We showed up Sunday morning having lost a few points of cushion on our lead the day before. So the mission of the day was to make sure we didn’t get too many boats between White Boat (90) and us. Unlike the day before, the breeze was up and the waves were moving in, so it was going to be a wet ride. We tuned the rig for 12-14 and did our test runs with the #1 headsail up. However, just before we went in to starting sequence, the wind velocity ramped up a couple knots and we decided to replace the 1 with the smaller 3.
Race 1. We had a decent start and pushed 90 off to the far left side of the course where we thought there was a favorable breeze. But the boats that went right had a great breeze, flatter water in behind Thomas Point and even a favorable shift. By the time we got to the windward mark, we were several spots off the lead, but still had 90 in our sights. When the race all shook out, we placed third while 90 scored 4th.
Race 2. The best start of the regatta and we even pushed 90 over early. so they peeled off to duck under the start line again while we breathed a sigh of relief. Once again we were on the left side and had learned our lesson so we tacked when we could to get over to the right. Somehow, despite their false start, 90 was right with us and we couldn’t point to save our lives. Inch by inch, we lost our gauge and eventually our lead over her. Every effort to improve trim went no further than the rig tune. So now all we could do was sail smart, and not let too many boats get between us and 90. Suspensefully, we covered her on the downwind, made every effort to keep our maneuvers clean, and run the boat as fast as we could. We managed to finish 5th while 90 went 3rd. Whew… we retained our lead regatta lead. Barely.