| the 2007 North Bay
Wayfarer Weekend Mon 2 July: Don Rumble Memorial Series Race 3.2 photos by Julia Schonborn |
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| Still hoping for a finish
as
high as 2nd, Marc and Al (l)
try to nibble away at the lead enjoyed by John (7351) and
Tony. ... |
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| Wisdom having come with
age,
Marc and Al will try nothing outlandish to try to catch Dave and Carol (above) who are moving beautifully and, barring an act of God, cannot be caught. ... |
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| The right side does not
appear
to have paid off for John (r)
who gybes back towards the middle and, going past the RC boat, finds himself still a few lengths back of 2nd-place Tony and Mary. ... |
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|
With Dwight safely far
astern
after his unsuccessful trip to the left corner in the
previous beat,
Marc and Al (r) put
all
their efforts into catching John and Tony (l). Note how Marc
stands in the
boat and is thus easily able to move to heel the boat in
order to
remove every vestige of helm that might slow us down.
Realistically, we
have to catch anyone we're going to catch by the time we
reach the
leeward mark, since the final beat to the finish will be
quite short.
Having again defended the left, we are strategically
well placed for
buoy room and before that, right of way, should we meet
either Tony or
John.
... |
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| Looks like it's time to
gybe in
this little shift. We could, of course, luff up a bit and
confront John, but that would give away the left side, at least to Tony, so ... ... |
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| ... instead, we will ... ... |
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| ... gybe to port and onto a
nice
broad reach towards the mark. The spinnaker-less Tony is
still well
within reach, but as you can see, Dave and Carol Hansman (l) are well and truly out of reach. ... |
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|
Meanwhile, the battle
for 5th
is an interesting on as well. Strategically well placed
on the left
side and sailing a more direct course towards the
leeward mark are
Andrew and Michele, who will indeed go on to take an
excellent 5th in
this race. Without their spinnaker, Michael and Pat are
... -
click here
for full-size pic
... |
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| ... in a precarious
position as (l to r) Dwight,
Fred and Sue
breathe down their necks,
- click here
for full-size pic ... |
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| In the end, even ... ... |
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| ... Jason and Lori,
currently ... ... |
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| ... lying 10th (r) will pass ... ... |
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| ... Michael (2nd from right).
This picture
shows how well positioned Andrew (white spi) is to fight
off any
challenges from the boats he has kept to the "outside". Marc (far
left) has indeed
caught Tony enough to get buoy room, and the ... - click here for full-size pic ... |
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|
... all-important edge
at the
start of the final short beat. Being almost able to lay
the finish
line, Marc (far left)
is
getting eager to tack, especially since John (hidden by Andrew, 3rd
from left)
who rounded a very close 4th has tacked already. As soon
as he pinches
out above Tony (2nd
from left),
Marc will be free to tack and will do so. Andrew,
meanwhile, remains
well placed to lead his group around the mark. - click here
for full-size pic
... |
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A wide angle view of
most of
our fleet shows Dave and Carol Hansman (l) just tacking
for the finish
line. With their huge lead, they could probably afford
this approach,
but it was unsound: If nothing else, their holding port
around the mark
until the proverbial cows came home, rekindled a spark
of first-place
hope in Marc and Al. Imagine, as Marc and Al did, a 30°
port lift
at this point - something that has happened more than
once today! The
whole Hansman lead would evaporate! The virtually 100%
safe approach is
to put half your lead into each tack, i.e. end up
between your nearest
opponent and the finish line as the latter rounds the
mark. That way,
the leader achieves a position that is pretty well
immune to shifts. Of
course,
that port lift wasn't very likely to happen - but why
take the
chance?!
- click here
for full-size pic
... |
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| Not to take anything away
from
Dave and Carol who here complete their horizon job, having moved Banshee superbly, and thoroughly earned their victory!! Well done, Carol and Dave!!! |
| next photo page return to North Bay 2007 index page |