Me, Katie on main spin, Andy on jib/pit, Niki on bow.
Morning started kinda irritating with a slow start out of the harbor, and a tow that had tacking angles, but we finally got out into some sailable breeze, about 4kts @100deg.
We were tuned similar to the last race, with a headstay at 49.5, lowers slack, uppers 800 and a 1/2" shim aft.
Got the most perfect start ever... almost. We were going super fast right at the pin end, but were OCS as our time didn't match the RC; first we were late, then we were early. Big bearaway and gybe to port and we were off. Caught a nice righty about 5 minutes in and were back to 3rd, behind 196 and 150. Lost a little ground working out speed, but then saw both lead boats continue right past our (short) mark! We rounded the proper mark with 45 just behind, and led the rest of the race as the breeze built up to around 5kts. This weekend saw the return of 150, and looking back we saw them go way out of their way to round the short mark correctly, even though 196 kept sailing without rounding anything. Both boats ended up doign the right thing, as 150 rounded and 196 RAF'd when both me and Sam from 45 talked to them about it. Have to say hats off to my crew, as when we saw the lead boats go for the long mark I was really second guessing the "S" we saw on the course board, but they stood their ground against a nervous skipper and it saved the day for us.
There were a few key shifts this day, and we kept missing them at the start, as we got a nice boat end start, only to realize that in the 5 minutes since the warning it had gone left some, and we were crossed by 150 who started port. We rounded right behind them and did an aggressive bearawy to set up just behind, but much lower than they were. We were really even on speed, but set up inside so that we could gybe on them, roll and round inside and ahead. We legged out a bit on the upwind and then held on to win the race. It's been good to have Kevin back racing, as even with some dog sails he's going REALLY quick, and it's made for good tuning and racing.
Missed another key shift at the start of the 3rd race, which started in around 8kts, but was able to pull out a bit and barely cross Kevin. We extended upwind and down, and won the race, finishing in a huge (for 2011) 14kts or so. We'd changed tune a bit for race 3, having shortended headstay to 49" and added 1/2 turn to the lowers, and gone to a 1/4" shim behind the mast.
Good day for our scoreline looks good at 8pts to 196 in second with 27 (counting the RAF) but more importantly a perfect day of weather, with lots of good competition. Need more days like today!
