Witch Bay Pursuit - Onboard Grand Cru

Continuing what has been a remarkable year of wind and weather for the racing season we once again had beautiful wind between 10-15 knots from the western quadrant all day. After the start at the south end of Pine Portage Bay we had a beam reach down to Copper. Carrying a chute was a little tight and most boats elected not to launch except for Goliath. Either way there wasn't much in it. After rounding Copper it was a long port tack up to the north side of Survey. Rounding Survey the course then took us between Scotty and Middle.

The wind was starting to oscillate a little more with the shifts to the w-n-w becoming larger and longer for a while. As a result the fleet was faced with the decision weather to go to the east or west of Maizes. Some of the early boats chose the west, a few chose the east and a late shift back to the w-s-w made the decision for the later boats clear.

Borderline, Raven Black knight, Auberge and Goliath all looked to have the option with only Raven taking the west. Kite and Grand Cru, last to round Survey and coming into the w-s-w shift would have had to tack to get to the west so the east was the logical route. The west side paid. Post race the Raven team was coy about the reasoning behind their decision. All the non-spin boats took the west side.

Passing Strawberry the course then took us south west for water then east down Andrew Bay. Around this area a rain storm blew through. Winds pick up immediately. Within 15 seconds it was 25knots from the west. Sloop du Jour reported a max wind of 36.5 knots. Three boats had rounded and we heading east just before the storm hit. Raven reported 11+ kts boat speed with main (genoa was fully blanketed). Other boats on the down wind side of the storm were borderline and Goliath. The boats still going upwind had a tougher time. Genoas were dropped some mains were reefed. Misty's headsail pulled out of the track. Eventually the trailing fleet got past the turning bouy and could turn down wind and enjoy the ride. However time lost to the front boats would not be made up. The wind quickly returned to its previous state of 10-15knots. Chutes went up for the run down Andrew Bay for a very nice five mile sail to the finish.

Finishing order:
Raven
Goliath
Borderline
Kite
Grand cru
Black knight
Auberge
Knock-out
Swordfish
Oh boy
Misty (dnf)
Black Pearl (dnf)