20/04/2024
Very light conditions in the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club Ocean Racing WA Roland Smith Race!
Another beautiful day for boating in the Roland Smith, though a little challenging for sailors around midday with wind supply a little lacking.
This was a very tactical race for team Enterprise with the single mission being to finish in front of Crush on IRC to consolidate Siska points. The aim was to stay in the same water all day with Crush to minimise any potential benefit from wind shifts from one side of the course to the other and we executed to this plan all day.
Stanton and the predicted transition from North to West presented an opportunity and after having drifted past the mark the super One Sails wind seeker came out and we sailed directly at Crush, who were becalmed, at a blistering 0.8 knots.
With the wind then slowing transitioning from North through to the West we effectively positioned ourselves between Crush and the rest of the fleet in a very solid second last position on every category. So whilst Will has the thumbs up in the photo because there is a boat behind us, a forward view would show the whole rest of the fleet in front of us at this point (perspective is everything).
Wyuna had meanwhile shown all the Division 1 boats how to manage the light conditions and rounded Stanton and set off to Campbell in first position overall.
With a strong north to south current, the washing machine from Rotto traffic and a zephyr breeze vaguely from the West we spent the next hour holding our advantage of being second last before finally the south westerly pushed through at a blistering 5 to 6 knots, which allowed the restart of the race.
Three hours into the race and we eventually rounded Campbell six minutes behind Crush and in front of Weapon.
With the wind shift turing the race into largely a reaching event from then on with no opportunity for passing lanes, the focus for the rest of the race became boat handling and sail selection to ensure we maintained Crush on a bungie and inside the IRC corrected time. The crew work was its typical top shelf and executed to the finishing assuring us of the result we need for the day.
Obsession continued to show their skills in the light weather conditions taking first in Division 1 IRC, with the benefits of the reaching legs assisting Enterprise up into second, a testament to the crew and Paul's tactics given the restart at Stanton.
Shout out to Dave Kenny in the Edge who took the overall result for the day, great effort for a double hander. AK
