| the PMG CanAm CL16
Regatta Hilton Beach, August 12-13, 2006 Saturday: Race 1.1 photos by Jake Cormier (commentary by Uncle Al) 2006 CanAm Photography is available to purchase! Contact jake@hiltonbeach.com to order digital versions ($20 each) or professionally printed 8x10s ($35 each, includes postage). |
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| PRO, Mason Phelps, is
all set to go, if only the wind will co-operate. ... |
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| A friend of Mason's,
Quincy, gave us an aerial display while we ... ... |
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| ... waited. ... |
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| Quincy was obviously
having fun - unlike the rest of us! ... |
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| While we wait for the
wind, you can look seven aerial photos contributed by
Siri Warren - including this one of what appears to be the very western extremity of the North Channel. ... |
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| Quincy? ... |
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| Race 1: The fleet
struggles to ... ... |
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| ... make upwind progress ... ... |
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| ... against an extremely fitful ... ... |
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| ... breeze. ... |
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| A while later, after
the plane had landed, the wind did begin to fill in. Now
back to Jake Cormier's report in pixels. ... |
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| In these light to
non-existent airs, motor boat waves begin to take on a
... ... |
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| ... disproportionate
significance. ... |
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| As soon as ripples
covered most of the water, about 20 minutes after the
scheduled 10 a.m. start ... ... |
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| ... the RC quickly set
us a lovely square line and we were off - as Marc likes
to say: "Like a herd of screaming turtles". for full size pic, click here - use Back button to return to this page ... |
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A super start
for Becky (2756). Quite acceptable starts for Jim
(1236), Kipp (1336) and Al (3854) but note by how much
Becky, sails perfectly trimmed for the light airs, is
outpointing the rest of us! At left, Jake (1143) is
already getting leftovers - such as they are in this
very slight breeze - from Jim and Kipp. Time to bail
out onto port?
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| Mike (628) and Three
(2767) have done so, taking their pretty reflections
along for the slow ride. for full size pic, click here - use Back button to return to this page ... |
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| Look! Three has wind.
He is making waves (well, ripples, actually)! But the
ripples look better off to the left where ... ... |
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| ... Al (3rd
from right) and Becky (far right) continue
to battle for the lead. Al began to outspeed Becky by
footing off and eventually reached a steady, little
zephyr that Becky and others who ... for full size pic, click here - use Back button to return to this page ... |
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| ... tacked away, did not get for some time. ... |
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... |
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... run. Very
frustrating sailing, this! Marc and I (3854) ended up
doing a bit of tacking downwind so that we could keep
some shape in the sails when we heeled the boat to
leeward (above). It has been my experience
that tacking downwind in heavy dinghies such as the CL
or the Wayfarer rarely pays, expect in really
light-air conditions such as these. Heeling and
keeping the weight well forward further helps by reducing the boat's
wetted area, which in
these drifting conditions, is the major resistance
factor to forward progress - no wave making resistance
from poor hull shape presented to the water when you
go this slow!!! One thing that did work great
on this hot morning, was taking off my shirt so that I
could feel the direction of air movement on my
perspiring skin.
..
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