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

2014 Fall Series - Regatta 2 - 9/27/14

Race Summary - 9/27/14

Race 1   Course: J-K-J   Wind: E @ 8

The racers were all glad that the winds had improved over last week. The start was set up at mark “J” on the west end of the main body shoal to accommodate the east wind. The course had the extra twist of having the shoal area near the center and near the starting line.  Who knows the rules regarding continuing obstructions?

Pre-start Maneuvering



Race 1 start to NO LIZARD

NO LIZARD got off to a great start, crossing the line just at the horn and well ahead of the rest of the fleet. NO LIZARD chose port tack and headed southeast to the south side of the course.

RAMA crossed the line second and chose starboard tact to the north side of the course and crossed over the west end of the shoal area.

RAMA crosses NO LIZARD's wake (just visible on left) as she heads toward the opposite side.

PIPISTRELLE and LIL GIRL chose the same tactic.  BOGY and COMMUNION followed NO LIZARD.

Someone’s gonna have to give..[Does LIL GIRL have right of way because she's bigger?]

Now she's moving!

NO LIZARD and RAMA both tacked and headed toward the center about the same time. NO LIZARD rounded first followed closely by RAMA.  Next to round was COMMUNION followed by LIL GIRL, BOGY then PIPISTRELLE. 

NO LIZARD flew her spinnaker and RAMA went wing on wing dead downwind towards the finish. LIL GIRL and COMMUNION followed.  BOGY chose the north side of the course. 

Race 1 Finishes

Race 1 to RAMA, followed by NO LIZARD, COMMUNION, LIL GIRL, BOGY and PIPISTRELLE. No change after corrections.

Team Zeiler experimented with novel ways to trim their colorful spinnaker.

Race 2   Course: J-K-J    Wind E @ 5

The racers apparently took heed of the committee boat’s suggestion to not give up time at the start.  The entire fleet was bunched close at the gun.  What a great way to practice boat handling.  The whole fleet chose to go to the right on port tack.  RAMA added some drama (nice rhyme huh?) when she was a little early and had to spin around to get back below the line.

RAMA gives LIL GIRL and NO LIZARD a break

In doing so she ended up in irons.  This let NO LIZARD and LIL GIRL charge off in the lead. And it let BOGY and PIPISTRELLE catch up.  Julie’s expert trimming would be put to the test. 

I love a parade

The fleet continued to the right side of the course until they started to run out of lake and had to tack
back toward the middle.  A few more tacks and they were at the mark.

This time everyone chose to gybe their way down the lake as they left the top mark. NO LIZARD established a good lead and flew her spinnaker down the downwind leg. RAMA chewed away at LIL GIRL’s lead and passed her on the last leg. She crisscrossed behind NO LIZARD trying to take her wind and collapse her chute, but NO LIZARD was too far ahead.

NO LIZARD seems to have overcome her spinnaker issues from last week.

The order of finish was NO LIZARD, RAMA, LIL GIRL, COMMUNION, BOGY and PIPISTRELLE.  Again they remained the same after corrections.

Race 3   J-K-B-J    Wind E @ 5

The course was a little different for the last race.  I threw in mark "B" (small island) creating a triangle with the last leg a relatively short reach to the finish.  It was another close start.  LIL GIRL won the start on starboard with a well-timed drive down the line past the pin, but RAMA came up from behind at full speed and powered under her to charge off to quick lead.  NO LIZARD and COMMUNION were close behind.  

RAMA enjoys her own micro-climate.  Note how she is heeling and has more boat speed relative to the others.

Julie shows how to squeeze that last hundredth of a knot out of her

BOGY feared she would be unable to clear the committee boat and had to tack (thank you) at the line, making her the only boat to head out on port tack to the right side of the course.

NO LIZARD was a little higher and heading directly for the shoal.  She lived dangerously and waited until perilously close to tack.

Shoal draft has its benefits

RAMA stretched her legs and went almost to the north shore, then tacked and rode port tack all the way across the course to meet up with NO LIZARD who had tacked to the south at the shoal. 

LIL GIRL had a great upwind leg.  By the midpoint of the downwind leg she was nipping at NO LIZARD’s heels by just a few boat lengths.

 LIL GIRL must be making NO LIZARD nervous as she prepares to round "B"

NO LIZARD led the way around the mark, with LIL GIRL trying to stay in striking distance.  From the committee boat’s view they could have cut it a little closer.  The seconds gained there could have made a difference in the exciting finish to come.  But no one ran aground which would have REALLY affected the finish.  

The two leaders play it safe around "B".  Notice RAMA sneaking up behind the trees.

The last leg required the boats to sail a reach to the finish and turn just past the committee boat to cross the line. NO LIZARD kept her spinnaker up and sheeted in tight for the close reach and pulled away from LIL GIRL.  LIL GIRL was in second place and trying to hold off RAMA. 

LIL GIRL had some headsail trim issues on this leg that did not help her.  RAMA was making good speed on the reach and was closing in on LIL GIRL’s windward side.

The wind had picked up a bit and the two were charging along at good speed and overlapped with 200 yards to go.  RAMA was moving a little faster, but would it be enough to pass before the finish?

LIL GIRL was in the favored leeward position.  She tried to stay inside RAMA and maintain right-of-way so that she could keep RAMA from turning toward the line.  They were literally neck and neck when they approached the bow of the committee boat. 

The battle for second place provided quite a show for the committee boat.

RAMA was gaining ground and LIL GIRL held her off as long as she could.  As soon as LIL GIRL could safely clear the committee boat she quickly dove to the finish line.  RAMA was right there with her, but LIL GIRL's inside position gave her the edge she needed to cross ahead of RAMA - by just two seconds - in the closest and most exciting finish I've witnessed in a long time.  

Roxanne fends off Julie's attack and steers LIL GIRL over the line

It was reminiscent of Oracle USA blocking Emirates NZ then diving for the line.  What great racing!

But it wasn't over yet.  Three more boats were fighting for their positions. 

Daryl concentrates during the last 50 yards

COMMUNION crossed next, followed by BOGY then PIPISTRELLE.

George always looks calm

The pole is not visible from this angle, but this time Eddy is using it as a bowsprit

On corrections NO LIZARD was safe by a mere 40 seconds. RAMA’s charge was not enough (by 38 seconds) to keep LIL GIRL out of second place.  COMMUNION finished ahead of BOGY by over a minute, but after corrections BOGY beat her by 28 seconds.  PIPISTRELLE could not correct past COMMUNION.

Overall we had a great day of racing.  No one ran aground.  No one hit the starting mark – twice.  The wind direction was remarkable steady all day.  And above all the boat handling was at a very high level.  Good work today.  I had several of the racers help me out today because I was running behind.  I appreciate it greatly.