| the
Wayfarer
Ontarios Lac Deschênes Sailing Club * July 28-29, 2007 Saturday race 1.4 pics (mostly) by Doug Netherton ... |
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| Halfway up the beat, our
Race
Committee remains alert. ... |
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| PRO, Stuart Pursey (r) has noted a veer
in the wind
direction that will favour the boats on the right side. ... |
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| Too late to make any
changes to
this leg, so John and Stuart relax and smile for the
camera. ... |
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Later: Having
accompanied Frank (r)
almost into the left
corner, Al (l)
has seen the
inside boats getting better breeze and a huge lift.
Throttling the urge
to hang on and pray for a last-second knock, Al and Marc
have decided
to tack to cut their losses, which so far include Andrew
(9657) and Sue
(4677).
... |
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| Not to mention ... ... |
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| ... Colin and Heather in
their
CL. ... |
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| Holding port after rounding
the
leeward mark has paid off big time for John and Dolores
who sailed into
better breeze and a large starboard lift that let them
nearly lay the
windward mark in one long tack. A quick port-tack hitch
near the mark
... ... |
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| ... flip back onto
starboard and
they're around with the lead - a healthy one at that!! ... |
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| Of course, John should make
sure
his main is well out before hoisting the chute, but with
... ... |
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... this lead, I guess
he can afford to
be generous!! The new wind direction is holding and has
allowed Al to
tack in under a group (l
to r: Tony,
Sue, Andrew, Dave [just visible behind Andrew], Colin)
who have
obligingly overlaid the windward mark by quite a
chunk. - for full-size pic, click here
... |
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| This kind of small victory
is
far more profitable for the mind to dwell
on than the big recent losses to the inside boats - makes us sail better. - for full-size pic, click here ... |
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| The veer has turned the run
into
a reach which will make it well nigh impossible to catch
John (7351).
Still, there's the ... ... |
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... matter of pride in
looking
good and doing things the way they should be done: Never
mind the
spinnaker just yet. First we have a 180° turn with a
gybe to
execute without losing too much speed. To this end, Al
and Marc keep
their weight (somewhat) to windward and let their 5-mil
mainsheet run,
the moment that can be done without fear of hitting the
mark. This
makes SHADES heel
to
windward, and all Al needs to hold the tiller for, is to
keep the turn
from going too far. After the gybe, we'll hoist
the chute. It'll
be a windward hoist on a reach, so Al will briefly keep
the boat on a
very broad reach while hoisting, so that the spi will
blow out the
front of the boat until Al takes the sheets and starts
luffing up
slowly to the rhumb line course (to the next mark),
while Marc adds the
pole to the ensemble.
... |
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| Colin and Heather cap a
fine
second beat, rounding in ... ... |
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| ... 3rd place, ahead of ... ... |
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| ... Andrew and Colleen. ... |
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Note how Andrew - seen
in
mid-gybe - also heels the boat to help his turn. Nicely
done! Al,
meanwhile, is further ahead of Colin and Andrew than the
photo makes it
appear, and so can fairly safely bear off for the
windward hoist. But
that hoist can't come too soon for Al who seems to have
sailed into a
soft spot, and will be able to sail higher to increase
his apparent
wind, the moment that chute is up!!
... |
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| The other side of the coin
for
Frank (648) who gained big in the left corner on the first
beat, but got killed going there a second time, dropping from first to 8th!! |