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

Wabamun

My first time sailing on Wabamun was supposed to be Saturday. A few drifts of wind brought our hopes up early Saturday morning; however, they had disappeared completely by 10am, the official start time. Red and White stripes up all day. I was informed that Wabamun translates to "looking glass". Why didn't someone tell me this before we drove up? Wabamun was certainly living up to its name. Baking hot all day with glassy water. Of course, a tantalizing breeze came up just as we began to eat lunch and disappeared just as we finished lunch.

Day 2: Up awfully early in hope of catching the morning thermals. The thermals slept in. Shortly after 9am, they began to drift in and we drifted out onto the lake. We all had one race, with the Radials and Bytes the last to start. The wind lasted long enough for us to do the first sausage of the course and then it died. As we drifted towards the reach mark, a boat appeared flying our class flags and the white flag with blue square: shortened course. I finished 9th, inches behind the 8th place boat and perhaps a boat length behind 7th place. I had a very good start. I was out in front and pulling ahead. The trick was that I couldn't tack And then I didn't tack. It seems the others found a slightly more favourable drift of wind. I need to work on the reach. I think with a few small adjustments, I could have caught at least one boat.

2007 Wabamun Sailing Club Open

Laser Radial                        
    Sail no  skipper                  1     Total

  1 182382   Sarah Hornett            1       1.0
  2 1        Melanie Grell            2       2.0
  3 185505   Robin Stubbs             3       3.0
  4 187867   Elisha Allen             4       4.0
  5 188901   Alexa Kenny              5       5.0
  6 178562   Zoe Lewis                6       6.0
  7 189805   Liam Quinlan             7       7.0
  8 187302   Dominque Grell           8       8.0
  9 184626   Kate Easton              9       9.0 

More Mistakes

Wednesday night at Glenmore:
Peter, Kate, Lizzie, Nick and Sean in Radials

Race 1 : (315) not a great start - mid line, not at highly favoured barge end. Was neck in neck with Lizzie for a bit, but pulled ahead on the reach from 1 to 5. Didn't catch Peter.

Race 2 (315) Over early. Would have been a great start! I ducked the line and then worked really hard to catch people. Caught the boys easily, worked at it and caught Lizzie later. Was gaining on Peter in the last upwind by working hard at adjusting to changes in wind strength and paying attention to my ticklers.

Race 3 (3636) start/finish line an obstruction. Great start. Was kicking butt on the upwind. Pulling ahead of Peter inch by inch. I was close to Bill too. Near the windward mark I tacked. My lifejacket got caught on the boom and I got dumped! Crap! Not only was it freezing but 4 or 5 boats passed me. I got him back up and moving pretty quickly. I then spent the rest of the race trying to catch everyone that passed me when I fell in. I caught Terry (full rig) and Lizzie but I didn't catch Peter. So disappointing! I wanted to see if I could hold or build that lead on the downwind. It is possible to beat him, but I have to have a perfect race. Perfect start, smooth roundings, top boat speed.

Race 4 (6s1s6p) a downwind start. Nasty mark roundings. dinged in the head by Peter's boom. Was ahead of everyone except Seamus and Elliot, then took the last rounding too wide because of a wind shift. Peter got round tight and pulled ahead. Terry came round and prevented me from tacking. This slowed me down and threw me a bit. It took me a little to realize I hadn't put the vang on or gone block to block. In the end, pulled ahead of Terry, Bill got me by a boat length because I had to duck him just before the finish. Peter beat me no problem.

Second radial in every race. I can beat Peter, I just need to visualize the perfect race and sail it.

Outta Control on a Death Roll

Finally some decent wind! I put work higher on my priority list than sailing today and was an hour late for practice. I should try not to do that again. Somebody needs to set an example for the team. I should show them how to rig faster too.

It was gusty tonight, but not too shifty. We tacked on the whistle for quite some time- Cameron, Dan, and I. I was gaining on them, especially Cameron. Kelsey said that it was because I was tacking smoothly. Dan certainly had me beat on boat speed. I was overpowered and he was wishing he had a full rig. What I need to work on here is remembering to sheet out a little to flatten the boat quickly. Also, when sheeting back in, I tend to want to reach into the boat to grab the sheet. This way I get a good pull in a position where my arms are strong. It is a very bad habit because the boat heels again when I reach in. Not fast. I must work on the overhead pull, maybe in lighter winds to gain strength first.

