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Clark Lake Fall Regatta Clark Lake YC * Sept. 24-25, 2005 Race 5 pics by Dan Hockenberry |
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| Marc and I
particularly
admired Leland Brode? (3084) and his Sunfish lounging
expertise as we
awaited race 5 which gave us the same course as, but
slightly better ... ... |
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| ... winds than race 4.
The
current wind direction favours the RC Boat end and the
Interlakes have
just gotten off to a fine start. ... |
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|
Bob Bradley
(1332) - in
a
three-way fight over the series lead with Tom Marriott
and Jamie Jones
- is moving well off the line but will be stuck on
starboard tack for a
little while at least. Going into this race, Tom leads
the Interlake
series with 11 points over Jamie (12 pts.) while Bob
has 13 points.
It's still anybody's series.
... |
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| Sunfish, Dan Norton,
admires fine Rebel starts by Jim Quiniff (2nd from
left) and
Brian Main (r). ... |
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|
Seconds later,
Dave
Nickels (2nd from left) is already managing to
lift out above
Jim (4179). Brian Main (4160) continues to move well
but Jeff Hoover
(416) is about to become the meat in the 4179/4160
sandwich and will
have no escape until some of the starboard mess to
windward and astern
clears up. In 4180, Marc Bennett now has the helm and
is off to a
"cautious" start. Still, it fits with our strategy of
getting the RC
Boat end at all costs - even a late start. In about
two seconds, Marc
will be the first to tack. And it'll be an easier
choice for Marc who
is sailing in nothing but dirt than for Dave Nickels
who would have to
desert a nicely lifted starboard tack.
... |
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|
A few minutes
later,
Marc (3rd
from left) has already managed to pinch off Dave
(4th from
left) after being the first to tack. Jeff
Hoover (far left)
is nicely lifted inside and may be in the lead but
will be in tough
shape when the wind oscillates back to starboard
favoured and both Marc
and Dave will be able to cross Jeff (if he gets
the same shift,
which around here is not a given!!) If all three
leaders get knocked
say 20°, Jeff will have two bad options: he can hold
port and cross
behind Marc and Dave when they tack, or tack on the
knock and start
getting dangerously close to the Eagle Point shore and
its series of
dead spots. As I remarked to Marc: "All in all, I'd
rather be here!"
... |
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| The Sunfish start:
Derrick
Fries (11070) gets the perfect RC Boat end start
and a leg up
in his winner-take-all battle with Dan Norton who is
nowhere to be seen
as yet. ... |
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| Much better winds for
the
Interlakes as they near the end of their second reach in
this
race! Bob Sagan (green spi) and Bob Bradley (far
right)
have a comfortable edge over the fleet as they ... ... |
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| ... duel for the lead
while
approaching mark 5 and the start of their final-leg
beat. Were it not
for a race 3 10th that he has to count, Bob Sagan would
now be making
this series a close four-way tussle in the Interlakes. ... |
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| Near the mark, Jim
Bradley (far
left) brings up a puff and threaten to grab an
inside overlap on
Jamie Jones (1267) and Tom Marriott (909) who are
currently fighting
over 3rd place. ... |
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|
Dave Nickels and
Todd
Schmida lead the Rebels onto the final beat. Dave made
the most of a
timely lift and puff near the end of the first beat
where he took the
lead from Marc and Al who were about to round the mark
in first but had
to tack to keep clear. On the last half of the second
reach, Dave
increased his lead from two lengths to 200 yards while
...
... |
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| ... Marc (r) was busy fighting off a
threat from
Jim and Theresa (4179). Above, Dave has done the right
thing by tacking
off the favoured starboard tack for a bit in order to
put some of his
200-yard lead into each tack. ... |
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|
Around the mark,
Marc
(4180) wastes no time following Dave onto port tack.
Here, Dave is too
far in front to give us dirt and we can boat
speed/point test against
Dave while avoiding the dreaded wind shadows that
Eagle Point might
produce for those who hold starboard around the mark.
Besides, by
following Dave, we can always hope to watch him sail
into a hole which
we can then tack to avoid!!!
... |
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| Meanwhile Larry
Schmida
rounds 4th just ahead of John Hudak. ... |
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|
Both Jim (2nd
from
left) and Larry have also made the early tack to
port while a close
rounding shapes up among Brian Main (4160), Jeff
Hoover (416), Ron
Reading and Woody Woodruff (4077). In the far distance
that may be
Derrick Fries (right Sunfish) we see battling
Dan Norton, who
will place 1-2 in both this race and the series.
... |
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| It's still close as
these
four enter the Two-Length Zone but it appears that ... ... |
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| ... Ron and Catie
(4171)
will get around just ahead of Jeff and Brittany while
Woody says ... ... |
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|
... "after
you, Alfonse! Or more precisely, "After you, Brian
Main (4160) and John
Weakley!!" Meanwhile, on the left, Jim (far left)
and Larry
continue on port. And to their left, Marc
will begin to lift
out on Dave. This initiates a certain amount of
tacking and Marc
continues to nibble away at Dave's lead while taking
no undue
desperation chances in his eagerness to beat Dave. And in the end, Marc got the last shift
right near the
finish to grab first place from Dave who just couldn't
buy a lucky
break in this series. Jim and Theresa took 3rd in both
the race and the
series while John and Larry would have their second
fine Sunday race,
grabbing 4th ahead of Larry Schmida and Ron Reading.
Ron and Catie thus
had a successful beginning and end to their series
with a fine 5th and
a 6th.
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