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Pretty tricky
heaving
to in a good
spot yet staying out
of the
starters' way. This
photo of Al's
mainsheet and the Rebel start was taken about two
seconds after the beep. Note
how the
oscillating wind has veered such that the Rebels can
almost
cross at right angles on starboard!!
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while poor old 4160 is totally living on left-overs! .. |
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In Wayfarers,
Uncle Al
got a start one
usually only dreams
about as
the other four boats stayed near the RC boat and let
Al cross the line
at right angles on port all alone at the pin end.
After footing off to
try to put some of his lead into forward distance
rather than windward
distance, Al decided to stay well away from the
shift/dead spot lottery
that surrounds #6 which is so near the windward shore.
But all that
thinking
almost went for nought as a nice gust and shift
brought Bob Emans into
the lead right along the windward shore. It took a
late shift to give
the
lead back to Al - a crucial development since
the leg to #5 was
to
be close-hauled all the way on port tack, followed by
a virtual
one-tack
starboard beat to #1. Apart from running aground off
Eagle Point, Al
had
little trouble with the pursuers, all four of whom
were close together
and busy fighting each other!
An uneventful (no major dead spots or shifts!) beat over to #2 and it was time for the run back to #5 and... |
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just ahead of Joe DeBrincat (grey/blue/red spi) - judging by apparent mast height. .. |
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and sailing down in a puff that is visible on the water. .. |
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a couple of other Rebels as a puff had carried them into a significant lead. .. |
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Al again went
low and
near #4 was
able to cut inside a
number of
Rebels and Sunfish for buoy room and an easy reach
to #3. The photo
above was taken not too long after Al tacked to
starboard
on the final beat to put half his lead to windward
and half of it
ahead.
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Does Bob's red/white/blue spi look awfully small to anyone else or is it just that he's next to a much larger Interlake chute? .. |
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If I'd had time to attach the flash, you could have seen that they were all smiling for the camera. .. |
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But enough of
this
fooling around.
Al and Ben both tacked
shortly
thereafter and Al shaved Ben's transom on his way
towards the favoured
RC boat end. While Ben sailed at an almost
imperceptible angle to the
finish
line, Al came in on the starboard layline and tacked
right at the RC
boat
end to get the beep in front of Ben. Of course, in
the photo below, you
can
see
they weren't taking things that seriously.
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