| the
2005
CanAm CL16 Regatta Hilton Beach, August 6-7 Race 1, part 2 photos by Jake Cormier (commentary by Uncle Al) 2005 Regatta Photography is available to purchase! Please view the gallery and note the image names, then contact jake@hiltonbeach.com to order digital versions ($20 each) or professionally printed 8x10s ($35 each, includes postage). ... |
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| Glenn Penner (1916)
crosses
a couple of port-tackers. ... |
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|
A lovely mosaic
of
boats
on the sparkling waters of St. Joseph Channel. You
would think from the
looks of the wavelets, that the wind is pretty uniform
across the
course, but note how some boats, most notably John
Hershey and Dave
Bockman (6738), are
getting the occasional streaks of better breeze.
... |
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| No lack of wind here
as ... ... |
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| ... Charles Marquardt (1199) and Peter Foster
(1979) do
battle. ... |
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|
Here, Charles,
sailing
in
relatively flat water, can let 1199 round up some,
rather than fighting
with his rudder. As he does this, he needs to uncleat
and ease his main
gently such that his boat levels out before it loses
too much speed.
Still before the boat loses too much speed, he will
need to bear away
with the boat flat, leaving the main eased as much as
necessary to keep
the boat flat while he regains top speed.
... |
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| Ditto for Peter and
Peggy
Foster - note the rudder turbulence that reflects
Peter's fight with
weather helm. He needs to luff up and/or ease his main
some. ... |
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|
Colin Junkin
(929) and
Jesse Dann in good upwind trim but their booms angled
up suggest they
are not getting enough down pull with their mainsheets
(note backwind
in mains), or, worse their masts are raked too far
forward for optimal
all-around performance. In Wayfarers, we tension the
jib to medium air
tension and make sure the mast is not bent forward at
the top by
pinging it - see http://www.wayfarerinternational.com/03TuningtheWmast.htm
for further details. We then hoist a 25-foot tape
measure with the main
halyard until the halyard reaches the "mainsail full
up" position. The
distance to the forward underside of the traveller's
centre should then
read between 23' 5.5 and 6.5". Much less than that
hurts downwind
performance, much more than that (see pic above) will
hurt pointing
ability.
... |
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|
Bob
Tisdall and Grant Bonin (1237) have a much more level
boom, which is
better form, but alas, the leaders are already coming
down their second
run. Judging by apparent mast height, Kipp (far right)
is holding
second place comfortably over Steve (2nd from right)
while ...
... |
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... Marc and Al
continue
to hold the lead. Note the very smooth wake as 3854 is
balanced with
neutral helm due to windward heel which moves the
centre of effort more
directly above the centre of resistance, something the
spinnaker-less
Lasers do all the time with great success.
... |
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| Kipp (1336) continues
to
hold 2nd over Steve (523) and Jim (1236) as the top four
are slowly
pulling away from the main body of the fleet. ... |
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|
At the leeward
mark:
Note
the horrible crease in Al's mainsail (3854) caused by
the fact that the
mainsail exits the mast track at this point because
some brilliant soul
decided the gooseneck track should extend almost three
feet above
normal gooseneck level, possibly to accommodate a boom
tent? Having
decided not to hacksaw this item off our borrowed
boat, we did the
next-best thing: we ignored it. Note also how much
more level our boom
is with a measured mast rake of 23'6". Again going by
apparent mast
height, Kipp (1336) maintains a nice edge in 2nd over
Steve (523),
while Jim holds 4th comfortably over John Kupers (5th
from left) and
Mac Thomas beside him. The fact that their masts are
about the same
height indicates a more or less equal distance from
the camera.
... |
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|
Kipp and Ann
(1336)
round
in a
nice little lift which will make Al (right)
even more eager to
tack and defend the left side against Kipp. Even if
the left side is
not necessarily favoured, Al must tack here for two
reasons:
We thus tacked
to
starboard, crossed Kipp, and tacked again, to go with
him, making sure we did not sit on his wind. We
usually do not sit on
anyone's wind if we can avoid it. This is not just a
matter of "live
and let live" which makes everyone's racing nicer, but
also, by sailing
bow to bow with Kipp, we were getting an excellent
boat speed testing
partner. We still liked the left side but for the
moment, Kipp was
clearly the biggest threat. If boats 3 and 4 had been
much closer and
going left, we would have sat on Kipp's wind to try to
make him tack,
at which point we would have again put the bow-to-bow
cover on him and
boat speed tested.
...Of course, when we get close to the finish, the "live and let live" approach that we favour while racing comes to an abrupt end, and we do sit on anyone who is too close for comfort. |
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| Steve and Andrew (523)
get
set to round onto the final beat 3rd, just ahead of Jim
and Alice,
while Mac (1142) and John (2136) continue their close
fight over 5th. ... |
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| Becky Sylvester and
her so
far anonymous crew start the final beat. ... |
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| Nearing the leeward
mark,
this string of CL's is a lovely sight: (l to r)
Bill Hibbard,
Charles Marquardt, Colin Junkin, Jesse Dann and Eric
Kirby. ... |
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| In fairly flawless
trim
(and still ignoring the crease in their main), Marc and
Al get set to
cross the finish line in first. ... |
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| Kipp and Ann will take
a
nice 2nd while Jim and Alice Hill (1236) come in
from the left to ... ... |
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| ... snatch 3rd from
Steve
and Andrew Macklin (523). ... |
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| Mac Thomas held 5th
ahead
of John Kupers and Becky Sylvester with Andrew
Bignell, and then it was
Eric Kirby (2469)
in 8th place ahead of Richard Warren (2762) and Alfred
Gawthrop (2767)
who rounded out the top 10 in race 1. |
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