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the RC Boat (left) will come down in about two seconds to mark the Scows' start. .. |
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Uncle Al
clicks the shutter right at the gun. Considering our
angle to the line - slightly to windward of it - it
appears that several Scows were over early. But that
Race Management pro, Mr. John Weakley, (our 2004
Wayfarer Worlds PRO) assures me that I'm suffering
from outdated thinking: These days, if the PRO feels
that it was a fair start for the fleet, it is
considered good (wise?) and reasonable to let them go.
Good discussion material for a beer night here! All I
can say is that I'm glad we W's are better disciplined
and usually start when we are supposed to. I have
found it frustrating in the extreme in my very few
J-24 experiences for instance, to never know how far
over the line I could/should be at the start just so
that we don't get buried by the entire fleet which has
started prematurely but may be allowed to continue!
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black anodized Proctor masts, we painted ours, and some of the paint has lasted to this very day!! .. |
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This was
our only picture from race 2 since we were too busy
duelling with Butch to open the back tank and
liberate the camera. After getting off to a fine start,
we had a closely bunched fleet as we approached the
windward mark - with Al and Butch among the leaders.
Due to fine spi work from Marc, Al took the lead on
the first run. This time however, SHADES reached
the leeward mark at the same time as several Scows -
and about 50 yards ahead of second-place Butch. One of
the Scows tried to cut off Uncle Al who was clearly
entitled to room, but the matter was resolved when the
Scow put on a burst of speed and made it around just
before Al had to (try to) push him aside. To get clear
of the backwind of 3 Scows just in front of him, Al
tacked away to starboard, cleared his air, and then
tacked back. Al "had to" tack twice more for starboard
Scows. When we met a starboard Scow for the third
time, and were trying to decide whether to tack or
duck, Marc calmly mentioned: "Perhaps we should get
out to the right where Butch has pulled way ahead of
us??" Rats! I had had no idea - a direct contravention
of the cardinal rule of racing: Keep your eye on the
big picture!!!
So, we went right and started off in pursuit of Butch, having first looked all around to confirm that none of the other W's, most of which had gone left, were an immediate threat to us. The wind was beginning to expire for the day, which now gave some advantage to the single-handers and their lighter crew weight. We tried to play little shifts and the occasional puff so as to nibble away at Butch's lead. By the start of the final run, we were only about 50 yards behind Butch and ready make Butch earn his first! Butch opened the door for us a bit when - upon reaching the offset mark - he sailed off to the right side of the course and considerably high of the leeward mark on starboard tack. And we had been left alone on the side to which we wanted to go. We immediately gybed and went a bit left of the rhumb line, the side which had been very good to Butch and me going up the beat. Pulling out all the stops, we even lowered the jib to help the spinnaker in the dying breeze. It was close at the leeward mark, but SHADES had managed to creep past Butch by a couple of lengths. We felt almost guilty covering a single-hander and forcing him into a tacking duel but the finish was near and we a had a first to protect!! In the end, we preserved our narrow lead over Butch as the two of us pulled away from the rest of the fleet who were slowed down by fighting each other. Nick Seraphinoff crossed next in 3rd, and then the group shown above rolled in. Grabbing a much better 4th in this one was Richard Johnson (10139) crossing on port tack ahead of Gale Shoemaker (93). 6th and 7th place went to Jim Higgins and Hubert Dauch (not shown in the picture) who came in on starboard from the right side of the course. If you look at the right side of the photo above, you will see Hank Van Twyver (1395) who seems certain to beat Mike Murto (white hull, extreme right) and yet Mike ended up crossing 8th ahead of Hank. Amazing - we missed how this happened since we were opening a beer! Completing the top 10 was Ted Benedict with his best race of the series. With the
winds definitely on their last legs, the RC wisely
decided to pack things in for the day after getting in
two very fine races in conditions that were enjoyable
for all the sailors.
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Heading
back to the club for pizza dinner: Note the
fine single-handed style being exhibited by Jim
McIntyre (1904). Michele Parish, meanwhile, takes the
helm aboard Free Range Chick'n (10139) while
Ted Benedict (2415) trolls for alligators along the
shore.
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to windward to bear off, to leeward in order to luff up. .. |
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Just like
motoring back into the club on a keelboat! Marc
thought it would be fine to sail in under spi alone
with the LESC dead downwind
..of us. Meanwhile, we could roll up the main and jib, and arrive at the ramp with nothing to do but haul out and head for the beer keg! |
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local veterans, Jim and Ted Benedict (r) by the fact that they've put first things first: getting some of the free beer! .. |
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| Having moved
into their rented mansion and checked out Orlando,
Frank's sister, Christine (l) and his wife, Lucy
Camacho, arrived at the club after the races with an
invitation to Nick and Mary plus Marc and Al to come for
drinks at their lavish "home", once the boats had been
put to bed. So - a quick shower at the Murtos' and then
it was off for the 40-minute drive to Frank's home away
from home, SW of Orlando. All went well as Marc and I
left Tavares on Hwy. 27. As the sun went down, the air
turned a bit cool so Al turned on the heater for the
first time since the rad flush. Immediately the car filled with vaporized coolant. No slouch, Al turned off the heater right away but there was already a nice coating of condensed coolant all over everything, especially the windshield. Since we were on a causeway at the time, we had to hang on for a mile or so until we could pull off the road for a damage check. In the meantime, Marc made himself useful with the Windex (window washer not wind indicator!) and newspapers which were fortunately scattered across the floor in the back, and soon Al could see more clearly where he was actually going at 50 mph!! Upon pulling off the road, we discovered no major leaks and continued on - heaterless but with relatively few of the coolant fumes still entering the car. I must confess that I let this ruin the evening for me. In the end, I didn't truly enjoy or take pictures of the magnificent home that had come with Frank and Lucy's package deal. Even the arrival of Nick and Mary and their graciousness in treating Marc and me to a fine dinner in Orlando failed to completely pick up my spirits. I kept thinking of the long, late trip back to Tavares along deserted roads in a suspect vehicle. About half-way back to Tavares, the coolant idiot light started flashing. We pulled into a deserted shopping mall to check the coolant level. No matter what we tried however, we could not get the reservoir cap open. With fingers crossed, we continued on to Tavares with hardly any plotting for the next day's racing. Thankfully, we pulled into the Murtos' well after midnight and tiptoed to our beds and a well appreciated rest. ..
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