So the first race is in the books.......well almost as there is a slight delay in getting the results out but we are confident we took second, losing out by 5 seconds on corrected to the Express 37 - Avalanche.
The day was dry, that was good, but with it came no, and I mean NO wind. I think we saw a gust that lasted just a few minutes of 4 knots tws but for the most part it was 0-3 tws, with a tricky 1.5 knots of current travelling across the fleet.
After an hour delay and much deliberation on the RC's part they were able to set a course that was as close to square as one could manage and got all three divisions off promptly!
We were in the third start along with Jabiru ( J 35 ), Avalanche ( Express 37 ) Whirling Dirvish ( C&C 110 ) and Danu ( Bene 36.7).
We called for a pin end start and went roaring towards at 1.6 knots and tide slightly against us......could we actually be early.......yup, so we bore off and gave away some height but nailed the start, crossing mid line but right on time......other's weren't so lucky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmXyscp5wPQ
Well after about 10 minutes we started to catch the slower fleet(s) and were sailing directly into there dirty air, or what little air there was. We had good boat speed and and were footing off as much as possible to keep it but eventually the skipper called to tack ( mistake #1 on the day ). We did, and got clean air but lost about a half of our boat speed and never really got it back.
We were now through the major current line but about to get into a port / starboard with another div boat so we decided to get back into sinc with the rest of our fleet...........So we tacked, and probably lost another 50 % of our boat speed, which we never really got back..........Well guess what our fearless skipper thought to do again, think! And yes tacked twice more and gave away about 3 minutes to the leaders and fell back to the rest of the pack.
However that was the last mistake we made as for the next 5 legs we sailed well - sets and mexican take downs were perfect! The course on the day was 2 - A x2 - 3 -A. With the strong right to left tide many boats didn't allow enough room at the mark rounds in the light breeze with at least a few boats having to bear away, take down the kite and beat up against the tide to round properly or better yet, brust up against the mark - take your one turn penalty and keep going in the right direction.
We slowly clawed back on the leader ( Avanlanche ). After passing the committee boat we kept the A2 up but really should have either peeled to the A3 or gone to the genoa as we seemed to lose some ground, sailing a little past the point of effectiveness of the big red circus tent.
We managed to hold off Jabiru to take 2nd place, missing 1st by 5 seconds on corrected time.
Great job by MAD DASH getting in a very competitive race and I think a good shake down on boat handling and course management.
Unofficially Avalanche with 1st - CdM 2nd - Jabiru 3rd - Whirling Dirvish 4th - Danu 5th!
A pretty good start to the season............
Thanks to Andy - Keith - Tim - Lin - Ian and Joy........great first race of the year!
CdM
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