By about 2pm we were starting to get a bit worried. The promised wind and change had not arrived but there was howling NW. Then, finally at about 3pm the wind suddenly dropped out and we noticed it had swung SW. In the next 15 mins it gradually built back and was soon 20-25 knots but SW making for quite a tight course. The wind gradually increased and by 6pm was gusting 30-35 with perhaps the odd gust to nearly 40. Unfortunately for us the wind stayed SW and later, even more south of SW so the course remained very tight. The best one could do without running out into the near suicidal channel chop was about 120 degrees right at the end, but earlier, with the tide going out, the following chop down there was very scary. Surprisingly, as the tide started to come in the end of the course actually smoothed out. Never seen this before. I got my best runs at about 120 degrees on this smoother water at around 7pm but by that time most people, including me, were spent.
Many of us have gone quite a bit faster on less windy days so it shows how much influence the angle has.
Some preliminary numbers from the guys that dropped around to my house after sailing:
Mal Wright almost always goes sensationally well on a tight course and today was no exception with peak speeds up around 46.5 knots and a 5 x 10 sec average around 44.5 Kts.
Spotty was smokin' on the CA 44 with a NO CAM KA Koyote 5.4. and a new world record for NO CAM sails with 5 x 10 sec at 43.4 kts and 500m at 43.34. He actually had 3 500m runs over 43.2kts and a 5 x 500m ave of 42.9 knots. I think his peak GPS was 44.9 but he may have improved on it later. Amazing!
Mat Robertson did a sensational gps peak of 44.9 kts (confirmed on his track) and managed to get his 5 x 10sec average over 40 knots for the first time. Congratulations! That lad has a few of us other lightweights looking over our shoulders. :-).
I was disappointed not to improve my PB's but in the end I was very happy with a 5 x 10 of 42.6 kts and a peak GPS speed of 43.9 considering the angle of the wind.
I am sure there will be more news to follow......