The competitors were treated to another beautiful night on Lake George with SSE winds at 8–10 at the start. A four-leg course was chosen using North Canoe as the first windward mark, the pin end of the start line as the second (leeward) mark and then a long leg to the Diamond Island government mark followed by the downwind leg to finish. Thanks to Deb Katz helping with RC duties! John Tarrant was competing single-handed in the new VX1 and showed remarkable speed on the start line.  Spirit and Brad’s J/80 had great starts at the committee boat end of the line. Uncle Ludwig barely had enough room left at the pin end but everyone got away cleanly and the sprint was on to the first mark.

Witch Way and Spirit had a private battle during the first upwind. Brad, unmolested on the west side of the course, made it to the mark first, followed by Uncle Ludwig and Animal. With an uncharacteristic hourglass, Witch Way lost some ground to the ever-present Spirit and both boats established a nice rhythm down to the second mark. The first two legs were sailed in about 15 minutes which was slower than the RC had expected.

As the fleet was rounding the second mark, Cut Loose, being sailed single-handed by John Dickinson, started the race. As the fleet sailed upwind to Diamond Island the wind slowed and there were hints of holes appearing to the south and west of the course. With the wind velocity and sun dropping the RC raced the fleet up to the mark and saw Brad leading the fleet with Witch Way and Windog in competitive positions based on time allowance. John T’s new VX1 had a good showing even though limited to one person and no spinnaker!

At the turn the RC signaled a change of course to an orange ball set just to the southwest of Speaker Heck. With the assurance that the fleet had been notified, the RC boat raced back up the lake to drop anchor for the finish. During the last leg, the wind stayed in a nice band straight down the course but was fading to the west. Vaporize, after a tough time on the upwind leg, finally chased down the VX1 in the wind band while Animal, Uncle Ludwig and Spirit watched their spinnakers collapse on the west side of the course. Spirit was able to gybe back out into the wind earlier than the other two boats.

Brad led the way to the finish with Witch Way and Wild Thing making good time down the middle a few minutes behind. Windog, also sailing down the middle, was able to capture fourth across the line and third for the night, ahead of the unfortunate west side pack of J/24s. Congratulations to Alfie Merchant and crew for capturing another win, with Brad taking second for the night.

See complete results at lakegeorgeracing.com

Next week’s race will be a little less ambitious than last evening, to accommodate both a race and then the celebration at Carl R’s Café at Exit 18 of the Northway. The 2016 sailing series awards will be given to the top four boats. The Jeff Underhill Trophy will be awarded to our series winner. As added incentive to attend, if that’s really needed, a random drawing will award some Gill merchandise to some lucky crew members among the eligible boats.

No wind throughout the day made last evening’s race doubtful as the RC made its way out onto the lake. (Thanks to Diana Voss for helping out on RC.) However, by 6pm the wind steadily filled in from the south, from Dunhams Bay to Dome Island. A W4 was selected with the RC anchored off Yankee, using the South Canoe government mark as the windward mark (all islands to port). The start saw all boats start without incident on the short line, with Spirit getting the windward advantage on most boats. Wild Thing immediately tacked off to port taking advantage of short duration lift. Cut Loose followed and the fleet swapped a lot of tacks on the upwind leg.

Vaporize worked its way through the lulls to round first at the 18-minute mark and led the fleet back through the slot between Speaker Heck and Canoe Islands. Animal, Wild Thing, Spirit, and Witch Way were all close at the rounding.  Vaporize gybed towards the west side of the course, opting to not cover Wild Thing and ran into one of the lulls spotting the course just a few minutes later. Animal tried the extreme east side and also lost ground. Wild Thing stayed slightly east of Spirit and Witch Way and established the lead into the second mark.

