Interesting start in prospect with a spring tide against till after midnight and it seemed to put a few people off.  Had a couple of practice starts but on the  real thing the wind changed and we couldn't tack straight round Gurnard as planned and had to push on into the shore.  Once it was safe to tack we headed over to the mainland shore with Raffles in hot pursuit and then commenced a tacking dual in the shallows all the way to Hurst.  Had a close encounter with Hurst spit which we hadn't spotted was right in front of us but it put us in a good position through the narrows which we went through with little difficulty.  Kept close to the reds out to Bridge and then headed off for Alderney.  Got the Code Alpha up for most of the night and seemed to be doing pretty well with good boat speed around 6 knots for most of the time.  Got to just under 10 miles off the finish and the tide turned and with it went the wind so spent a number of hours drifting East till the wind picked up and we crabbed into the finish behind Raffles.  Second place with everybody else retiring so some good points for the series.  Good do at the yacht club and the normal hunt for somewhere to eat and eventually found a very good Indian.