| the
Mississauga SC Wayfarer/CL16 Regatta Sunday: race 5.4 by Gord Leachman ........ |
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| Starting the final "run",
Al (l) is still close behind Peter and Mark. -
click here for larger image ........ |
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| Who has to keep clear here?
The three spi boats are all on starboard so Colin (port) must keep
clear, but the starboard boats must take care not to alter course in such a way that Colin is prevented from keeping clear. ........ |
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| Mike, David and Kit get set
to do spinnaker battle. ........ |
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| Al guards against Leo which
is much easier since the wind is in one of its oscillations that makes
the run a reach. ........ |
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| The wind has swung back to
a run, and David decides (rashly? see later pics coming up) to gybe. ........ |
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| As he passes the
start/finish area, Al has threats from Kit and ... ........ |
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| ... Leo to deal with. ........ |
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| David and Anne have gybed
back and are now headed right for the forbidden (God alone knows why it should be forbidden in this compact fleet!!!) zone. They realize their looming error just in time, ... ........ |
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| ... crank their sails in
and ... ........ |
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| ... just shave past the
mark. ........ |
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| No doubt, a sigh of relief
was heaved! ........ |
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The winning move:
Realizing that only a short one-tack beat remained to the finish, Al
had decided that rounding inside and ahead was crucial. So, a few
seconds earlier, as Peter came across on port towards Al who was then
on starboard, Al did not make Peter cross astern of him, but instead
defended the left (inside for buoys to port mark-room) by gybing to
port. This left Al in control as he could choose his time to gybe
to starboard and make Peter keep clear.
........ |
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| Perhaps 5-6 lengths from
the mark Al gybes to starboard and thus forces Mark and Peter to do the
same. Al and Sue are now perfectly placed on the inside and will ... - click here for larger image ........ |
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| ... round in the lead. As
is often the case, the rich get richer: the wind veers back to a
direction that lets us close-reach instead of beat to the finish. - click here for larger image ........ |
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| Both Peter and Mark decided
to tack off the lay line in search of clear air which allowed Kit (2nd
from right) to ... ........ |
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| ... grab 2nd ahead of Peter
and Mark. |
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