cabbage tree race on limit

Last Friday night was race four of the CYCA's prestigious Bluewater Pointscore. I joined the crew of Alan Brierty's 49 foot Limit for the 180nm race north to Cabbage Tree Island and back.
There was a good fleet entered as the race is a qualifier for the Hobart, our main competition would be Ragamuffin, the two Wot tp52s, Mr Beak's and Midnight Rambler.
It was a typically chaotic start in the dark and we beat up the harbour in the fickle nor 'easter with the med jib on. We tucked in behind the three tp52s and worked up the northern beaches to stay out of the current. In general we stayed inshore of the other boats and seemed to pick up some good left handers. By dawn we were up next to the faster boats which gave us time but as we approached Port Stephens the breeze got lighter and they drew away a little.
The northerly built to around 18kn as we rounded the island and we thought we were on our way back to Sydney with the a2. However it faded quickly and soon we were back on the wind with the light and med jibs. Apart from a few hours of sou' wester we were on the wind the whole way back to Sydney, the good thing about this being that the tps couldn't get away from us.
After a frustrating sail up the harbour we finished at ten pm, and it was a nervous wait to see whether we'd beaten ragamuffin. In the end we beat them by just four minutes, and the smaller boats didn't make up any time. We corrected out to first on IRC, which puts Limit in equal 2nd behind Mr Beak's and AFR Midnight Rambler on the Bluewater Pointscore.
Next on the agenda for the Limit sailing team is the delivery of a new rp62 from Mal Hart later in November. I look forward to joining the boat for the trip from Melbourne to Sydney.