| .. the
Pumpkin Regatta October 1-2, 2005 Race 1 pics by Marc Bennett |
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| After the competitors'
briefing, it's launch time. ... |
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| With this much SW breeze by
1000 hrs, things look promising in the wind department. ... |
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| Kevin Biskaborn heads out
for an early check ... ... |
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| ... upwind towards the damn dam. ... |
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| As does his brother, Brad. ... |
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| The wind is building nicely
as race time draws near. ... |
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| Al and Bill Fick check out
the course which is posted at the Race Hut on shore. ... |
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| As always, Fanshawe's winds
- when they do come - are puffy. ... |
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| John and Dolores de Boer go
through their pre-race checks. ... |
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| Our guests from North Bay:
Dave Hansman (l) and Ross Jamieson in the lovely Banshee. ... |
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| John and Dolores are all
set to go. ... |
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| Nick Seraphinoff (r)
and Joe Blackmore. Er, Nick, the dam is that way! The RC has
just posted 3-1-3-1, i.e. a beat to the dam and a run back, etc. Nick
hates having to race to the damn dam and is perhaps asking: "Why me,
Lord?" ... |
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| Our Conestoga entry is ... ... |
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| ... Jeff Baker (r)
with Sandy Mackay. ... |
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| Another puff rolls through
as ... ... |
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| ... the Wayfarers mill
around behind the start line. ... |
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| Beautifully backlit ... ... |
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| ... Mike Codd and Kirk
Iredale arrive in the start area, followed by ... ... |
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| ... Mark Perquin and
Charlie Nicks. ... |
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| The waiting continues, but
now ... ... |
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| ... the first fleet in the
sequence, the Lasers, is off. Note the Race Hut and posted course
behind sail 61007. ... |
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| Oliver Darroch (l)
and Brad Biskaborn seem to have the best starts. ... |
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| A few seconds later, the W
countdown begins. Doug Netherton (1366) heads for the starboard end of
the line. ... |
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Just after the start: The
situation as SHADES crew, Marc Bennett, saw it before the
camera got put away for the rest of the race. Hard to believe that Nick
(r) hates the dam, since he's rushing there so fast,
closely followed by Dave Hansman (282). Uncle Al is in reasonable shape
here, since years of experience (and Rick Goldt!!) have taught him that
in this wind direction ...
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... it virtually always
ends up paying to stay right and hug the point opposite mark 2 when
beating from A-B to #3 at the dam. Boats further out often look great
early - like Nick and Dave above - but ultimately, they tend to end up
on the outside of a starboard-tack lift or in less wind or both!
... |
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Doug and Françoise
come in for their lunch break after race 1 in which they got a very
respectable 4th behind Al, John and Mike. After
our second run to #1, we
just had what looked like a close reach to the A-B finish line, if the
Lasers were anything to go by. In actual fact, Marc and I were
embarrassed to discover that we could fairly easily have flown the spi
but laziness won out. Next time for sure, we told each other.
... |
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| More hungry sailors - led
by Mike Codd - soon follow. |