Arrgh! Beaten by the Commodore!

We are talking about seriously light winds here folks. In the first race, I fell behind on the first upwind leg. Staying ahead of Cameron only because he bumped my boat and had to do a penalty turn. He had been blanketing me and hindering my attempt to catch up with Kevin. I roared past Kevin on the downwind leg by paying attention to the shifts and being very still in my boat. On the last leg, from #2 to the finish line, it got interesting with random puffs that found some sailors and not others. Kevin gained back some ground as I gybed in vain, trying to keep up with the shifts. So it was neck in neck to the finish line. I had the inside position and made sure I headed Kevin up. He didn't take evasive action early and was pushed outside so I made it over the line a few boat lengths ahead. I don't recall exactly where the boats were at the two boat length circle, but I should remember that at the finish, a boat can ask for buoy room. In this case, it wasn't asked for and I think it was because Kevin was too far upwind for it to matter.

In the second race, the barge end was highly favoured at the start (the line was parallel to the wind direction). I got there a little too early, slowed down, and then couldn't get the boat going again for the start. It was a short race to #1 and back so there was no opportunity to make up for lost time.

In the third race, Kevin and I were neck in neck most of the way. He beat me to the upwind mark as he had the windward position for that leg. I passed him on the downwind and was headed to a win by several boat lengths at the finish. I looked back and saw Kevin heading up to windward instead of directly to the line. I knew he was going there because that was where the wind puffs seemed to begin. I thought about heading up also, but decided the extra distance might not be worth it if a puff didn't materialize. Wrong, wrong, wrong. A strong puff came in, hit Kevin first and by the time it reached me, we were crossing the line with Kevin inches ahead. Ouch.

Today was mostly about tactics and strategy. There was also a fair bit of luck involved for all of us. Finally, it seems that Kevin has a bit of an edge in upwind boat speed in the light air. I need to work on that.

Glenmore Sailing Club
Regattas 2007
Mid-Summer - Laser Radial

Back to Regatta

Laser Radial Fleet Summary (no drops)
	Points	Place	Boat
	4	1	98117 Kevin Brown
	5	2	184626 Kate Easton
	10	3	157871 Cameron Bellavie
Race #1 Wind: 0 knots
	Ordinal	Points	Boat
	1	1	184626 Kate Easton
	2	2	98117 Kevin Brown
	DNF	4	157871 Cameron Bellavie
Race #2 Wind: 0 knots
	Ordinal	Points	Boat
	1	1	98117 Kevin Brown
	2	2	184626 Kate Easton
	DNS	3	157871 Cameron Bellavie
Race #3 Wind: 0 knots
	Ordinal	Points	Boat
	1	1	98117 Kevin Brown
	2	2	184626 Kate Easton
	DNS	3	157871 Cameron Bellavie

*Dropped from Regatta.
s Dropped from Series.
abc Dropped from A,B,or C scoring group.

I am not the Wabajinx!

Bill Plaxton and I arrived on Thursday night hoping to catch some coaching with Lawrence Lemieux on Friday. The birds woke us at 5am Friday to announce that there was no wind. Lawrence didn't come. Peter hosted a great discussion on what the others had learned from Lawrence on Wednesday and Thursday. Shooting the mark, sailing in waves, and luffing rights were amongst the points discussed.

As I was complaining about the lack of wind EVERY time I come to Wabamun, James Brown pointed out that maybe I'm the jinx. Thankfully, the wind picked up in the afternoon, proving that I am not the jinx. We got in a good training sessionwith Mark Bugiak, paused for dinner and trained some more with Zach Grove. Saturday had me wondering again if I was the jinx. Enough wind for a race and a bit in the morning (course shortened on Race 2). The afternoon was spent reading at the clubhouse. After a wonderful and filling steak dinner, the wind picked up and a bunch of us dragged our full bellies out on the water. On Sunday, I would have abandoned had I been race committee. I think others thought the same, as most of us were late to the start line for Race 3.

Wabamun Sailing Club 2007 Sailweek Regatta
Results are final as of 20:31 on July 23, 2007
OverallRace 1
Wind strength: Force 2-3
Race 2
Wind strength:0-1
Race 3
Wind Strength: 0-1
Race 4
Wind Strength: 0-1