| the PMG CanAm CL16
Regatta Hilton Beach, August 12-13, 2006 Sunday: the Hilton Beach Cup - 1 photos by Jake Cormier (commentary by Uncle Al) 2006 CanAm Photography is available to purchase! Please note image numbers, then contact jake@hiltonbeach.com to order digital versions ($20 each) or professionally printed 8x10s ($35 each, includes postage). |
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| After a
short period of calm the southerly breeze has arrived
and is being
enjoyed
above by Charles McLaughlin and Bill Hibbard. It looks
like we are
all set to have perfect winds for the grand finale, the
race for the Hilton
Beach Cup. ... |
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| John
Hershey and Tom Godfrey (6738) check out the start line
with about
three minutes left in the countdown. ... |
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|
Just
under two minutes to go. Everything looked set. The
oscillating breeze
was favouring the RC boat end and the three boats on
the
right above - Mike Codd (628), Mac Thomas (1142) and
Uncle Al - seemed
well placed for a good start. But suddenly, the wind
died completely,
and many of us were left virtually without steerage.
From our boat,
Marc and I watched helplessly as a new wind became
visible, angling in
off the shore from the left end towards the pin end of
our start line.
The new wind was approaching us oh so slowly, and only
two boats were
near that pin end!
First, Colin Junkin and Heather Wood could be seen to
suddenly heel,
hike out, and roar off in a cloud of spray towards the
left side of the
first leg which was still a beat. Jake and
Jesse Dann were the next to go flying off into the
wind, while the rest of us
sat virtually
becalmed, edging our way towards the wind where
possible. Eventually, we
all got the wind, but by then, Colin and
Jake were long
gone. Luckily for us, but unfortunately for Jake and
Colin, this new
wind, robust as it first was, also contained numerous
"holes".
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| Peter
Foster (r) and
John Hershey
get some wind at last. ... |
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| John and
Laura get a nice port-tack lift near the windward mark. ... |
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|
Kipp
(r) gets a
big knock
and tacks to starboard and into the lead. Steve (2nd from right) has
also reached the port
knock, while Mike (3rd
from right)
and early leader, Colin (4th from
right) continue to sail a breezy port lift
straight at the
windward
mark, as are Three (l)
and
Jim (2nd from
left). A
mercifully anonymous starboard tacker is sailing away
from the mark.
Tsk! Tsk!
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full size pic,
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|
Ah!
The
fun of approaching a windward mark near the shore.
Note how
Kipp (r) and
Jake (l),
the other early leader, are
sailing in close to the same direction but on opposite
tacks.
Mike (standing in
his boat)
has just tacked, thinking the port tack lift will
prevail, as did Marc
and
I who were up there somewhere off Colin's bow (partially obscured by
Mike).
Amazingly, Steve and Andrew Macklin (2nd
from left) will emerge a short time later
with ...
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full size pic,
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| ... the
lead at the windward mark, and with John and Kipp (l) close astern. ... |
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| The leaders
work hard to ... ... |
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| ... make
the most of a lovely puff while ... ... |
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| ... it
lasts! ... |
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| And they're
off onto the first reach of our triangle course. ... |
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| John and
Laura rounded 2nd before Marc
and Al came
in on port
and ... ... |
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| ... tacked
into a nice lee bow position to leeward and ahead of
Kipp. ... |
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| Of course,
if he can't lay the mark, Al will have to wait ... ... |
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| ... for Kipp to pass before he can tack. ... |
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| But Lady Luck smiled
on
Al who ... ... |
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| ... rounded
in 3rd place, and now set off in pursuit of ... ... |
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| ... the
leaders, Steve and John (2136). Note that with the wind
in its
starboard-favoured oscillation, the reach is now so
broad that we can
wing our jibs. ... |
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| Also still
very much in the hunt are Mike Codd (628), Colin and
Andrew (l). ... |
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|
Steve
(523)
and John (2136) have found a nice wind streak. Steve
once
more
showed exceptional downwind speed as he began to pull
away from the
rest of us. On the far right, we can see Al who has
just gybed towards
a wind streak on the inside of the triangle. By the
time Al realized
there would be no streak, and that the best winds
would be closer to
shore, two or three boats had passed him. With veteran
savvy, however,
Marc and
Al cut their losses and gybed back. At least, we
consoled ourselves,
we'll be inside at the gybe mark!
... |
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| Near the
gybe mark, it was Steve and Andrew still ... ... |
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| ...
increasing their lead. ... |
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| Gybe ho!! for full size pic, click here - use Back button to return to this page |
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