2005 North Bay Wayfarer Weekend
Sunday: Don Rumble Memorial Series - 1
photos by Gillian Danby

Sue and Stephan get a bit of pre-race practice with an improved spinnaker loaned by John de Boer, as Sunday brings perfect weather for our 5-race Don Rumble Memorial series on Callander Bay off the North Bay YC.
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Dave and Carol seem to have everything ship-shape. The winds are mostly a perfect 5 to 8 knots more or less from the south, but with the winds coming off the shore, there will be lots of oscillations and ...
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... gusts to watch out for!! These gusts can be quite localized as Bernie (l) and Henry are discovering. Meanwhile Fred and Michael blithely smile for the camera. They'll likely get an urgent wake-up call in the next two seconds!!
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Fred McNutt and his RC wasted no time getting us underway. Already checking the line are (l to r) Doug, Al and Fred.
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Our 12-boat fleet is well into the final minute of the countdown. With the current oscillation apparently favouring the far end, Al has decided to risk a ...
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... pin end ...
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... start. Al usually starts at the windward end on starboard in these conditions, no matter what the cost, but here, he thought he might have a chance to tack onto the favoured port tack and cross the fleet. Alas for Al, there was an almost immediate ...
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... starboard lift. Al was subsequently trapped on the left side for a considerable part of the first beat, having decided that taking the other 11 transoms while sailing the unfavoured tack was not an attractive option! In the end, a return oscillation near the end of the beat rescued us from a fate worse than 10th and we snuck around in 2nd place behind John and Dolores who were obviously having much better upwind success today!!!
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Here the fleet rounds onto a run closely bunched and ...
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... proceeds to ...
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... look great!!!
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(l to r) Sue, Fred, Al - note how the latter helps the helm situation by not heeling the boat to leeward and is making every effort to stay near the rhumbline.
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A nice puff for the guys to windward - (l to r) Geoff, Dwight in front of Dave, and Henry
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A fine duel between Geoff (9483) and Dave (282) as they ...
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... pass the start/finish line where photographer, Gillian, is on duty.
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Young Stephanie Pegler (8) was making her racing debut, crewing for her dad, Kevin, aboard Wildwood (W1071). My crabby crew could likely have some things to say about Andrew's spinnaker, few of them good, though. For sure, the pole could be raised some to help the shape. And it looks to me like both main and spi are overtrimmed, which doesn't look as does bad as too far out but in fact hurts power and thus, speed, much more!!
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Successfully fighting the universal urge to sail high and defend his wind, Doug Netherton (1366) takes ...
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... the low road to success as he passes Fred (7379), Dave (282) and Geoff (9483).
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Except for the spinnaker, Andrew and Julie pass the reviewing stand in fine downwind form. Although - as Julie gains experience, she will doubtlessly get up the nerve to tell Andrew to sit down to leeward where the helm belongs on a run, so that she can sit on the windward deck where the crew belongs, and can see the chute in an acceptable manner.
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The final beat - as seen here from the RC boat - was indeed short!!
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After a close rounding of the leeward mark, Geoff and Matt (r) have done a nice job of pinching up into a position where they are nearly preventing Doug (off their bow) from being able to tack. Not much later however ...
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... Geoff seems to have disappeared while Doug (2nd from right) continues to outpoint his neighbours, Meanwhile, Uncle Al (3854) has tacked into a convenient starboard-tack lift towards an imminent finish.
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Our safety team of Trevor (l) and Paul remains vigilant.
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Françoise and Doug show how it's done right! What beautiful upwind form!!!
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W1366 ...
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... over!!!
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Stephan gets an early start on Sue's imminent tack towards the finish line.

North Bay Wayfarer Weekend