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the Clark Lake Fall Regatta
Clark Lake YC * Sept. 24-25, 2005
Race 1 pics - part 1
by Dan Hockenberry

Boats starting to leave the club as seen from mark #5 where the RC is setting up give us a course of ...
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... 4-3-2-1-5 with a final beat from #5 to a finish at #4.
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Photographer and father of Rebel 4180, Dan Hockenberry, keeps a caring eye on his baby. Knowing Dan was watching ...
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... we decided to dazzle him with one of our finest roll tacks. Oops, Al accidentally cleated the main and nearly capsized! Now ...
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... Marc will have several gallons of water to sponge out of the boat.
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Chester and Gail Javis prepare to sail W739 as part of ...
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... the Rebel fleet.  Start time approaches and even though the present oscillation in the wind favours ...
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... the pin end ...
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... where Brian Main and Mike Wolf (4160) have just gotten the perfect start and closed the door on an attempted port tack start by Jim Quiniff (4179), Uncle Al and Marc (4180, white hull near the RC boat) have stuck with their plan to start at the RC boat end where they will be able to tack whenever they feel the need.
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Seconds later, the return oscillation lifts the starboard boats as Jim (4179) finally finds a hole in the starboard parade and squeezes across in front of John Weakley (4162). Larry and Patti Schmida (4191) hold a nice safe leeward position ahead of Dave Nickels with Todd Schmida while Al and Marc (4180) have lifted out into some nice clear air.
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Dave (4176) tacks to clear his air and will cross astern of Al (4180) who has the luxury of being able to hold the favoured tack (starboard) in nicely clear air. Since Dave is the National Champion and has to be the favourite here, Al and Marc contemplate covering Dave loosely (without sitting on his wind), but decide to wait a bit in hopes of a starboard knock that will favour port tack. In the event, Dave tacked soon after crossing behind us, no doubt recognizing that sailing across the course where the other tack is taking you almost directly to the mark, is a high risk/low reward proposition.
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The Sunfish start sees Derrick Fries (11070) get the perfect pin end start while a daring but risky try at a port start ...
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... ends in failure for Donald Jones (8).
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Two port tackers are stuck on a very bad tack here, as the three starboard tackers are nearly laying the windward mark.
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As the Rebels and the lone Mutineer (1344) approach the windward mark (#4), Interlake leaders Jamie Jones (1267) and Bob Bradley (1332) have completed the short jog across the lake from 4 to 3 at the east end of Clark Lake and are now starting the long run to #2 at the far west end of the lake.
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Quick! Who has the right of way here: Dan Norton in the Sunfish (r) or Jamie in Interlake 1267? If you said Dan, you are right since Dan is on starboard while Jamie is on port tack. Meanwhile, Tim Marriott (1268) and Bob Sagan (628) have gybed onto their run as well.
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Rebels on the run: (l to r) Al (4180) directly ahead of 2nd-place Jim, Dave, Larry, Ron, John Weakley, Brian and Jeff. On this run with its occasional shifts to quite an angle off the south shore, Al and Marc were leery of getting too near either shore: the windward, wind-blocking shore, and the lee shore where the wind begins to lift over the shore well before it reaches it. Here the leaders are making the turn to a beam reach as they pass ...
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... Eagle Point. In this short stretch of beam reaching, staying away from shores is even more likely to pay off. I know, I know! Boats have made spectacular gains near the shore in such conditions, but the odds are against it and I would only try this as a last resort and never while in the lead: make the other guy take the chances!!
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Marc and Al dawdle along well off shore with a nice lead until they feel they can safely cut the corner of the lee shore around which mark 2 will soon come into view. On the 300-yard dead run to #2 they stay close to shore because in this section of the lake, the wind is now blowing parallel to it which often means stronger winds nearer the shore. But alas, one of the frustrations of sailing a run is that ...
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... guys like Dave (4176) and Jim (4179) can bring beautiful gusts like this one with them from astern!! It was a nervous time for Marc and me, and a certain number of nasty words passed our lips as we urged the wind to bloody well hurry up and get to us!! Ultimately, we relaxed a bit by reminding ourselves that, all in all, we'd still rather be here than there, and we ended up making  it around #2 onto the fairly short beat to #1 just ahead of Dave and Jim. While our lead had shrunk to next to nothing, we did still hold the important advantage of being able to sail whichever tack we wanted in clear air while forcing Jim and Dave to either sail in our dirt or tack onto (what we hoped was) the less favoured tack. With the Interlakes up ahead as our guides to upcoming shifts and areas of best wind, we were able to grab all the good stuff first, and once more made our lead a bit more comfortable to extent that we were soon able to make the safety play of sailing to stay between Dave and Jim and the upcoming mark. The subsequent reach from #1 to a starboard rounding of #5 was again a matter of staying away from the shores.
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Mike Sharkey combined with two other Interlake helms, all three of whom usually sail solo and spinnaker-less. Here they are on their way to #2 and looking well trimmed. Boring, isn't it, boys??? We could make life a lot more exciting with the spinnaker none of us has ever flown! More adventurous pictures of Interlake 1236 would eventually follow!!
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John Weakley and ...
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... Eric Robb are very nicely trimmed on their beam reach as are ...
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... Woody Woodruff and Dorothy Rose.
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