WIND: N-NNE-18-25 Knots

COURSE: 17B

TIDE:H@12:20

NUMBER OF BOATS: 28

An unfavourable forecast sure made for a challenging days sail!

It wasn’t an overly brilliant forecast for our Wednesday arvo sail. Bom talked about gusts of 30 knots. However the models I watch, predicted that it wouldn’t get to that until later in the day. So a course that got to the top mark, with all of the windward work done, followed by a lot of running and reaching home would probably go down well. And it did.

Once again the first mark of the course was set up to be a true beat. With breeze at 18 knots coming from approx. 020 degrees, the start line set just outside the harbour entrance and the first mark (Green Island Western cardinal) seemed a long way off, with the sea state ugly at best and looking like not improving. It proved to be so all the way to the St. Helena floating red. I felt for the smaller boats YUK!! A starboard turn at the mark and it was out to the Sand Hills Rec Mark. It might be mentioned that follow the leader was on with confidence being shown in the early starters on where to go. This proved to be not so good a choice with the guilty parties being 30 degrees too far south and needing to work their way back on course. Another starboard turn at the Sand Hills RM, saw the fleet on a very fast run back between Green and St. Helena islands. It was now wind against tide making it even uglier, all the way back to the original western cardinal before a port rounding took everybody home to the finish boat waiting back at the  position where it all started. A very testing day. Well done!!

Coming up:

20/11/24-The Ross Jullyan Memorial Trophy and race 1 of the Geoff Anderson Memorial Super Series

Results

Closest to the line: 00:00-JESTER-TONY

Lucky door prize: SASSAFRAS-SALLY/JAMES

Lucky Crew prize:IGNITION-GEOFF