The weather forecast was awful, but we were committed to racing after we skipped the previous race, and the weather was a lot better than the forecast. So, we had about 11 m/s of SSE with gusts up to 15 m/s. We were expecting racecourse 2 or 5; the race committee selected 5.
Subbota was equipped with the second reef and G3. We agreed that if the wind strengthens, we reduce G3 to Yankee, and if the wind lightens, we restore reef 1. None of these changes happen, though. All other FEs had reef 2. Pikku Myy also had G3, and Estelle had some smaller sail which they later upgraded to G3. Lucky Too was braving full main and G3 - they had to luff the mainsail all of the time upwind, and they had some trouble at some point, maybe because of overpowering.
We missed the starting sequence - no sound signals could have been heard, and we could hardly see any flags. We synced on 4 minutes, but still not fully. Because of that, we were 10-12 seconds late at the line but started in a pretty good position as planned. Pikku Myy went around to restart, which was awkward because X-flag could not be seen. But maybe they knew something.
Because of the gusts, we switched the mainsail trimming responsibility for the race, and it took time for the trimmer to get used to the gust pattern and force. We were both busy with the mainsail and slow after the start and allowed Lucky Too and Estelle to pass us on windward. We got the mainsail handling better by the first green mark and didn't allow Estelle to build distance anymore. After the green, we tacked to port tack as favorable. We didn't expect the waves smaller anywhere across the racecourse - Stora Ädholmen is a good breakwater.
Pikku Myy was close all the way upwind, but we managed to increase the distance between us.
At the weather mark, Lucky Too had some unidentified trouble and had to luff on the edge of the zone. We passed her inside, rounded the mark, and continued. After the weather mark rounding, we sailed downwind with goosewings to the N-S marks and then broad-reaching till the end of the first lap. We were gaining on Estelle all the way downwind and keeping the distance to Pikku Myy. At the weather mark, Pikku Myy seemed to be preparing the spinnaker, and we were expecting the show and worrying about them simultaneously, but eventually, they didn't go for it. What a relief! We had our own spinnaker ready, but we didn't dare.
The second lap was nearly a repetition of the first one. Pikku Myy was better upwind this time and got a little closer. After the weather mark, the wind started to ease a little bit, but we decided not to try un-reefing on the downwind course and just continued to the finish line. Lucky Too passed us on the leeward side just a couple of hundred meters before the finish line. Third in the lines of honor and second in the result table.
Thanks to the crew - Masha, Anna, Patrik, and all of the competitors. Only strong and brave can sail in such weather. So much fun, tho.