the
Wayfarer
Ontarios Lac Deschênes Sailing Club * July 28-29, 2007 Saturday race 3.1 pics by Doug Netherton ... |
Into the final minute of
the
countdown: Winds have picked up to 8 to 12 knots (hiking
strength). ... |
Most of us are slowly
edging up
to the line, luffing our sails as necessary. - for full-size pic,
click here ... |
Still recognizing that
John
(7351) is virtually tied with us (3854) in the series,
we have decided
on a simple race strategy, which is to pace ourselves
against John. To
that end, we have placed ourselves to leeward and ahead
of him. Note
how most of the fleet remains in "edging" mode, a
technique easily
acquired with a bit of practice. Doing what Colin (929)
and ...
... |
... Jason (nearest the camera)
are doing here
is very risky not only to yourself but to your fellow
racers who are
doing things the right way. Running down the line this
close to it,
leaves you no real hope of ever slowing down and sitting
in the place
you want to be. Worse, most sailors who end up running
down the start
line out of control, also instinctively refuse to be
over early.
Anything, they seem to feel, is better than that! So instead,
they end up
bouncing off leeward boats or forcing the right-of-way
boats to join
them in their
suicide run down the line. We all deserve better than
this!! That did
not happen here, but it does happen more often than not.
So, if you
feel targeted by my remarks, do yourself and the rest of
us a favour,
and learn how to edge up to the line. (Well, that's
my Ontarios rant over with!)
... |
Here, Jason (extreme right) has
just
roared past the pin end of the line as the start
signal is made. I rest my case. ... |
Al (l) meanwhile, is
well positioned
but neither he nor Frank (648) are up to full speed as
yet. John (7351)
wisely dropped back so that Al won't cut him off at the RC
boat. He has
been able to find a slant of wind and is moving at the
gun, which ... ... |
... is now letting him
move
into a decent slot to windward of Bill (937). And since
Frank (648) is
about to be blanketed by Al, John will end up with
relatively clear
air. A fine start for Tony (4105) who is being helped by
the fact that
Bill (937) is ragging his main, which on the other hand,
makes life
tough for Dave Hansman
right behind him!
... |
A split second later,
fresh
developments: To windward of Al (3854), Andrew Gumley is
doing the
often very useful "slightly late at the windward end"
start to
perfection,
having waited just long enough so that Al is no longer
in a position to
squeeze him out at the RC boat. A well executed,
slightly late start at
the windward end, leaves you freedom to tack for clear
air pretty much
immediately. On the far right ...
... |
... Colin (929) attempts to
squeeze in by tacking right around the pin-end start mark
- a move that
is risk-laden. ... |
Quite apart from the
fact that
he may have to rely on Jamie's good
nature to escape having to do a "tacking too close" 720,
the tacking
boat here is virtually certain to get buried, almost
immediately - and
at this point in the race, buried by most of the fleet.
In this
situation, it is wiser to take the long view, namely
that by bearing
away behind this (relatively) short line of boats now,
one is only
perhaps 30 seconds away from having far more viable
options. Most of
the boats you'd go behind, won't (be able to) tack for
some time, so
you'll still end up with port tack pretty much all to
yourself, at
least long enough to re-consider your strategy!
Meanwhile, back at the
RC boat, Andrew is almost ...
... |
... to the point of
taking Al's
(3854) wind. The latter must get up to speed at all
costs, so
definitely no pinching here! Note how John (7351) has in
fact made a
silk purse from a sow's ear, as has Dave. Both have
reached clear air
and their fate is now in their own hands. Still champing
right along is
Tony (4105) as well!!
... |
What an excellent racing
moment
this is! It underscores the need for speed at the start
line more than
at any other place in the race! At left, Al (3854) is
indeed bearing
away to urgently get SHADES
up
to full speed, and does so just in time to escape the
Gumley axe!
Buoyed up by this narrow escape, Al proceeds to go back
to
...
... |
... his comfort zone,
pinching.
Seconds later, he ... ... |
... has Andrew G, and
more
importantly for Al's series, John (7351) safely tucked
away. Of course,
if John tacks here, he can get away from Al who, for the
moment at
least, is trapped on starboard by Andrew (4610). The
other Andrew
(9657) should be footing off, not pinching here, since
doing the latter
has
only gotten him into Al's wind shadow faster!
... |
Cleverly, John (7351) takes
advantage of the opportunity and tacks away, which in turn
frees Andrew
Haill (9657) to tack into clear air as well. Hating the
thought of John
getting too far away, Al will now ... ... |
... go into serious
pinching
mode. Even if it's not the best thing for gaining on the
fleet,
pinching excessively here, is ... ... |
... likely to bring one
of two
useful results for Al: either Andrew will get tired of
being slowed
down by
the backwind of the pinching Al and tack away, or Al's
seriously
disturbed air will cause Andrew to fall off far enough
that Al will be
able to tack without fouling Andrew.
... |
The latter is indeed what
took
place. Al pinched up until he was able to tack and run off
with John,
so to speak, while a doubtlessly much relieved Andrew
Gumley (3rd from left)
was left in clear
air. The perfect solution as both parties benefitted. ... |
Off near the left corner of
the
beat, Colin and Heather check to windward to make sure
they can tack to
port safely. ... |
In this much wind, both
Colin
(929) and Paul (3933) need to vang their main until the
upper batten is
parallel to the boom. Letting the leech twist off like
this kills
pointing. It works much better to use vang to de-power.
This flattens
the main, and if that's not enough depowering, then the
mainsheet can
be eased with its leech still tight and helping you to
point!!
... |
Team Pinault hard at work! ... |
A few minutes after the
start: (l to r) Bill,
Frank, Al, Dave,
Sue, Tony - all but Frank are ... ... |
... digging back in towards
the
middle of the beat, i.e. towards the rhumb line. ... |
A panoramic view with strategic lesson possibilities: Note how Jason and Lori (far left, and after their bizarre start!!) and John (2nd from left) are lifted on starboard. Does this mean the port boats on the photo above should tack? No, all of the port boats that we can see are sailing at an angle of less than 90° to Jason and John. If they were to tack to starboard here, they would be sailing a knocked starboard relative to Jason and John. Everyone should keep going: soon one of two things is 99% sure to happen: either the port boats will get John and Jason's wind slant and be knocked (at which point they should tack), or Jason and John will sail into the port tackers' slant, will be knocked and should then tack. - for full-size pic, click here |