Racing
Racing
It was the next decision that was probably decisive. We opted to
hoist the spinnaker over to Bay, and No One Else followed suit
when she found she was losing ground on us. The result was a few
‘technical problems’ for No One Else with their kite! Our spinnaker
hoist and drop was smooth—if a bit early—and we rounded Bay
Island Mark again at about 12.50 to start the laps of the two buoys,
Bay Island Mark and then to the north-east, the Kowloon Cup Mark
nearer to Pak A, where the race would eventually finish at 14:00.
The last lap turned out to be quite a drama, and not just for Ichiban.
With 15 minutes left, when heading towards the Kowloon Bay Mark
to start the final lap, we discussed whether to try to turn a 10-minute
lap (as per our previous times) into a 12–13-minute lap, without
getting overtaken, so we could finish just at 14:00 or go for the extra
lap, which would give others more time to try to catch us. Whilst we
opted to make this one the final lap, we needn’t have worried as in
the end the decision became irrelevant!
Two problems arose—firstly, we hit the bottom mark (slapped
wrists for the skipper) which allowed No One Else to catch up and
overtake as we struggled to exonerate ourselves with a 360° penalty
turn, putting us further beh