The Forecast for today was even less than yesterday, but still the race officers are adamant to get in the scheduled races with not too much delay. After a postponement on shore until 11am, we headed out to the course under tow from Coach Dayne with about 5 knots of breeze shifting from 115 – 90 degrees.
The prediction was for it to go towards the right, which could result in a sea breeze direction, but there is still a bit of land between the lake and the sea, which should cause some unpredictable shifts…..!
We seem to be battling with the starts lately, not sure if its the fact that there is not really much breeze and we have to accelerate even earlier, or we are not getting an accurate reading of where the line is, or we are on the line too early and have to back off.
We will however do some practise starts today with Coach Dayne – hopefully there is enough time.
Race one was not too bad, but we seemed to get into trouble with tight situations with other boats – we thought we were in the right in both situations.
Our fleet has a tendency not to go through with protests even if rules are clearly broken. I am not too sure why this is, as sailing is a self policing sport and it is up to the competitors to prevent others from breaking the rules.
I just wonder when the final straw will be picked and the show begins, right now its just a game of intimidation and a lot of shouting (bark) but no action (bite)!!
With the ‘not-so-brilliant’ start we managed a middle of the fleet top mark rounding and stayed there for the race to finish 14th.
Race two was interesting, and again we were heading for a middle of the fleet finish. We headed out towards the right side of the course on the second upwind, when our breeze (100 degrees) died off and came in from the North, and the majority of the fleet came reaching down with bags up.
As they were all jockeying for position and room to get round the mark, they were slowing each other down. We stuck to a two sail reach and tried to ‘sail around the mob’ but we got about halfway round and then hit their dirty air.
The boats that could tack off first where the ones that lead to the finish as the line hadn’t been moved for the new breeze direction.
Some people where more unlucky than us, but we got a 22nd. Not great.
Without much delay, the last race of the day was set off. Again we struggled to find the line and were about 3 boatlenghts off which puts us on our back foot as the race starts.
We got caught on the wrong side again of a big right shift, which meant a jibe set. We were ready for it, trying to get ourselves into a position tight on the mark to do a jibe as soon as possible.
As we were reaching to the mark, there was enough room for the AUS team to under tack us, and we had to wait for them to jibe.
A good part of the fleet hung on longer than us and when they jibed we were clear ahead, and back in the game. Finish 15th.
We are 22nd overall, not were we are aiming, so keep the good thoughts flowing our way as we have a bit on for the next 6 races. The wind looks similar for Friday, but it is what it is.
Whether the weather be light, or whether the weather be strong, we will all weather the weather together!!
Have a good weekend
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