The race was a handicap start which made things interesting. Blur was off first - Pleasure & Pain was supposed to start at the same time but some rigging problems with their spinnaker delayed them by a few minutes. Blowflies was off next followed by P&P. Mainiac started a few minutes later with Mr Freeze close behind. Windandsea was next with Italian Stallions starting on scratch as they do the short course. Both Windandsea and Italian Stallions had gear problems and withdrew.
Blur was sailing really well until they had a swim at the gybe mark which allowed the rest of the fleet to catch up. Blowflies was sailing really fast downwind but the Sharpies were catching them upwind. Mainiac dropped their spinnaker under the boat on the first lap and lost a fair bit of time.
Coming round the bottom mark the last time most boats were very close together. Pleasure & Pain was clearly the fastest upwind - watch out Mr Freeze if they can go as fast downwind in those conditions !
Mr Freeze came through and finished first with a very close battle between Pleasure & Pain and Mainiac for second. John was determined not to let dad past - unfortunately a wind shift just before the finish allowed Mainiac to sneak though. Blowflies was close behind followed by Blur.
Handicap starts definitely make the finishes interesting as theoretically all boats should finish together.
The Sharpies will be at their state titles next weekend - good luck to all.