Race Summary
This was our second race, and we decided to head out early to get some practice on the course. It was a windy day, with sustained winds over 14 knots, gusting close to 20 knots, coming from the southwest. Due to the significant wind variability, we made the decision to forgo using the spinnaker for the evening, packing it away. In hindsight, this was a tactical error that cost us later in the race when the wind died down. The key lesson here is to always have everything ready because the wind conditions can change unexpectedly.
We had a good start, favouring the pin end. We crossed the starting line at a speed of 6.17 knots, but we were approximately 16 meters off the line at the start, so we could have been closer. The first upwind leg took us 14 minutes and 2 seconds, with an average velocity made good (VMG) of 3.95 knots and an average speed of 5.46 knots. In contrast, the second upwind leg, where the wind had died down, took us 14 minutes and 52 seconds with a VMG of 3.74 knots and an average speed of 5.2 knots. The real eye-opener came when comparing the two downwind legs. On the first downwind leg, where we did not fly the spinnaker, it took us 12 minutes and 10 seconds with an average VMG of 4.57 knots. On the fourth leg, where we finally set up the spinnaker, we completed the leg in 9 minutes and 47 seconds with an average VMG of 5.7 knots. The bottom line is that if we had flown the spinnaker on the first downwind leg, we could have saved approximately 2 minutes and 23 seconds, which would have improved our position from fourth to third place. This was especially evident given that both the first-place Umi Taka and second place Voodoo Child, both flew their spinnakers on both downwind legs.
In conclusion, while we made some solid moves, the decision not to have the spinnaker ready was the critical factor that impacted our overall performance in this race.