We left the mooring an hour early to avoid leaving at dead bottom of the tide and risk being aground, especially as we were on a new mooring and hadn't had a chance to suss out local depths. Having arrived in the start area we got a nice timing from Kingston Marine buoy to the line of 35 seconds. Approaching the start time got to the buoy at 30 seconds so hardened for full chat on starboard and crossed the line just a few seconds after the gun, not sure what the main fleet were doing a long way shy of the line. Alchemist was on our hip at the buoy but didn't wind up so quick as us so was a bit behind crossing the line. From there until well into the Eastern Solent we were overpowered and going sideways so lost a lot as the bigger boats came through. We are learning different de-powering techniques for this boat as the mast is as stiff as a railway line compared to the auto de-powering rig we had before. We're getting there!slowly. Once into the Eastern Solent the tide induced strength of the wind decreased as the strength of the tide reduced and we gained boat speed as we started to sail more upright and not losing out so much. We tacked to the East side of the gap between the Forts and continued to tack up the Nab Channel until around halfway to the Nab where we decided to continue on port given the more even tide spread and the prospect of an easterly tide lift once past Bembridge. This worked perfectly and we couldn't believe how well this tack worked out as we homed in on the Nab with no further tacks and only having to ease sheets in the last 50 yards. We clocked the leaders as being a mile ahead at the Nab converting to around 10 minutes max so thought we were in a reasonable position. The run back to the forts, a gybe there and the run to the finish was pretty uneventful and we were pleased to clock what we thought were the leaders, still only a mile ahead at Snowdon. Coming in on an increasing tidal stream, we were pleased we were likely to beat the top raters in the fleet. Alchemist we timed as nearly 7 minutes ahead so should just beat us, also we were aware of a Sigma too far ahead for us to beat them. Apart from these two we were looking for a 3/4th place finish however, we were not sure how far behind the lower raters were and had forgotten about Aelana who obviously sailed a great race to beat us all, well done. Our final position came in at 6th. Still a lot to learn with this boat, especially about de-powering the rig however, we are very much enjoying being in the mix for high finishers compared to the last boat which was putting us last or next to last in virtually every race!! A very enjoyable race in the sunshine, albeit still a bit chilly, and lots learnt for next time.