MG14 March 11th Race Report

Race Report 11 March

11 March race 1 of 2 and Pointscore 29 saw a fleet of 11 boats on a 2-lap compass bearing course in a lovely 15-18 knot E-NE breeze and strong ebb tide and hence choppy conditions, however a nice warm and sunny day so OK for getting (very) wet.

The ebb tide and everyone scared of being early saw the fleet charging late towards the favoured boat end at full speed, with a bit of yelling and concentration to avoid each other. I (PEGASUS) was a fraction late and followed TEMPEST and PINK GIN over the line, hence then tacking away early. The other 2 blasted away to establish a bit of a gap, with SEABREEZE also ahead of us at that stage. At mark 1 it was (surprise, surprise) PINK GIN around first, about 15 seconds later TEMPEST, and PEGASUS another 15 seconds or so later. With TEMPEST running deep into the Georges River club area, we gybed inside to follow PINK GIN, with THREE KINGS gybing inside us after having run a bit deeper from the top mark. Lots of concentration riding every wave to squeeze ahead of the 2 following boats, and holding our gybe to starboard for the run to the bottom mark till “just in time” (Ross loved the gybe back to port and immediate takedown at the mark, but coped perfectly) saw us pick up about 10 seconds on the leader.

PINK GIN regained those 10 seconds on the upwind leg, a very wet one crashing through the increasing chop plus waves from a seemingly endless string of big cruisers charging in at great speed, to round about 30 seconds ahead. We (PEGASUS) must have gone OK and increased our lead over the following fleet. More great rides downhill, but hard to run down the leader from there, no mistakes from PINK GIN. Held back our gybe to starboard planning to cross ahead of a port tack yacht, only it was impossible and we scraped up and round the back of his dinghy before bearing away to the finish, losing another 20 seconds or so to PINK GIN, nevertheless with a comfortable gap from SEABREEZE a minute behind, then TEMPEST and THREE KINGS.

A rare handicap win for PEGASUS (only our second this season), from PINK GIN, the returning HOLD FAST, and THREE KINGS.