The next upwind leg looked very spotty so the RC changed and shortened the course to a line between the RC and a point on the south island. Coming out of the leeward mark, Spencer and crew stayed in a stripe of higher velocity wind to establish a solid lead. Spirit and Witch Way, in close company, followed next. Spencer continued to move away from the fleet with an isolated lift and two quick tacks up the final leg. Spirit held off Witch Way while Vaporize, a few boat lengths back, tried to find wind on the eastern side of the course. Brad found himself in between Witch Way and Vaporize on the last leg. Even though the wind got even more spotty, the velocity in the other spots was quite high. Spencer on Wild Thing led the fleet across the line by more than four minutes, but Spirit had gained enough ground to take the win for the night by just 15 seconds on corrected time. Witch Way took third both across the line and on corrected. With two races left in the season the point race for third and fourth is close.

Complete results

14 boats came out on a beautiful warm evening, with enough wind to send them to the Diamond Island mark W on a simple W2 course. It’s been a while since the wind has been favorable for this classic course, and a lot of boat crews expressed their appreciation.

Animal, hunting the pin end, ran out of line and had to gybe and duck through the fleet at the start. Many boats tacked off to port to clear air at the start but by the time the fleet approached the slot between Speaker Heck and Canoe islands, most boats had completed a half-dozen tacks.

High Jinx was seen crossing lots of bows on starboard tack in the Speaker Heck slot. The typical Dunham’s Bay lift never materialized, but the veterans of this course were hedging their bets and staying to the east. woot! was out on the west side of the course without losing ground. Vaporize headed into the Diamond Island mark and threw in a couple of big scallops, rounded first and set their chute quickly, a couple of minutes ahead of Witch Way and woot! and Spirit.

The downwind run saw Vaporize increase its time differential on Witch Way back through the slot. As the wind started to fade and switch to the west, the leading boats dropped their spinnakers for a close reach to the finish line. Vaporize held on the their chute and then at the last minute dropped it and came up smartly to finish, leading the fleet wire to wire. Witch Way crossed the line next and took the victory for the night, with Spirit and Wild Thing in close company. The first four boats to finish stayed ahead of the wind fade. Vaporize took the bronze position on corrected time.

Race 13 gives us our first throw-out for the second half, with the top boats in a tight point race. Witch Way has a commanding nine-point lead overall.

Complete Results

Lake George provided yet another opportunity to test both the competitors and the RC with circling winds. 15 boats came out to race on a very comfortable evening. Welcome to Rik and the crew of Brass Ring and the crew from Y-Knot, sailing a Sonar!

The initial I5 course set in SE winds had to be changed as the competitors closed on the starting area. A 60° shift to the south left the RC with little choice but to start the fleet and make needed changes during the first leg. The racers worked their way toward Hogback in a steady 6-knot breeze. Most opted to go east initially. Vaporize, Witch Way and Wild Thing were leading the pack as they headed back “up” the lake towards Cotton Point government mark. The wind continued to go west as the fleet as reached for the leeward mark. Then all were forced to drop their spinnakers and resort to headsails for a beat to Cotton Pt in the last ¼ of the leg with winds dropping dramatically.

Vaporize seemed to stop on the western side of the course while Wild Thing was moving steadily on the eastern side. Then it changed again, Vaporize caught a lift and led the way around Cotton Point, completing the second leg. During that second leg, the RC dropped a mark to the east of Cotton Point in an effort to keep the course square and then retrieved the original marks and got back to Cotton Point to communicate the course change with multiple sounds, C flag, red flag to indicate the course had been changed to port, and a radio broadcast of new heading.

The wind increased again and the fleet got their spinnakers flying once again. With a slight reordering at the rounding, the lead boats headed back to Cotton Point where the RC was anchored on what was to be the final leg. As the lead boats approached the committee boat a shortened course was communicated and Vaporize led the way across the line sticking to a northerly route. Meanwhile Spirit passed Witch Way and Wild Thing on the southerly side. Uncle Ludwig and Cut Loose edged out the two sport boats for third and fourth, respectively, for the evening. The raft up after the race was graced by a beautiful full moon cresting Pilot Knob just after dark.

Complete Results