What I think we did well on Saturday

1. We swapped drivers - best to have fresh drivers to keep high performance
2. We had thought about where we wanted to go, independent of what the other boats would do, based on current, wind, forecast, etc...
3. We were very focused on boat speed (and in particular, boat heel, capped at 15 degrees... although I noticed that the aft lowers might be able to come in a little tighter as we max'ed out the backstay, as you can see in the photos below, pretty early on), kept a fairly hot angle downwind when the wind was a little light
4. Had someone focused on puffs and waves particularly when we had 25+ knots of wind so that the driver was ready on the main sheet/backstay to keep the boat going
5. Had full weight on the rail (makes a HUGE difference)
6. Reacted quickly (change up to #1 as soon as it made sense)
7. Called a great layline :-)
8. Very very actively monitored currents to make sure that we'd take full advantage of it (there are often small zones with so so currents)
9. Actively looking at other boats to spot wind conditions where they were, and potentially indications of current
10. Did not get hit by the whales around the islands
11. Had one person 100% dedicated to tactics so the driver was 100% dedicated to driving
12. Active weight management, particularly during the time the wind was light
13. Immediately hoisted back another spinnaker when the first one got a little fouled, attacked by the demon of the South Tower

What we could have avoided to get 2nd place: a short round-up by the South Tower (note: most roundups are avoidable...)

I was driving and I had to bring in the main with the sheet as it was quite windy (no way I could do this by hand) - normally, when you do this, the boat needs to be really really downwind. However, at the same time, I was busy trying to keep the kite full, hence following the kite which turned the boat slightly too high. I was trying to be efficient and jibe the main before the kite, or at the same time...next time, I think I'll do the main last...

We could have recovered a little faster (sheet on spinnaker wasn't eased quickly) but we had all the right reflexes (vang was gone, main sheet released immediately) and the boat came back up like a charm. Spinnaker got a knot and it was faster to take it down and put the spare on up.

So how these things go, we did a good job. And we'll probably have a couple more roundups during the season ;-) These things are always useful (and we like to practice them, eg engineer one so we can practice recovery) as knowing how to get out of them and limit damage to the boat is definitely a great skill to have...Bummer when it eats up into your 10 seconds...