Race Area
Start
Square line. The best wind conditions hit mid start line. Arete took the lead, Solyd and liquid sun popping out ahead after a while. Porco rosso doing solid from the RC.
1st Upwind
The first part of the leg was pretty tricky with wind holes. The leading pack hit the lull and header and was falling behind. This allowed Porco Rosso and Jelvis to advance in the higher lanes. The second part of the leg was all about going right since the wind went hard right. Noticia was the most right, but they didn’t get that rightie on time, so had to cross behind. They got lifted almost to the top mark and gained on boats that went over the right layline with even more right wind, proving the power of left mark approach. Jelvis and Porco Rosso ended up using the good RC lane after the start and the right wind the best, leading at the top.
- Leading pack hitting the lull
- The best way to connect to right wind
- Noticia in the corner, managed to save the upwind
Top Mark
A bit crowdier than the last race. Jelvis the fastest, Noticia managed to jump in on port tack. Boats losing the most were the ones over the upwind laylines.
1st Downwind
Earlier gybe worked again and Noticia went over Jelvis to take the lead. Another strong boat was Solid Fun, gybing even a bit earlier. Gybe set was not giving much. There was group of boats that went very high after the hoist, lost even more contact to the front of the fleet. No significant wind direction change noticed.
- The easiest place to cross the sides
- left boats slowing down before the marks.
Leeward Rounding
One boat lengts of bias, so not the most important thing. Solid fun gaining well, getting closer to Noticia. Happy and Spika rounded on the outside and sailed with almost zero VMG for a long time after, showing how expensive wide rounding can end up. Spika losing more than two minutes.
2nd Upwind
All about going right. The wind went right and whoever went there first gained a lot. Also, right boats were doing well from the gate up, while left was slow after the gate rounding. Noticia went forward massively. Elvis did solid by following them right.
- Right boats going well from the bottom
- Big right wind at the top
2nd Downwind
Not much happening on this leg. Most boats choosing to gybe set with the right wind, much safer option with the finish line to the right, too. Solyd and Happy went left, free, and they had the best leg, but could not gain much.
