Day 2 and 3

Well, day 2 of racing brought no more wind to the Whitsundays, but we are surviving fairly well regardless. The second day was intended to be a race around some great islands to the south of Hamilton. The race was started (the gun was fired), but after 20 minutes not one yacht had been able to get enough forward momentum to counteract the tide (up to 3 metres here), so no-one actually crossed the starting line!

We sat about for 3 hours watching other divisions (Wild Oats 10 and others) sailing in reasonable winds to the east, but where we were there was none. The committee moved the start line to the north of the island where we had an afternoon sail up towards Molle Island and back via Long Island. The start was about as close as they come, and none of us still know how we managed to cross the line and not hit either the start boat to windward or the yacht about 4mm on the downwind side!

Monday brought us Race 3. Still with little wind, our strategy changed with the addition of 4 more sailors - bringing lots of ballast! We made all the right decisions, but will always struggle to keep up in these very light conditions. Our progress is good however - race 1 we came 13th, race 2, 12th and race 3, 11th. If the wind would start to blow, we may even be able to increase that performance.

Not to matter - this week is about fun and doing the best we can, and everyone is certainly doing both!