Race 2 was conducted under broken clouds and warmer temperatures with a nice NE wind at 5 -7 knots. Welcome to Cut Loose, woot! and T to the starting line. The RC set a W6 with the windward mark between Boon and Basin Bays at 026o approximately 1.5 miles from the starting line. At that distance the orange ball was extremely difficult to make out and the RC acknowledges the limitations of using this marking system. A gate was set 75 yards on the course side of the starting line for the leeward rounding.
The start was uneventful, with all boats clearing the line with space around them. Witch Way and Vaporize quickly tacked to port. Brad Taylor’s J/80 went to the extreme west of the course and gained the windward mark first, followed by Witch Way. On the downwind leg Brad opted to use a smaller symmetrical spinnaker and led the way down to the first gate rounding taking the east gate. Witch Way, Vaporize and High Jinx followed almost immediately with a mixed up J/24 fleet not far behind them. High Jinx was showing nice form through the spinnaker takedown and was holding onto a tight second place in the J/24 fleet. Animal was one of only two boats that rounded the west gate.
During the second upwind leg the RC decided the original W6 would be hard to complete within 1.5 hours given the projected forecast for decreasing wind strength. The RC intended to finish the fleet at the windward mark of the fifth leg but a steering cable failure forced the RC boat to limp its way back to the east gate and set up for a finish after the fourth leg.
Meanwhile back in the thick of things: Brad and crew were able to fend off Witch Way and Vaporize and again lead the way down the course to the shortened course finish. The winds again proved to favor the J/24’s deeper downwind angles over the asymmetrical spinnaker boats. Brad and crew prevailed to take line honors for evening but Witch Way was right on Brad’s transom to take their second win for the year on corrected time. Vaporize held on to third across the line but the low points went to High Jinx and Cut Loose who took second and third, respectively. And in a dramatic finish Uncle Ludwig stole the air and collapsed Spirit’s chute within 25 yards of the finish and nipped the under-crewed Spirit by inches for fourth.
As always the results are calculated at and posted at www.lakegorgeracing.com
The RC would like to thank all the people that helped pick up marks, tow the wounded RC boat into dock, and then unload and retrieve the all the equipment. THANK YOU!!