| Race 1 got underway in gray skies and E
winds of
10-15 knots. Those of us fortunate enough to get a clean start ended up
holding starboard to the far left. Uncle Al stayed left since that was
where Scott Town, usually the fastest Wayfarer in hiking breezes, was
going.
But it wasn't until Saturday night that locals, Don Thwing and Matt
Princing
explained to us that with winds from that direction, local wisdom says
to go hard left towards the club. So, we got lucky, having done the
right
thing but only partly for the right reason.
In any case, I seem to recall that it was
Al and
Frank first around the windward mark just ahead of Scott Town who in
turn
was closely pursued by Matt Princing, Brian Jeffs, Roger Shepherd,
Peter
Rahn and Nick Seraphinoff. A pair of lovely spi reaches with lots of
surfing
and planing followed before the boats began the only full beat of our
course (below)
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...
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Going up the second beat: Good
form
for Frank and Uncle Al (3854) who are staying between
their nearest opponent (Scott and Grant in
9239)
and the next mark as they pass the RC boat halfway up the beat.
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Halfway up beat #2: Nick
Seraphinoff
and Jennifer Princing (864) heeling a bit much in a gust
but still look set to cross Roger and Carl
Shepherd
in 7700.
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Don and Don Thwing looking very good
in their
first Wayfarer race ever.
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A fun run and a short beat later it
was Uncle
Al and Wayfarer Man opening the defence of their title with a win. You
are looking at them from the RC boat, and can see that Al is crossing
the
line almost at right angles. This means that the mark end is favoured
in
the case, and Al is finishing at the better end of the line.
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Scott and Grant Town display textbook
form
as they chomp across in 2nd. Note how close the leeward mark is. The RC
wisely decided to start and finish us only 1/3 of the way up from the
leeward
mark to give the fleet some breathing room up the first beat.
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After Peter and Alex Rahn crossed in
3rd place,
and exciting finish shaped up among...
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... Matt Princing and John McCree
taking 4th.
Roger Shepherd with Carl (7700) get a puff first...
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... and just manage to edge into 5th
head of
Brian Jeffs with Scott Bamford (9235).
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Heeling a bit more than his World
champion
sailmaker, Mike McNamara, would recommend, Nick and Jennifer still look
excellent as they prepare to cross with a fine 7th. Hard to tell from
this
distance, but it appears that Don and Don Thwing (red hull) could stand
to have a bit more vang. Ditto for Mike Anspach with John Lagman who is
just completing his run.
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Fine form for a veteran: Arthritic
hands
and all, 87-year-old George Blanchard and crew, Mike Codd, romp across
in 8th.
Following them were John and Dolores deBoer
who
usually place in the top 5 but on this day had the slows - we think it
may have been due to lack of weed flushes. There were major weed beds
scattered
across the course!
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Following 10th-place Don Thwing
across the
line were Joe DeBrincat with crew, Marwhil Gamit.
It was on this very bay that Joe won the '83
North
Americans!
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A pair of septuagenarians, Bob
Frick
and Peter Every managed very nicely, thank you - having just placed
12th.
A bunch of us may be getting a bit geezerish
but
by God, we're hanging in there!!
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13th place went to another retiree,
Geoff Edwards
(in 9483 with Wally Merrill) while Hubert Dauch who is getting closer
to
80 himself finished 14th. One doesn't want to imply Hubert's memory is
going in his old age, but he forgot to bring a crew. In the end, USWA
Commodore,
Mike Anspach, volunteered to let his fine crew, Ken Greywall, sail with
Hubert. Meanwhile Mike took out novice sailor, John Lagman who
certainly
got an exciting day for his first sail ever!
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