What a bleak and miserable start to the weekend. From on-board RW at Salamander I couldn't even see Soldiers Point as it was clouded in mist and rain.....perfect sailing weather. Fully kitted up like I was about to cross the Tasman, we headed off into the rain and cold. The breeze was 15 knots from the souwest so we raced Course C2 (13M), west from Soldiers Point to Mallabulla, Middle Is, Mallabulla and finish. Actually the only time I have been west of Soldiers Point is to haulout at Oyster Cove, I have never even bothered to shadow the fleet in that direction because its so damn shallow, averaging 2-4m for the most part. My depth sounder shallow alarm kept squawking its head off!
Without my gun crew on-board I wisely positioned RW for a conservative start at the back of the fleet on an ebbing tide under full main. We scooted along at around 5 knots under main alone in 15-20 SW and once clear of the start unfurled the genoa to a #3. Picked off a couple of backmarkers on the first windward leg and a another couple after rounding Mallabulla. No spinnaker today so we goosewinged the full genoa and we lost a couple of places to the spinnaker fliers. After rounding the Cardinal Mark west of Middle Is, RW rocketed along on a beautiful reach topping 8.4 knots and we reeled in the main pack quite quickly. This is where I tactically blundered and was passed by two boats . With my high boatspeed and with the tide around slack water, I figured I could use RWs momentum and weight to clip the edge of the dead water I could clearly see in the lee of Middle Island.......well, I missed by that much! I watched yachts behind alter course as they saw me slow, then they sailed on by. As soon as we cleared the island and back on the breeze we gained ground.
RW was perfectly balanced as we headed back toward Mallabulla. The wind strengthened as the front moved through with the odd 25 knot gust. I managed to point high and lay the mark, once again passing the two yachts. Unfortunately not using a spinnaker meant giving up the places yet again and we finally scooted over the line for an 8th on H/Cap. I think I must have done about 40 laps of the deck and my old winch muscles had a great workout! Only had a couple of snags during tacks so will address those in the coming weeks. Great day even with the early rain and the sun did eventually pop its head out long enough for me to shed the Arctic gear and crack a beer on the downwind run
Next race is Sat 12 May, followed by an offshore sail to Newcastle on the 20 May.
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