05 Pumpkin pics: race 5.1

.. the Pumpkin Regatta
October 1-2, 2005
Race 5 pics, part 1
by Uncle Al

Pam McConnall takes the helm before race 5 as Aaron Goodden makes some last-second adjustments. Looks like Pam gets to stay dry today.
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Both of Sunday's races, we were stuck with a SE wind which meant that the stretch under the cliffs between marks 1 and 2 would be a horror show to sail. PRO, Jens Biskaborn, cleverly avoided the worst of this by placing a "Pumpkin" mark about 2/3 of the way down a line from B to 2, where it was out of the worst of the cliff's wind shadow. This resulted in a course of

-6-B-6 and a beat back to the finish for both races.

Aboard SHADES, we contemplated banging the left corner towards the mouth Wye Creek where big gains have been made in these conditions in the past. But after carefully monitoring Rick Goldt who did this in the Lasers in the start just before ours, we decided that going centre right up the first beat should be less risky. Thus, an attempt to fight over the currently favoured leeward end of the line was ruled out and we started near mark A, where we would be pretty much guaranteed the freedom to tack. As a result, we rounded the Pumpkin mark just barely in front of a very closely bunched fleet. As we were finishing the beat, we had checked where the best winds seemed to be for the initial part of our first run, and had decided on a strategic plan before we rounded the windward mark. We thus gybed immediately after rounding the mark, toward a wind that was currently blowing more or less from the south. This put us into a nice little streak of breeze. It also kept us in the middle of the lake, away from shore effects which were most likely to be negative since the prevailing wind direction would be at a significant angle to the shore much of the time.

It was here that we made our biggest gains, showing an uncanny knack for threading our way from puff to puff. On these runs, we lived (and gained big time!) by two main maxims:

1. stay away from shores to which the wind is, or is likely to be, blowing at a significant angle, but hug shores to which the wind is parallel (and therefore funnelling along)
2. sail down with the puffs and go up in the lulls.

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You can see the SHADES wake threading its way down the middle of Fanshawe Lake, away from the shore (wind generally angling about 30° off the right-side shore at this time) and with the occasional squiggle as Marc sailed up in a lull then down with a puff. This puff, which as you can see, does not look like much on the water, was an amazingly lucky one for us. It stayed with us almost the whole run to #6 and ...

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... let us leave the boats who had rounded the windward mark right with us far, far behind. Note the excellent light air downwind form being displayed by the four spinnakering W's: all being sailed flat to make it easier for the spinnaker to stay full of what little wind there is!

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Early leaders, Bob Kennedy (3571) and Nick Seraphinoff (864) gambled by trying the right-hand shore where the wind can be great when it blows parallel to the shore. But not on this day!
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A beautifully symmetrical Laser fleet approaches the leeward mark (#6).
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Just enough wind to fill our sails as we began the beat back to mark B. Meanwhile, the ...
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... leading Y's were starting their second run down to #6.
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For the Y's, the race was very ...
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... close: (l to r) Jim MacKenzie, Aaron Goodden, Peter James, Ed Hone.
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Aaron Chambers and Peter Nicks show excellent - and even relaxing - light air downwind form as they are on their way to another Open Fleet first-place finish. But it's a very ...
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... close battle: (l to r) Aaron Chambers, Rob Perquin, Mike Cowen, and Sorin Popa with Matt Quinn in their Laser 2 who are in turn being pursued by ...
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... Hannah Watson and Jacob Marsh.
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The second run (from B to 6). While Joe DeBrincat threads his way towards Wayfarer 2nd, Brad Biskaborn is on his way to a fifth straight Laser first. Here he shows how it's done off the wind in light air: heel to windward to better align the centre of effort of the sail with the boat's centre of resistance, and ...

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... at the same time reduce the wetted area. Mike Codd, meanwhile, tries going up the east shore in Red Top.
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Jason Martin on ...
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... his way to a fine 3rd-place finish among the Lasers.
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As Marc Bennett approaches the end of his 2nd beat, we meet three lasers just starting their second run: (l to r) Michael Tidy, Kevin Biskaborn and Steve Carroll.
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Oliver Darroch (176096) will pass Jason Martin (far left) for Laser 2nd before this race is done, but Brad (170654, under Oliver's boom) will hold his lead. Note the promising signs of better breeze on the water!
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Six Wayfarers (l to r: Robert, Mike, John, dave, Joe and Nick) are closely bunched as they start their second run, while on the far right, Richard and Lisa King continue on towards a runaway win among the Y-Flyers.