Thirteen Fifteens made it out for another close race in unseasonably warm temperatures.  The forecast of SSW with 25 knot gusts may have deterred a few boats and as we began rigging the wind was bang on that forecast, but as boats started to leave the shore the gust strength was dropping below 20 knots and we ended up with a gentle Force 4 throughout the race.  Having hoisted the main, rigged the poles and got half way to the platform we went to turn the compass on – to find no compass….  Mike had taken it home to fix apparently.  After a swift about turn, we negotiated the stream of boats exiting the haven and I retrieved my spare compass.  Pre-race checklist now updated…

We were expecting another simple windward/leeward course but it was a long one and after much rooting around in the bottom of the boat I found the chinagraph pencil.  Fi set us the challenge of Latham, Why Jewellers, Cake, Picadilly, Cake, Picadilly, RoRo, Chris Somner, Solomons Solicitors and Finish.  As we prepared for the start it appeared to us that the tide had started gently ebbing, but it is a lot harder to see what the tide is doing around the harbour now that all the moored boats are ashore.  It was a good length line with a touch of platform bias but the fleet spread out down the line and it appeared that most boats had a good start with plenty of clear air.  We came off the middle of the line and went left – clear air, favourable tide and we were lifting on starboard.  Pete and Jo in 3793 were a couple of boats above us coming off the line and tacked off to the right, with about 2/3rds of the fleet following.  As we came into Latham from the left, things were looking good and we thought we might be first, but it became very shifty as we approached and Pete and Jo slipped round in front of us, never to be seen again (except through binoculars).  This was to be a recurring feature of the course – all three windward marks were affected by Brownsea and every approach was to be shifty.

Having rounded the mark, we gybed (Pete later said he was pleased to see us clear his wind) and after 50 yards I established the helm thought we were going to Cake, although I was sure I had mentioned several times that the next mark was Y (even pointing it out on the way past going up the beat).  Fortunately, the ebbing tide helped us get back on course although it meant that by Y, Graham and Ben in 4020 and David and Adrian in 4125 rounded inside us with the rest of fleet very close behind.  We set off on a very tight reach for Cake.  The leading pack carried kites all the way but further back some were forced to drop them.  We managed to overtake 4020 and were just behind 4125 at Cake. 

Pete and Jo’s lead was steadily extending as we set off on the beat to Piccadilly.  They went right, not quite banging a corner, but almost.  We put a longish hitch in about halfway and ended up slightly further behind 4125 at the mark.  The right seemed to pay hugely the first time – Roberta and John in 4016 and Ann and John in 3974 also went right and came from the back at Cake to join the leading pack at Piccadilly.   We rounded Piccadilly in third, after some nail-biting shifts near the mark, but with the peloton right on our tail.

This was the first of three long runs which were mentally exhausting – looking for wind, protecting wind and jockeying for position at the leeward mark.  With 4125 we pushed up left on the first run, while Pete and Jo sailed serenely in a straight line to the mark.  Meanwhile Geof and Alan in 4088 went off to the right, closer to Brownsea, together with Roberta and John.  About 200 yards from Cake we realised that they were closing very fast.  As we sat in what felt like no wind, they had water foaming under their bows.  John later assured me that they had their fair share of stopping dead.  But it was enough to bring Geof and Alan up into fourth as they rounded just outside us.  It also put 4016 hot on the heels of the leading pack, poised to seize second place by Piccadilly, while Mike and Paul in 4027 went the same way and moved from the back to the middle of the pack.

The second beat to Piccadilly was much more tactical, with frequent shifts.  It paid to go left and Pete and Jo extended their lead still further.  We rounded in fourth, with Graham and Homfray seemingly glued to our transom.  They pushed us hard and gained a leeward overlap on the port gybe run to RoRo, sufficient to take them through us as we rounded to starboard.  We just slipped through them again on the beat to Chris Somner and rounded once more in fourth behind 3793, 4016 and 4125.

There followed the most nail-biting run of them all to Solomons Solicitors (a real tongue twister - it’s much easier to say Z to the helm).  John in 3974 said he ran out of expletives to describe the spinnaker on this run (although it wasn’t clear whether Ann ran out of expletives to describe the crew).  Forced high yet again by Graham and Homfray we watched the peloton creep down the left-hand side of the run, slowly (and later quickly) gaining.  We crept past 4125 into the report writing position and watched our fellow Syndicate members, Ian and Mike, in 3936 coming up fast to leeward as we approached the mark.  They had momentum, shot through below 4125 (thus taking four places over the course of the run) and looked close to piling over the top of us.  If this was Formula One, Ron Dennis would have been telling them in their earpieces to yield to us, but they looked hellbent on seizing report writing duties.  We clung on and rounded Z just ahead and had a close fought battle to the line to retain third place.  It was a shifty final beat and Roberta and John had to do some loose covering to protect second place.  Ian and Mike in 4^th were closely followed by Graham and Homfray in 5^th.  David and Gareth in 3965 had a strong race, pushing the leading pack all the way round and overtaking 4125 on the final beat to claim 6^th place.  Pete and Jo celebrated their wedding anniversary with another convincing win in 3793.  Many thanks Fi for a superb harbour tour.
  
Overall results

1. 3793 Pete and Jo
2. 4016 Roberta and John
3. 3922 Martin and Andrew
4. 3936 Ian and Mike
5. 3934 Graham and Homfray
6. 3965 David and Gareth
7. 4125 David and Adrian
8. 4088 Geof and Alan
9. 4020 Graham and Ben
10. 4036 Dick and Pete
11. 3974 Ann and John
12. 3966 Richard and Alan
13. 4027 Mike and Paul