Back to TPC 2009 p3
My seekrit weapon! :
I pulled my jib over the platform, to go "wing and wing", sort of. Laurent has 100 ft^2 of sail. With the jib clear I have 105 ft^2 of sail. He still kills me. Some of it might be his hull shape being nicer, though I think maybe my ama is less draggy than his, I don't know. Most of it, he thought, was the extra area up very high. Apparently there's more wind up there.
So he was first to the leeward mark again.
Not by as much this time, though.
On the last windward leg we were closer together, as you can see, and I was trying hard to point high. I was surprised that my boat, with a shorter rig and lower aspect ratio, could keep up with his to windward, but I actually did better to windward than downwind.
He overstood the mark again, and I had a good fast shunt, so much to my surprise I came out ahead:
I won! Woo hoo!
I was very proud until he landed and showed me his tiller extension, which had broken right at the tiller. The whole last leg he'd had to sit at the lee hull to steer, which is why he had overstood again, to give himself room. Oh well, a somewhat tarnished victory, but I'll take it.
One race down! We landed, messed about with the boats, Laurent fixed his tiller extension, and we thought we had time for a one-lap race before his family got to the park with Le Picnic. So, off for round two: TPC 2009 p5