| the
Clark Lake Fall Regatta Clark Lake YC * Sept. 24-25, 2005 Race 4 pics - part 1 by Dan Hockenberry |
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| Looking north from the
windward mark as the Interlakes proceed up the beat from
#5 on a course
of ... ... |
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|
... 1-2-5-1. With
the winds angling
off the tree-lined Eagle
Point shore at up to 30°, Marc and I decided we
should avoid that
shore for as long as possible. Our plan was to
sail up the middle, and
to hit the starboard layline early to avoid the
east shore for as long
we could. The plan for going up the middle was to
seek better wind as
priority #1; the shifts could be played as they
happened, provided we
were in the middle.
Our worst fear
was that we might get forced into the
lee of Eagle Point
on starboard tack as we came off the line. We
therefore decided once
again, that the RC Boat end would be our chosen
starting spot, favoured
or not, even if we had to start there a bit late.
This strategy worked
very nicely as each time (races 4 and 5) we tacked
to port right after
the start, moved the boat well, and played the
shifts and puffs to good
effect once we were well away from Eagle Point.
Each time we had boats
lift inside us on port tack but each time we ended
up getting a more
consistent breeze and wound up with the lead. As a
preview, we also saw
Bob Sagan in Interlake 628 do exactly what we had
in mind at the start
of race 4, and were cheered to note that the last
we saw of him as we
turned to concentrate on our own race, he appeared
to be winning nicely.
... |
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| A gaggle of Interlakes
comes off the Eagle Point shore. ... |
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| I believe this may be
Bob
Sagan (r) rounding in first as Tom Marriott
approaches on
starboard. ... |
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|
Not much wind
for the
Interlake leaders as they round mark #1 and inch their
way towards #2
on what was mostly a beam reach. Note that series
leader, Bob Bradley
in 1332 (red hull) is having a tough time in this
race. And at Clark
Lake, you have to count 'em all!!
... |
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| How sweet it is to be
the
first of a becalmed group to reach a nice breeze: Here,
Bob Sagan (l)
is rolling to a huge lead over Ron Gall (1325), Jamie
Jones (1267) and
Tom Marriott. ... |
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|
Rebel leaders,
Al and
Marc
(4180) continue to try for centre right on the beat
but above all sail
to avoid anything that looks like a dead spot. Ron and
Catie (4171)
also look to be in perfect upwind form. Meanwhile John
Hudak? (or is it
Brian Main - both were doing well up the first beat) (r)
has tacked to sail into a puff, he hopes. But he'll
have to tack soon
if he wishes to avoid the apparent dead spot indicated
by the flatter
water at the bottom of the photo here.
... |
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| The Interlakes finally
escape the windward shore effects. ... |
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|
Messrs. Geis,
Sharkey
and
... round just off our bow as Marc gives them an
encouraging glare.
Note the jib leech ticker that Uncle Al installed on
Dan's boat at the
Nationals - very useful for those really fine upwind
sheet tension
adjustments, and simple, too, because the rule is:
sheet in until the
ticker is about get sucked in behind the leech but never
sail
with it being actually sucked in. You can let the main
leech ticker get
sucked in behind its leech at times, but never, never,
never let the
jib leech ticker do this! Note Jeff and Brittany
Hoover who are doing
great and will round just barely astern of 4180 in 2nd
place.
... |
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|
Note the jib
leech
ticker
in action once more as Al actually lucks in: the
Interlakes' dead spot
around #1 has passed away and 4180 actually has wind
to fill her sails
and create a (mini-)wake. To leeward of Al, John Hudak
and Larry
Christiansen move towards the windward mark which they
will round in
third place.
... |
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| Ron and Brittany
reduce the
resistance caused by wetted surface. ... |
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| John and Larry round
3rd
with Dave and Todd about to follow. ... |
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| Brian Main (4160)
waits for
the starboard Woody (4077) to tack so that he can follow
suit and
round. Meanwhile, John Weakley (4162) crosses Larry. ... |
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|
Brian Main and
Mike
Wolf
(4160) carry a nice puff around the mark ahead of Jim
and Theresa
(4179) while John Weakley (r) cautiously
tacks to port with a
view to rounding the mark. What John needs to do here
is get his speed
up with a view to just shaving the transom of Larry
Schmida (4191) who
will then have to keep sailing to avoid tacking in
John's water. In
that case, John will be through to leeward before
Larry can get around
to blanket him.
... |
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| Ron and Catie (ya
gotta
love the hat!! no cold ears for this lovely
young lady!) move
off smartly down their reach. ... |
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| RC czar, Neil Robb,
surveys
his empire while behind him, Jim Quiniff's keen parents
follow their
son's progress. On the left, we have Hugh and Helen
Harris with a front
row seat. ... |
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| Donald Fritz starts
his
first reach. ... |
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|
After
sailing
through a few more dead spots while going from #2 to
#5, the main body
of the Interlake fleet finally begins the beat to the
finish. Al and
Marc (3rd from right) nearly caught most of
the Interlakes
here but were themselves nearly caught by Jeff and
Brittany (416) and
John Hudak (4194). A disagreement aboard 4180 here as
Marc wanted to
hold starboard for a bit but Al's paranoia about Eagle
Point and its
potential wind shadow (and the fact that Al had the
tiller) won the
day. So, here they are tacking before John and/or Jeff
can get lifted
and block them from tacking. Less than a minute later,
both Jeff and
John, having held starboard, were sitting becalmed
behind Eagle Point.
Al then couldn't resist. He nudged Marc and said:
"Look behind us!" One
of the rare times that Al has been right in the
infrequent
disagreements that he and Marc do have.
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