Actual time 2:36:28. First race of the season. Barbara and I. Her first return to racing after many years. Because of Covid-19 crews were supposed to be limited to 2 people, although we saw some boats with more. Our fleet had the last start at 6:40 which was good because the start was far away down near "D". Wind was said to be around 10 knots from the north. Determined that the boat end was favored heavily, in fact, there had been a massive shift to the right after the course was set. Start was good. Wanted boat end anyway to avoid getting rolled by the bigger boats. "Orion" hit the boat end on the gun and we were just behind. Wasn't happy about following them up the first leg but they slowly pulled ahead. The other boats had all been early and had to start further down the line which was a huge disadvantage for them. Almost made it to the first mark on the first tack. Only needed a slight jog on port to make the mark. Was third at the mark behind "Orion" and "Stellar Wind" which I was happy with. First reaching leg turned out to be mostly downwind. Was a little confused by SW because we were right on their tail and they seemed to be going too far right. Didn't think I could get past them underneath so had to follow them in the wrong direction for a while until I could break away. Then was able to go wing and wing. Probably going a little out of our way to the right made that more feasible. Had some trouble getting the whisker pole down at the jibe mark. We might have passed SW on that leg and been second around. None of the other big boats got past us but they did get closer. Second reaching leg was more of a close reach. Got into a pissing match with "Deja Vu" and took them up for a while until it looked like we'd loose the rest of the fleet. Went back to the rhumb line and let DV go by. Everybody else passed to leeward or didn't pass at all. A fair trade off I thought. Most of the fleet converged at the leeward mark and it seemed to slow them all down. We only had "Dashing Wave" near us and otherwise had clear air. Also everyone else went on starboard tack as they rounded. DW and we went out a little on port to avoid their bad air. Because of the shift, the last leg was a straight starboard tack to the finish. We were only worried about DW at that point because with their PHRF they could finish behind us and still beat us on corrected time. They didn't manage to get close enough however. A beat is not their best point of sail and it is ours. Finished second on corrected time. Forty-two seconds behind "Orion" and 13 seconds ahead of "Dashing Wave".
