| Wayfarer
Midwinters Lake Eustis Sailing Club * February 2-4 , 2007 Friday: race 1.2 pics by Andy Douma |
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| Joe and Nick are first onto the
run, closely followed by ... ... |
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... Dave Moring, who, in his
first Wayfarer race, is living up to his reputation as a master of the
Lake Eustis wind shifts. Dave and his crew, Kevin Rankin, will not be
flying a spinnaker, having not found the time to do any practising with
Mo's gear. A wise choice, indicative of veteran savvy.
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| A close battle over 4th or 5th
as Al rounds just ahead of Butch and Peter. ... |
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| Al heels SHADES well to windward to
facilitate the turn to leeward while Marc raises the board. ... |
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A close race for the lead:
While Joe and Nick (l) were
busy fiddling with the spinnaker, Dave took over the lead while Kevin
smoothly propped the jib out to windward with the whisker pole.
Meanwhile, a smooth set aboard Morning
Star has Jim and Linda poised to move into 2nd place. Joe and
Nick are now stuck with sailing low if they want to keep their air
clear.
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| In a race that continues to be
close, Tony rounds the windward mark just ahead of Geoff. Meanwhile, if
Ellen (r) can lay the mark,
she'll round ahead of Jeff Baker and Gale Shoemaker (4106). ... |
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| Butch (3951) and Peter (2198) in
close pursuit of Uncle Al who will continue to go just high enough to keep the other two off his wind. ... |
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| Dennis Oldham (r) and Sam Chapin
keep a critical eye on us. At 80, Sam is one of LESC's most active and capable Laser sailors!! ... |
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As Jeff (l) and Gale roll in on starboard,
Lori (555) will have to keep clear. And if she tacks within two lengths
of the mark, she will have very few rights - see Rule 18.3.
Meanwhile, Richard (10139) has wisely decided to throw in another tack
while he can, and will thus live to fight again another day rather than
risk a real foul-up at the mark. After all, these boats will all be
well within reach once the run starts!.
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| Tack nicely completed, Lori now
has Jim McIntyre nicely tucked away in her backwind. ... |
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| Talk about close racing!! Jeff
will round inside Gale (4106) and Lori - if he makes the mark!! ... |
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| And he does, duly setting off in
pursuit of Ellen (6751). Jim McIntyre and Gary Hoffer (1904) get a
break as Gale (4106) sails very high around the mark and takes Lori
with him (as he is entitled to do). ... |
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| In relative peace and quiet, Ted
Benedict and Charley Jensen get set for the little offset leg. They are
still in the hunt though, as can be seen by the wakes of the boat group
that has just rounded the offset mark. ... |
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| Under the expressive direction
of Mike Murto, Chuck McLaughlin gets the spinnaker set and pulling,
ready to overtake ... ... |
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| ... some of that big batch of
boats just in front of them: (l to r)
Jim Lingeman with Randy Boekema, Jim McIntyre who is just passing Jeff,
the 5th boat he's passed since rounding; Lori, Ellen, Richard and Gale - for full view of this pic,
click here ... |
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| Race leaders, Joe and Nick
(1115) have just started the second beat, having been duly informed by
a mark boat at the leeward mark, that the course direction of the beat
has been changed (to reflect the 30° back in the wind direction). ... |
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| Joe and Nick have The Maltese Falcon trimmed to ... ... |
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| ... championship form. ... |
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Having not lost too much due to
lack of spinnaker, Dave and Kevin lie a close 4th and are off to the
left side of the course early in the second beat. I presume that they,
like us, thought the wind might well back even further, in which case,
it will pay to go left. In fact, the wind direction changed very little
during this beat, but at least we were thinking.
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| Geoff Edwards is thinking about
going left, also. ... |
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"I like you, but I don't like
what you are doing!" Under Rule 18.2(a), the lovable Jim McIntyre
(1904) is entitled to no more than room
to round the mark if he's overlapped with Lori (red hull) here, room
implying a seamanlike rounding. The latter would entail rounding within
a foot or two of the mark under these benign conditions. Judging by the
previous photo, where Geoff has just rounded, Jim is still sailing a
good 90° low of close-hauled here, and is killing the boats to
leeward of him in the process. As Jim himself admits - more boat time
is called for!! Meanwhile, Jeff's (light blue deck) rounding brings
mind the Stuart Walker dictum: Slow
down and win. If Jeff can slow down here just a tad, he can cut
inside and knock off both Jim and Lori. By the same token, Richard
(yellow hull) should have smelled a potential mess coming here and
should be far enough outside that he can cut inside Jeff, should the
opportunity arise, as ...
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| ... the wily veteran, Gale
(4106) has just done to leapfrog 4 or 5 boats. |