 |
| Dave (282) and Jamie (4594)
near the leeward mark still ... ... |
 |
| ... neck and neck. ... |
 |
| Meanwhile, Al and Marc near
the end of the final short beat to the finish line. ... |
 |
| Being on the inside will
give Jamie (4594) ... ... |
 |
| ... the edge around the
mark. ... |
 |
|
Dave is losing a lot of
power by (over)trimming his sails this early. Note how Jamie's sails
are trimmed the same as Dave's but the latter is sailing 90° lower.
That trim looks good but appearances are deceiving. Dave is seriously
stalling his sails and would be better off being undertrimmed even
though that feels and sounds worse. Dave will come out of this turn
slower than he needs to. He should use the Marc system and let Carol
get the main most of the way in hand over hand.
... |
 |
| That extra speed around the
mark would have been especially handy, given Dave's (wise) intention to tack as soon as possible after the mark. ... |
 |
| While Bill Fyfe (r) rolls
towards a second-place finish, Jason and Lori have ... ... |
 |
| ... taken a solid grip on
5th place. ... |
 |
| Eeeek! A leeward douse! It
may be nice to have the spinnaker end up on the port side where it
started, but a douse to leeward is far more trouble than it's worth and
in more of a breeze can be downright risky unlike on keelboats! ... |
 |
| With no boats threatening,
the Green Side Up team have wisely left themselves lots of time
to complete an unhurried douse and are now all set to do a leisurely
gybe and ... ... |
 |
|
... make a nice
rounding onto the final beat. Luffing up a bit above closehauled right
after rounding can be worth it if you need to pinch off a boat right
behind you. But that was not necessary here. Also, there is no big rush
to
sheet in tight until you get your boat settled away to max upwind speed.
... |
 |
| A battle of white-sail
boats: Robin will have the ... ... |
 |
| ... inside track on Alan
(7346) at ... ... |
 |
| ... the leeward mark. ... |
 |
| This is a good place to
"slow down and win" as Stuart Walker says. By staying astern of Robin
until both boats are clear of the mark, Alan (7346) retains the option
to pinch up (as he is starting to do - note rudder angle) or tack away.
Now would be ... ... |
 |
| ... perfect time for crew,
Tim, to help with the mainsheet. Robin appears to be reacting to Alan's
move to the inside by oversheeting his main which won't help in the
long haul. ... |
 |
| A very glum-looking Brian
and John make ... ... |
 |
| ... a nice ... ... |
 |
| ... gradual, smooth
rounding out of which they come looking ... ... |
 |
| ... perfectly trimmed. ... |
 |
| As a reward they (l) just
nip out Alan (r) ... ... |
 |
| ... at the finish line. ... |
 |
| Robin and Carolyn romp away
from a very heartening 6th-place finish. |
| next photo page return to 06 Onts index |