The wind around Albert Park Lake was blowing 10-15 knots from the South-South West. With the tents and grandstands being built at the southern end of the lake for the Grand Prix the wind was light and very fluky down the narrows and rowing basin.
The race went well with the winds allow me to take advantage of the shifts coming down the lake, and getting into an easy lead of the rest of the fleet. With two smaller triangles still to be sailed the rope holding the outhaul on the boat broke. This was easily fixable, with a simple not being retied to fix the problem, however it took longer than expected:
- Tipped the boat over, but in the process hit the boom and pulled it out from the mast.
- First time retying the outhaul, I had tied mainsheet into the outhaul.
- Then retied the outhaul again, then getting on with the race
Unlike training for a penalty turn situations, it is a bit harder to train for breaking things on the boat. But it does remind me that I should have stayed calm in the situation and not rushed to repair the boat. The boom and tying the mainsheet into the outhaul easily cost me 30~60 seconds. At the end of the day I lost the race by about that margin.
The boat breaking was a good reminder that I probably should replace the ropes on the boat. The race went well otherwise and I had maintained a good lead. The biggest thing I saw against other competitors was that as the wind strength increased, people were less likely to tack on knocks and shifts as they sail up the course. This is especially noticeable near the top mark that was closer to the grandstands and tents being put up around the lake.
Good:
Boat handling – keeping the boat flat upwind.
Taking advantage of shifts/knocks.
Bad:
Boat breaking – need to replace ropes on the boat.
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