Tuesday Night Series - Flight 2

The astonishing (and polarising) Phillipe Starck-designed super-yacht 'A' loomed over the start line on another fine Spring evening, which saw two long-format races, thanks to a fast-ebbing tide.

Aboard the committee boat, the rabbit came out of the hole and may or may not have rounded the tree before disappearing back down the hole, thereby consigning the kedge to Davy Jones's watery grasp. And so it was that the committee set a pin-biased line (the pin being the static end) and the fleet crowded the start line at that end to stem the tide and foreclose the distance to the Wynard triangle of tidal relief (Messrs Lester and Tasker have a lot to answer for). 

Dodging the fishing lines off the tank farm and hugging the break water, the fleet squinted its way into a setting sun, tacking just under the bridge to clear the top mark, laid off the Squadron.

Feng Shui (1348) rounded first and was largely untroubled for the remainder of the race.  The pursuing peleton was led by Valsheda II (950), with Split Decision(914) bringing up the rear, having lingered too long in the tide after the start.

Race 2, surprisingly, saw a split at the start with Unfinished Business (1184) braving the middle on a lifted port tack.  Valsheda II (950) had a slow start, hedged her bets between the tidal relief and the middle and ultimately paid the price for procrastination.  Affinity (1059) sailed an intelligent race and was unlucky not to catch Feng Shui (1348) on the downwind chase as the apparent wind died in the tide.

In the end, it was a clean sweep for Feng Shu (1348), but the rest of the fleet was very close and enjoyed a very civilised evening's competition.

Many thanks to Ben Grew for his kind assistance on the Committee Boat.

Flight 2 results here and overall results here