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Sue Swanson writes, 'After several weeks of spending far too much time on Fridays checking for rain, storm activity, or wondering if there would be enough wind, what an absolute pleasure it was to sail on Friday the 13th in near perfect conditions: a steady nor’east breeze with no rain clouds in sight.

After some fresher gusts on our way down the harbour, the breeze seemed lighter by the time we reached the start line, so we hoisted our big no 1 headsail and got off to a great start, with the only other boat in our start group crossing too early and having to restart.

Our regular “Afterguard of Experts”, Blue Chapman, Pete Sheldrick, and skipper Swanno – were joined this week by guest expert Phil Maloney. Together, they chose the perfect course. By tacking up the western shore and crossing above the Sow & Pigs, we were able to maintain our lead to the top mark.

This was truly Champagne sailing. Upon rounding the mark, there was, in fact, a bottle of Champagne popped to celebrate another crew member's good fortune in something quite unrelated. The steady breeze stayed in, as did our luck, as we sipped Champagne and reached the finish line just ahead of the rest of the field.

The verdict: Friday nights on Sydney Harbour don’t get much better than this. The evening was topped off with a fine dinner at Careening Cove and a full moon lighting our trip home up the Parramatta River.'

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