Our strategy was to be high on the fleet and have clear air coming in to the first mark. This didn't happen. With our poor start, we made the poor decision to sail in the middle of the fleet. I have no idea why. We could have made our way to the windward side of the fleet, and this is where we should have gone. By the time we arrived at the first mark, the wind had shifted so that carrying a spinnaker was possible. We chose not to, and actually made up on those who did because the spinakers almost never filled.
We arrived at the first mark with a croud of boats going nowhere. Here we made a second major mistake... we should have tacked right around the mark. Instead we allowed ourselves to get swept on with the rest of the fleet at a blistering 2/10ths of a knot. We tacked a few more times, and the wind started clocking around again for another major shift. Up went the chutes, but still very little speed. We finished at a shortened finish line outside the harbor at dusk, and immediately the wind filled in. We somehow managed to sail ourselves into last place in this race. I am still scratching myhead since we were mid-fleet when we made our last mistake. Oh well, there is always next week.