2014 Fall Series - Regatta 3 - 10/11/14

Race Summary - 10/11/14

The forecast was for a rainy day, but just before the skippers meeting the rain ended and radar showed the all-clear.  We decided to proceed.  Of course light rain had returned before all of the boats had even left the dock. Though radar showed nothing, we had drizzle or light rain all day.  At least there was no lightning.

Race 1, Course: B-A-F-B, Wind:E@5

Lil Girl wins the start of the first race. 

Everyone started off on port tack and headed to the south side of course. The wind was steady from the east at 5. Lil Girl and No Lizard timed the start perfectly with No Lizard just a little under Lil Girl and slightly faster.  Communion and Pipistrelle started not far behind. Rather than playing the wind shifts in the center of the course, everyone road a port tack out as far as possible to the south then tacked back toward mark trying to fetch it in one tack.

Communion scoots past isle "B" .  Mark "A" is almost visible near the levy between the two lead boats.

No Lizard rounded "A" first and immediately hoisted her chute for the long down wing leg. Lil Girl followed close behind. By this time the wind had increased to about 8 kts.

Pipistrelle negotiates her way to the mark.

Communion heads south of "B"

Communion rounded next followed by Pipistrelle. No Lizard had difficulty keeping her spinnaker filled while Lil Girl and Communion chose to just run wing and wing down the lake.  The course had them continuing to sailing west beyond the starting line and round Mark "F" - the island just off the State Park Lodge - then return to the start. 

Communion opted to head a bit south, making a dogleg turn at isle "B" and The others headed straight for "F".  

The ever-colorful Pipistrelle flies past the starting line, directly toward "F"

Lil Girl chases No Lizard as they prepare to gybe and round the island at the Lodge.

No Lizard rounded "F" first. She was followed by Lil Girl, then Communion and Pipistrelle . A light but steady rain filled in. No Lizard was sheeted in flat and making good progress upwind.

No Lizard charges to the finish.

 Lil Girl was giving a good chase, but just could not point as high.

Lil Girl leads Communion to the finish line

  The rain let up as the boats finished.

Roxanne and Bill concentrate intently in the last minutes of Race 1.

Pipistrelle catches a nice puff as she prepares to finish.

Race one to No Lizard.



Race 2, B-A-B, Wind E@6

This was a shorter course - just upwind to "A" and back.  George had arrived so Bogy was racing too.  No Lizard did another excellent job timing the start started well ahead of the other boats. The combination of No Lizard's great timing and the poor timing of everyone else gave No Lizard quite a head start.

No Lizard starts all alone.  Giving this much lead to a boat as fast as No Lizard makes it hard to play catch up.

Lil Girl was in good position but she misjudged the start time and ended up having to do a 360 near the starting line to avoid being early.  This had her at very low speed crossing the starting line and let Communion and Pipistrelle catch up. 

Lil Girl, Communion and Pipistrelle start race 2

But soon she was trimmed back out and up to speed again.  The entire fleet started on port tack and headed to the right side of the course. Communion and Pipistrelle tacked back and stayed in the center of the course, while the rest went to the edges.

Intense concentration as Lil Girl comes back up to speed

Pipistrelle and Communion work their way upwind

No Lizard rounded the mark first followed by Lil Girl then Communion. 

No Lizard extends her sizable lead from the start.  Bogy gybes off to the south.

Though Bogy was a bit rusty and got off to a slow start, she made up much ground on the upwind leg. No Lizard flew her spinnaker again, while Lil Girl and Communion winged it down the lake. 

Ron makes it look easy

No Lizard finished first. Communion and Bogy gybed their way to converge with Lil Girl as they approached the finish. 

Lil Girl crossed the finish about 45 seconds ahead of the battle for third. Bogy threw in a gybe about a boat length from the line.  In another incredibly close finish Bogy and Communion crossed the line at exactly the same time!

It was a photo finish for third place

Pipistrelle adds a touch of color to an otherwise gloomy day.

Pipistrelle has consistently been the most colorful boat this year.  She did not disappoint today.  First with the orange and white spinnaker, and now with the rainbow, Pipistrelle glides across the finish line.

Race two to No Lizard.

Race 3, B-A-B, Wind E@8

Lil Girl crosses the starting line with perfect timing.

Lil Girl had her best start of the day, starting just at the gun.  No Lizard was just a bit early and turned back just under the line, letting little girl get ahead of her and take her wind. Lil Girl charged off on port tack again. No Lizard sensed a wind shift during the maneuver and chose to go off on starboard tack to the north side of the course. 

Nash heads north, toward a date with destiny.

The rest on the fleet followed. Communion and Pipistrelle had late starts. The committee boat may have contributed to Pipistrelle's woes by starting the race soon enough after the last one that she did not have time to get the spinnaker stored.  Note to self....

Half way up the first leg was like deja-vu all over again.  Just like in the first race of the fall series we had a grounding.  But this time it was Mr. Nash that parked on "Nash island". After just a few minutes she had worked herself free and was back in the hunt. 

Unbelievable sight

How in the world did No Lizard get back in the lead after running aground?  After rounding 

Lil Girl immediately went wing on wing. No Lizard set her chute. Next to round was Bogy.  Again Bogy chose to gybe down while Communion winged it.

Communion and Pipistrelle converge close to the finish

Pipistrelle showed a good turn of speed on the downwind leg.  She made up much of the time, and finished only one minute behind Communion.

The Zeilers are not afraid to try new things - like getting the chute out away from the boat.

Its three aces for No Lizard.  Good work Ron.


On another note - I conducted an experiment today regarding race timing.  Both the committee boat and Lil Girl had a so-called "atomic clock" aboard (gets a time signal by radio from the US standard, which is an actual atomic clock).  

The times reported by Bill were identical to those aboard the committee boat.  The experiment was a success.  My intent is to use these clocks to replace the signal flags for race timing and simplify the process of running the races - allowing the committee boat to more easily race too. The race officer will announce the clock starting time of the next race.  All competitors will have a clock and know the time to start.  Also all competitors will know their finish time relative to the same reference.  After each race the race officer will poll each competitor for their finish time.


If you have one of these clocks bring it to the next race day.  Be aware that it must display seconds (some do not), and that it must receive time from the US standard.  I will order a few of these clocks on Amazon for about $15.00 each. Please let me know if you want me to get you one, and you can reimburse me when you get it.  Once all racers have one we will begin using them.

The next race day is Oct 25.

Keith