Tonight was a east side favored night for the upwind leg. We recognized this before the start. The line was fairly square, so we decided to run the line on starboard and start near the pin. As the start time was approaching, we had a lot of steam and we were early to the pin by at least 10 seconds. With 40 to go, a boat tacked right in front of us, so we headed down to hook them to leeward. At this point, we were going way to fast and came up tight while easing the sails to try and slow down. This worked for our boat speed, but it forced the other boat over the line early.
We dipped back down with 20 seconds to go and began to get some speed. With 8 seconds to go, we headed back up to the line and trimmed in for speed. We got off the line on the end we wanted. Unfortunately, we did not stick with our pre-race plan and found ourselves on the right side of the course. The left was favored with current and possibly with wind too, but we missed it.
After some back and forth up the course, we settled back into the left side and were able to get around K ahead of the fleet. We held off the fleet for the entire leg and then stretched out on the final leg for a win.
Many boats got caught in the time limit. It is important to note that the time limit for the early start races is 20:15, not 20:30. I believe this was a new addition for this year.
After the race, the wind was light, but we kept sailing. Soon a NW wind filled in and we were back to sailing in a decent breeze. This kept us going for another 45 minutes before dying out and then we headed in.
The Half Moon was back on the bay. Here is a rough video.
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