the 2008 North Bay Wayfarer Weekend
Long Distance Race pics - 3
photos by Julia & Al Schonborn
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As I recall, I was well on my way to the Centre Channel before Julia (and the headings of the other boats) convinced me that I was making a slight navigational faux pas. But there was a silver lining, two actually: we had good breeze and we were now so high that we could fly the spinnaker to advantage in coming back down. Remembering the east end of Smith Island as a serious source of wind blockage, I also liked the spinnaker as an insurance policy against being tempted to sail too high and thus too close to the corner of the island. By the time we reached the point, we had pulled even with Silverfox but were perhaps 5 lengths to leeward. Again we had gone against a rule of thumb: sailing the most direct (shortest) route. But here once more, other things were not equal: Closer to the island, John - not unexpectedly - sailed into a much worse wind shadow than we did, and by the time John had regained the wind, both SHADES and ...
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... Dave Richardson had sailed through to leeward.
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In the Main Channel: John and Dolores have a nice breeze now.
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The wind was veered in the Main Channel, allowing us to pretty much make it ...
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... through to Lake Nipissing without leaving starboard tack. Dave Hansman has moved into 2nd place here, maintaining his excellent pointing and speed through a mine field of soft spots and shifts. Speaking of shifts, John (r) has hit a knock but has no attractive options since a tack would put him into dirty air and if, after tacking, he held port until he was past all the dirty air from other boats, he would be getting dangerously close to a dense-looking windward shore.
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On the far left we can see Ross Jamieson who has come too close to the windward shore
and is now desperately trying to reach away from that shore and back into the breeze. Dave Hansman and ...
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... Carol meanwhile, continue to go like gangbusters, and have now ...
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... worked their way well to windward of Al. Here, the leeward boat has to be mentally tough and just keep moving the boat, not letting the windward boat be a distraction. What Julia and I are assuming here is that there is nothing wrong with our pointing or speed, and that Dave has just sailed into a streak that we missed, either by luck or ineptitude.   - for full-size pic, click here
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Dave and Kim are also moving very well.
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Sue and Steph have a ways to catch up.
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Our patience has paid off: Now we have a lift while the two Daves are knocked a bit.
But you can bet that this time we are erring on the side of pinching here so that we will get to be more directly off ...
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... the Hansmans' bow. Dave and Kim (l) have done well here, sailing a streak to gain a windward edge on us. If you look at
Dave's bridle by the way, you can see the short distance between the blocks, a much easier way to judge how far in/out the main is.
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Dave and Carol, having been pinched off, wisely foot off to leeward of Al who will now follow suit to make sure Dave does not get his nose too far out in front. If one has the nerve to take the chance, not sitting on the leeward boat's wind can work to the advantage of both boats, because now the two boats can pace each other and gain on the rest of the fleet as they push each other into making adjustments to gain that extra smidgen of speed or pointing or both. This, of course, works no matter where you sit in the race, as long as there's a boat near by.
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Of course, by matching speed with Banshee, Al is leaving things wide open for Dave and Kim (l). All in all though, as I like to console myself when nervous: I'd rather be here than there! In this case, Dave and Kim can't afford to go much higher anyway, what with our ...
- for full-size pic, click here
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... having to pass south of Victoria Island, which is coming up and which, along with
Sweetbriar and Smith creates a nasty windward shore with the wind in this direction - one to stay well clear of.
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Out on Lake Nipissing with J5 as our next mark: Life becomes simple for SHADES as the winds are much steadier out here
and we have only to maintain our position between the Hansmans and the next mark, speed testing all the while.
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Also close to the lead, lying 3rd and moving extremely well are Dave and Kim. We are also between them and the next mark. When one of two closely pursuing boats tacks, we choose to defend against the one that is closer or the one we fear more. In this case that would be Dave and Carol on two counts: 1. they are indeed closer, and 2. if Dave and Kim get past us, we don't expect them to fly the spinnaker which will make them easier to catch on the long, long run coming up. That's the theory, anyhow.
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