SF cross the line with LOEG a close second followed by AOE who were only manned by a crew of two. This race was a great learning experience for us and we all slept well.
Report by Graham Bevan
Black Velvet
Report by Graham Bevan
Black Velvet
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