What goes up must come down.The wind seemed to pick up further for the downwind with some outrageous gusts. This time gybing on the whistle, which, to be honest, scared me. I did the first few successfully. I remembered to do an S turn and steer as the sail comes across. Then on one gybe things got violent. The mainsheet slipped out of my hand. The sheet was tied to the hiking strap but it was too long and the sail went in front of the mast. Fionnlagh rocked wildly, gunwale to gunwale, pitching forward. Death roll. I managed to grab the mainsheet between the cockpit block and the turning block on the boom. I hauled it in and Fionnlagh stopped the Death Roll. I was still wildly out of control. Dan was in front of me Somehow, he came out of his gybe on a reach, and was at about 90 degrees to me. Fionnlagh was surfing straight for Dan. I was trying to regain control but this all happened in a few seconds. After grabbing the mainsheet, the first thing I saw was the port side of Dan's transom and little hope of avoiding a nasty collision. But Fionnlagh came through for me, with his bow leaping into the air, over Dan's rudder. Yes, OVER the rudder. The timing was absolutely perfect. Dan's boat sailed out of the way just in time and his rudder never made contact with Fionnlagh's hull. "Oh my God!" Kelsey was freaking out in the coach boat about how close that was. I had other things to worry about.

You'd think I would learn. A few gybes later, I dropped the mainsheet again. Lucky for Dan he was aft this time. The nearest object was the barge. Wild rolling. At least I was well positioned in the cockpit with inside leg hooked under the hiking strap and outside leg forward with knee bent, facing the boom. Which by this point was waving all over the place. I grabbed the mainsheet and pulled. Wow. No capsize. GUST! Rock and roll. We are surfing! It felt highly unstable. Pull on the rudder. I didn't feel too comfortable heeling to windward to reduce the pull, but it didn't take much. It was very hard to hold. Fionnlagh tended to heel even farther in the gusts, carving through the water. We carried on like this and ran into the bay. I'm not sure I've ever gone that fast on a run. I probably did in Vic, but this felt much wilder.

Kelsey reminded me at the dock that I should take two big pulls going into the gybe and that might smooth things out a bit.

Icebreaker Results

Preliminary Regatta Results for Fleet = Laser Radial

Sailed:7, Discards:1, To count:6, Ratings:USPN 96.7, Entries:14, Scoring system:IceBreaker Sailing Instructions

	Rank			SailNo	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total	Nett
	1st			189805	Quinlam, Liam	1.0	2.0	1.0	(9.0)	1.0	2.0	5.0	21.0	12.0
	2nd			187302	Grell, Dominiue	2.0	7.0	3.0	6.0	3.0	3.0	(12.0)	36.0	24.0
	3rd			185505	Stubbs, Robin	6.0	1.0	5.0	(7.0)	5.0	6.0	4.0	34.0	27.0
	4th			184536	Harrison, Luke	9.0	3.0	6.0	1.0	(11.0)	9.0	1.0	40.0	29.0
	5th			182363	Weldon, Mike	8.0	6.0	(DNC)	3.0	9.0	1.0	2.0	44.0	29.0
	6th			187867	Allen, Elisha	7.0	(8.0)	4.0	8.0	2.0	5.0	8.0	42.0	34.0
	7th			1	Grell, Melanie	5.0	10.0	8.0	2.0	7.0	(12.0)	7.0	51.0	39.0
	8th			43587	Reichenfeld, Lesley	4.0	9.0	(DNC)	5.0	8.0	7.0	6.0	54.0	39.0
	9th			184626	Easton, Kate	3.0	4.0	10.0	4.0	(13.0)	10.0	10.0	54.0	41.0
	10th			185531	Saunders, Michael	10.0	5.0	2.0	(12.0)	12.0	8.0	9.0	58.0	46.0
	11th			182382	Hornett Sarah	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	10.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	66.0	51.0
	12th			178562	Lewis, Zoe	12.0	(15.0 DNF)	7.0	13.0	6.0	13.0	11.0	77.0	62.0
	13th			18	Kenny, Alexa	11.0	11.0	11.0	11.0	10.0	11.0	(13.0)	78.0	65.0
	14th			177419	Neely, Iain	13.0	12.0	9.0	(14.0)	14.0	14.0	14.0	90.0	76.0

Sail into the sunset

Light winds. Practiced roll tacks. Must remember to hold mainsheet at chest level and release slightly when leveling. Rolling was good. Kinda fun to throw my shoulders back and watch for the main sail to start falling. Practiced gybes. I'm terrible at gybing in these really light winds. I need tips.