Hardwicke Island
The wind forecast was 15-20knots, current up to 3 knots and the start was 10 miles away at 7:00am. We all got up at 4:00am and left the dock to motor to through Seymour Narrows. Skipper dodged the currents and arrived at the start with time to spare.
We got a reasonable start and soon got clear air. But the wind was on the nose and we spent almost all of the 24 mile leg tacking across the currents.
As we neared the finish we saw a cluster of boats ahead on all different points of sail trying to finish with zero wind and an adverse current. With his usual finesse, Skipper picked and poked at the scant breeze and back eddies to finish considerably better than we had hoped, given that headwinds of this magnitude are not Myrrh’s forte. As he later commented. “We salvaged a mediocre finish from what looked like a disaster”.
The “marina” was a working Atlantic salmon farm containing over a million fish. Save-on Foods and the fish farm staff did an outstanding job of feeding us barbecued salmon and hamburger.
Today’s result: Myrrh finished 5th and still retains a smaller overall lead.
Dave
