So we had a forecast on sunday of 5-10 from the NW shifting to SW sometime after noon. What with the lay of the land and the obnoxiousness of the front, we pretty much had both at the same time. It never filled in fully from the SW, but we had consistent oscillations to the west all day, and that was also where the pressure was better. So staying west generally paid off.
For most of the starts the line was square at some point in the sequence, but we got a lot of last minute westerly shifts which favored the port end. So I managed to get a couple really nice port tack starts. The current was around, but it never seemed to be a big deal this weekend.
At the start and on the first beat, when I had clear air I did well, and when I did not, it was awful. In the light conditions I found that disturbed air from boats to weather extend 6 or 8 boat lengths downwind. I think I paid more attention to clear air than even to the shifts. On the other hand, the shifts were big enough, and the course short enough, that tacking right away on the 10+ degree shifts made a big difference.
Finally, this was my best performance of the season, and I still placed third! I am still figuring out the leeward legs and the last mark rounding clearly has it in for me.