1000hrs at Taikata for the first race of the Winter series combined with CCYC.

I have Lisa, Mark and JK on board for the programmed “Harbour Race”. The start was a bit of a lottery as the wind was so light if you had crossed the line early you may not have got back. We start pretty well if I do say so myself…………and for a moment we were in the lead. I think all boats were in the lead at some stage over the next 15 minutes or so. It was so light that some lost steerage and were no longer facing the right direction. Eye Spy seems to be going well sniffing out the breeze. Firsty and Champosa are in front of us at North-head and the little breeze we had coming down the harbour looks to be disappearing altogether. The course from here is Rough Rock, Northern Leading Resolution then home. Eye Spy did best at finding the biggest hole and got passed by the entire fleet. Once we arrived at Northern Leading the tide had changed. Firsty and Champosa were nowhere to be seen. They had got to the mark in time for a tide assist and are now about an hour ahead!

We are confident we can make up a few places up wind as the breeze climbed to about 10-15 knots!! We pass 5 boats and finish after 6 hours 4 minutes and 8 seconds on the water. A long frustrating day and pretty much the same conditions as last year. Not one of Eye Spy’s best races but great to be on the water all the same.

Thanks to Lisa for the chicken nibbles………..we had plenty of time for nibbles and refreshments.