Crew: (Doug, Dan, Luke, Shane, Guille, Tessa , Jeff)

Sunday dawned just beautiful... sunny, with just a trace of clouds in the sky. We all assembled for our last race of the Audi Winter Series point score. With the race and final drop we are just a point behind catching our nemesis, L'eau Co. We had gathered the day before and stripped all the unneeded gear, sails and ropes off Nemmy. As the crew gathers, barely a ripple of breeze blows thought the fleet at dock. We take the unusual, and for Nemmy, unprecedented step of taking out all the covers and cushions from the boat.

Light as, we take our devised positions and prep the boat as we motor out to the start

Main – (Shane/Guillermo)
Winches – Tailer (Dan)
Winches – Grinder (Luke)
Winches - thrower (Doug)
Helm (Jeff)
Pit (Shane)
Bow for start and Running-back stays later (Tessa)

Setting up, we watch a chorus of shouts and hollers of "Starboard" as the fleet starts before us. Somehow by taking 3rd place last week we have been handicapped an extra 2 minutes behind L'eau Co and 4 minutes behind Star Ferry. The biggest threat in the light weather is Lu Lu Belle starting some 11 minutes before us. We watch as the other take off and see many able to hold the tack toward the first mark. I set us up high on the start boat, but some crossing boats on starboard delay us being able to turn into the starting line. We line up high on the starting boat and end up about a minute late for the start in the light winds.

There is actually a bit of breeze on this first leg and we move nicely, catching each lift and looking to make the first mark in one go! The crew is low down, sitting as ballast to help tip the boat and sails in the light wind. I've been there and know it will be a long race with little to do between the tacks. Surprisingly, we near the first mark and see ALL of our competition in the series. Lu Lu Belle has just passed the mark, Star Ferry is approaching it and L'eau Co is still below us approaching the tack to the mark. We get a bit more lift and actually beat L'eau Co, forcing her to duck us as we call "Starboard!" on her! She slips under us and barely beats us to the first mark.

As we start on the first downwind leg, the wind starts to dramatically ease. Downwind is ALL about weight and sail area. We are 10.5 tons and thirty years old, the leader L'eau Co is just seven years old and half our weight at 5.5 tons. We watch as all three competitors slip away from us in the light winds. They round the Bradley Head mark and I start my timer to see how much they have chewed away from us. We drift at barely a knot as we so slowly claw down to the next mark. The only good thing is a huge wind hole is near the mark and boats are just drifting. We see Star Ferry past the cardinal mark and point the wrong way, back towards us! At twenty minutes we finally reach the mark, but thanks to the nearly non-existant wind our friends are all within sight! Poor Lu Lu Belle has drifted to the far side of Shark Island and looks to be near hitting it. We have just enough momentum to clear the mark and tack for the channel and hope to make some gains with the outgoing tide.

Slowly, the wind fills and we finally get back up to speed. We tack down the channel and watch L'eau Co and Star Ferry stay just out of reach. Nearing the next mark we find another in our division, Applejack, under our sail and almost crack into her as we tack. Thanks for the warning crew! I finish the tack for our mark and Applejack hollers over to ask where we are going? The mark I holler, and then inform them they just rounded the wrong mark! We'll take a whiskey at the bar, I tell them as they scramble to follow us to the correct mark.

We are finally around the mark and both L'eau Co and Star Ferry are far in front of us. We run our own race and try to claw back as much time as we can, but fear the race will be shortened and we are just out of race course in this light wind. Just past the mark the funniest thing happened. Good ole HubcapII is behind us and suddenly comes rushing up with a bow wake! What the @$%$#%?!? She is a much lighter and newer boat but this just feels weird! She passes us with a few other boats in company and we just assume it's breeze we are not in. Slowly, we claw back our lead. Just as we near Neilson's Point, here she comes again, but this time the other boat around her don't seem to have the same wind?!? Another bow wake in just a hint of breeze, to the point I'm trying to see if her motor is on... Baffled I hold my course to the line as she comes under us and pulls even. Then just like that the "breeze" stops for her and she resumes a similar speed to us. I fight for our line and position and am able to squeeze her out from over taking us. Finally, we finish the race following some very clean tacks and are able to beat Hubcap over the line. The light wind has crushed our race, but being a heavy boat we did all we could and return back to CYCA under sail.

Inside the club the results are in. L'eau Co took the race and the series. Funny thing is we could have beat them today and still not won the series, as they would have had to place third to our first to surpass them in the point score. With Star Ferry placing second today, we just scrape into third. Within the point score we actually TIE Star Ferry in second place but have more wins in the season so that puts us in second place for the season!

Well done to the crew for a great series! The final reward came after all the day's prizes were handed out (we got a shirt for third place). The sponsor makes an Audi available for a weekend test drive and guess who won! Jeff and Kirsty will be taking a long weekend somewhere in the next few months in an Audi!