I learned that the safest way for me to start was to follow by S.O.P.: be aggressive, assertive and look for the starting gate on the starboard end of the line, as opposed to any open hole in the center. That's what I am used to: the navigating the edge between pushing other boats up and being the pushee. In this instance, slowly and deliberately, I was able to push three barging boats up. It turned out that the windward boat refused to budge over the line and should have been protested. The boat nearest to me pressed the Beneteau to luff up the windward Ranger 33. There was a lot of hailing. At the start, we bore off into clean air and were immediately able to tack to port unobstructed. We did so just in time to see one of the bargers on port tack T-bone a late starboard starter.
There was damage. The real offender was the windward Ranger 33, but the guilty often go free in sailing as well as life. 15 knots with a skeleton crew of four! We were oh... maybe 4th around the weather mark. Wing-and-winging without a spinnaker, we were rolled by two boats on the first reaching leg. But from there on it was clear sailing and we held position with our giant main. Wind veered and died some at the leeward mark. We tacked off away from the beach onto starboard earlier than normal to catch some winds in the 12kt range and then tacked back to cover.
A 5th place glass was waiting us.
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