the 2008 Pumpkin Regatta
Fanshawe YC * London, ON * October 4-5
Race 1.11
photos by Bob Steer, Steve Currie and Paul Chesman
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Ah now, Len and Andy! That spinnaker set-up looks perfect!! Rare view of mark #6 (replacement) in the distant background.
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Bob Steer's Race Hut beach view of the Wayfarers approaching #1 with Al and Julia in the lead.
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Jens continues to close in on Mystic.
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Lots of potential dead spots near the mouth of Wye Creek here, especially with a NE wind.
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Thinking ahead to the buoys-to-port rounding at #1, not to mention clear air, Mike (CAN90) keeps John tucked away to leeward.
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Is Dwight (4606) poised to make his move here at the mouth of Wye Creek?
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No current challenges to be met for Dave and Kim.
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Jeff and Vera: stretching the spi luff like this opens up the leech but is likely not necessary/useful here. Pole should be a foot higher?
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Robert and Suzanne Montgomery start their final run of what will turn out to be a 3rd-place finish.
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Uncle Al (3854) has rounded onto beat #2 with a nice lead and is about to tack at the first reasonable opportunity, preferably on a header, to put more or less half of his lead onto each tack. Both Roger (l) and Sue seem to have gone awfully high of #1 while Jens appears to have moved into 2nd by sticking to the rhumb line.
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Jacob (l) and Kevin, two the the Laser leaders are having a close battle on starboard,
while Al (3854) looks for a suitable place to tack where he won't get too mixed up with the boats still approaching #1.
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Ah, now your spinnaker looks perfect, Jeff and Vera!!
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Looking from east to west: Pierre and Parker pass the Race Hut (far shore) on their final run.
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Brad passes start/finish line A-B on his way up beat #2, and soon gets ...
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... a modest little lift of close to 90°!!! Note how much higher Brad is pointing than ...
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... Kevin.
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Ah! Now Kevin has the same starboard lift.
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Jacob, too, gets a reasonable facsimile of that lift.
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And then both Kevin and Jacob (nearest the camera) tack. Hard to understand the logic here:  On starboard, they were in ample breeze and virtually laying the windward mark. In a situation like that, nothing short of a young, delightful, topless young lady should be able to make you tack - unless there are serious tactical considerations, e.g. it's the last leg of the final race and Kevin's only concern is to stay ahead of Jacob. But not here, on the 2nd beat of race 1 of a long series!! I mean, how the hell could you leave a starboard tack that was ...
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... giving you this???? Jon Dietrich has it all: great breeze and a direct path along the rhumb line to #6.
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Of course, the puff won't last forever, but so far, the the direction is holding,
and Jon won't want to leave this tack for anything but a very compelling reason!!!
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A pretty sight in more ways than one. Looking from east to west, we can see that Brad has sailed his own race. He has gone under the Race Hut cliff where this wind direction often causes the wind to funnel/increase while blowing parallel to the shore. Thus, Brad has sailed into the probably expected starboard knock, tacked, and is now gushing along great guns (lots of those around on this weekend!) on a nicely lifted port tack.
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Wisely abandoning their early foray onto port, Kevin and Jacob (l) followed Brad to the cliff side
but not before Brad had gained considerably!
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