Here's a writeup, sorry took so long -
Friday night conditions were beautiful but a bit light, about 6-8 from the south with a fear that it might shut down while out there. I pulled Will Donaldson out of hiatus and we got out there and checked it out. Looked like some strong current coming in against us, with good pressure on the left up in the harbor and to the far right. The breeze was fluky though, especially up near the fort. We decided to play the left for some current relief and see what happened. In the first race we started at the pin, went left until we felt headed enough to tack, and rode good pressure up to the center of the course. When it started feeling like we were sailing into less pressure we hitched back left to meet the next band of lefty coming out of the harbor, tacked on it - up to the mark - then there was a puff up there coming down over the top of the fort that worked for us on the starboard tack layline. This was a fluky puff though, and a bit scary if you were there and it died. Oakley and Anna went to the top right and looked great for a while in good breeze, but then had to sail quite a ways in that weird air on starboard under the fort - we saw this was not the best thing for the future. On the downwind we played the shoreside again, opting for the breeze rather than the possible advantage of more favorable current, rode the headers down and jibed a couple times to get back into the new breeze coming down. We played the race well it seemed and held a good lead through the race.
Race 2 saw a good mixup prestart, with all boat jockeying for the pin side. Oakley and Anna got there early and luffed, and we set up above them, but too early we would find. Jeff & Jon came in under the Joneses and Mark & Josh set up above us, and at the gun we and the Joneses were left luffing and going backwards, not good. We tacked onto port and got out to some clear air on the right, then got back left at earliest opportunity to meet the next band of pressure. Josh and Mark worked the left nicely this race, coming into the mark pointing high and fast on port tack layline and rounded 1st. We had worked back up, our focus was really concentrating on keeping powered up and going fast, footing to get Will out on the trap and carrying speed for height as long as we could, helped out of course by flat water. Downwind it seemed playing the shore worked best again. Jeff and Jon jibed out to the right looking for better current and it looked like pressure just wasn't there for them. Oakley and Anna kept us on our toes playing the shore too and bearing down on us with great downwind speed, the rasta chute looking great and drawing well. We held them off, but there was no way to catch Mark and Josh who finished first.
In Race 3 with the wind dropping off, and big holes in pressure, focus for us was looking for the next puff and making sure we were in it solidly and going in the right direction. We played left again, and it worked out. Coming up into the upper third we weren't as far left as we would have liked, and had some tense moments deciding whether to hitch left for pressure which would point the bow well away for the mark and possibly be a very slow tack, or stay in the dying leftie and hope to catch the righty under the fort on starboard. We stayed on port, kept speed up until headed a bit, tacked over, and felt good as the righty started filling in. Mark and Josh continued further out to the right. At one point that fluky puff seemed to fall out and we were worried we wouldn't make it but kept her sailing smooth and fast, and the breeze came back just enough to make it around. Downwind same thing, play the shore and work down when we could, then cover upwind.
Race 4 was a race to the dock. We and Oakley & Anna went to the left shore, the other boats went right. Once up in the harbor we started working to the right on port, and Josh and Mark were looking good coming out from the point on starboard. This one would be close! As we started converging I took a look and, yes, it was very close but we decided to go for it, crossing by inches. OK next time we said go for the leebow and play it safe! Now for the battle up the harbor, we focused on smooth tacks and looking for the best breeze. US Blues threw a lot of tacks at us in a great duel to the finish, they crept up but on one convergence we threw a leebow at them and that helped close the deal.
We've had a really great Friday night series so far, the closest and most competitive it's ever been, which no doubt helped launch us all at Nationals. It was great having Will back out there and we look forward to him coming back full time. With a few weeks to go the standings are very close!
