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 026^o 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!!

Welcome to 2016 Wednesday Night Racing! The opening night was perfect. A nice 7 –10 knot NE wind with oscillations to the north and plenty of sunshine provided almost ideal sailing for the eight boats that came out to race the I-5 course. An orange ball set right in the middle of the lake between Boon and Basin bays provided the windward turning point and North Canoe (U3) was used as the leeward mark. Thanks to Steve and Caroline Jackson for their help and company on the RC boat.

Within one minute of the start Uncle Ludwig swept uncontested down the line for a pin-end start. (Maybe Kyle was trying to avoid scratching up the new paint job on Uncle Ludwig.) With all but one port-tack starter at the pin along with Kyle and crew, the rest of the J-boat pack opted for starting between the boat and mid-line. Witch Way hung back by a fraction of second to have a clear opening right at the boat and established a great early position to windward of the fleet. Nice start! Vaporize started a few seconds behind Witch Way and tacked off to port seeking clear air.

A handful of tacks to the first mark, situated ~¾ mile away from the start at 035⁰, saw Witch Way around first with Animal next and a tight pack including Uncle Ludwig, Vaporize, Spirit and Catching J’s all in quick succession. Animal struggled to get their chute up and full. Uncle Ludwig split off from the pack and passed Animal on the long but steady downwind leg. John & Sam Tarrant in Catching J’s launched their chute well and took the deepest course to the leeward mark sailing right past the committee boat in fine style. Vaporize was looking to make up some time abd went out to the west side of the course, only to be disappointed not to find the expected higher winds.

Once around the first leeward mark the fleet seemed to head straight at the committee boat with a greater westerly wind component up to the committee boat. Once they reached the RC boat the fleet fell back into the NE winds and needed another handful of tacks to gain the last windward mark. Vaporize found wind on the east side of the course on the second downwind leg and moved up through the pack to third as the fleet approached the last turning mark. Unfortunately, Dave and Nelson did not have enough course left to recover lost ground.

With an almost wire-to-wire lead, congratulations go to the crew of Witch Way for an impressive win. In a testament to the steady winds all the boats finished within five minutes elapsed time .

Thanks to Windog who graciously gave extra minutes to the RC to pick up the marks!!

Please welcome Christian Wetzel, now skippering the J/24 T, who got out late and shadowed the fleet around most of the course.

Complete results are posted at www.lakegeorgracing.com

Race 13 Results

Thanks to Ron Byrne and the crew of Charjer for the drag race around an I-5 course. The winds expected to be from the WNW were oscillating prior to the start and Ron set a windward mark several hundred yards off Yankee. The leeward mark was Hogback.

Given the wind direction during the start sequence it was possible to lay the windward mark from the start line from the boat end. Position at the favored boat end and timing the start was the key. Most of the fleet were slightly early for the start and were bearing down the line as Crackerjack nailed the start at the boat end at full speed and trimmed for the windward mark with Jaded slightly to leeward. A few boats on the leeward end of the line quickly tacked in an attempt to clear their air but for the most part the fleet was able to lay the first mark.

The fast boats charged ahead on a course that was made for pure speed. At the rounding, Vaporize sheeted in their chute hard behind woot! and Crackerjack to gain the windward advantage and then just rocketed out to the lead on a spinnaker reach made for them. Crackerjack and woot! were within inches as the rounded Hogback with Wild Thing , Animal and Uncle Ludwig, all in bunch just yards behind

On the next upwind leg sheet trimmers were getting a workout, easing in the puffs to increase speed. As the fleet closed to the second windward mark a late leg knock, favored those boats that stayed to the windward side of the course.Vaporize was around first with a clear lead and woot! 50 yards behind set another fast reach toward Hogback without boat traffic. Those boats that set up for a  gybe-set gained a few yards around on their close competitors. In the final leg Vaporize and woot! crossed first and second, but on corrected time Crackerjack took the win and Animal wedged into third.

Thanks to Brad Taylor and  his crew for giving us an interesting W4 race around the Canoe Islands in the 4- to 7-knot winds from the south. The line was square but short which made it very interesting and forced Spirit over early. Spirit quickly restarted and the line was cleared within seconds.

The fleet pretty much split with only a few boats working up the center. As Vaporize  and woot! led the fleet around the Canoe Islands, Animal, Uncle Ludwig and Crackerjack changed position multiple times with lots of close tacking. Crackerjack took a slightly wider path around the island and rounded South Canoe Buoy third  with Uncle Ludwig in close company. Animal and Spirit stayed to the east longer but the winds had started to diminish across the course. Uncle Ludwig caught a slight puff and nudged ahead of Crackerjack as the fleet closed on the first leeward mark.

Reading the wind velocity decrease well, Brad changed the course with the new windward mark as North Canoe, keeping a W4. As the fleet worked back upwind towards North Canoe, both Spirit and Animal banged out the west side and caught a nice lift thereby mixing up the lead J/24s yet again. After rounding, Crackerjack and Animal went back to the west, Uncle Ludwig went down the center, and Spirit headed to the east side of the course. Spirit caught better velocity on the east side while Animal almost went too far to the west, allowing Judy to close within seconds by working up the center.

Congratulations to Vaporize and woot! leading the boats across the line; Spirit captured the overall win, withVaporize taking second and Uncle Ludwig third. Next week the crew of Charjer will be our committee boat hosts.

Thanks to John Haller and the crew of woot! for a fast, tight fleet race set on an I5 course in the WNW winds. The shifts and puffs created opportunities on both the upwind and downwind legs for the 17 participating boats. The short start line was contested at both the pin and boat ends. Getting on to the north side of the course early was key with Animal, Uncle Ludwig, Crackerjack, and Brad Taylor’s J/80 mixing it up as they approached the first mark.

At the mark Crackerjack executed a quick gybe to port, getting out into the higher breeze first and gaining the lead. Vaporize was way out on the north side of the course making up time and Spirit slipped past Brad. The racing just a few hundred yards back was also very tight and a look back provided a spectacular view of tightly packed spinnakers. Although Crackerjack maintained its lead to the second windward mark,  Animal executed the gybe faster than the other boats and took the lead back downwind.

As the boats rounded the final mark and headed towards the finish line Spirit and Vaporize were reeling in some precious yards setting up a very tight finish. Animal kept the lead for the overall win and their second win in a row, while Crackerjack followed across the line and watched a tight race for third. Dave was able to slip ahead of both Spirit and Uncle Ludwig for 3rd across the line. Spirit tacked away as Uncle Ludwig tightly covered but a wind shift favored Spirit on the final tack to the line. In the end Rodger took third overall by six seconds. The second grouping of boats was was a mix of J/22s, J/24s and J/80s.

See complete results on LakeGeorgeRacing.com — Brad Taylor and crew will be our Committee Boat hosts next week.

Results have been posted to http://www.lakegeorgeracing.com/

For the second week in a row the participants were treated to awesome wind and waves coming straight down the lake from Dome Island. In fact, the wind was heavier and the waves bigger than last week and afforded a fantastic heavy air sailing adventure! Thanks to Rob Fraser and crew for acting as committee boat last evening and set-up up a long  I-5 course with the weather mark well to the north of the square line. The North Canoe government mark served as the leeward mark. Thank you Rob and crew for a long course!

Ten boats came out to challenge each other and nature with one DNS and another DNF. The 8 finishing boats completed the course within 11 minutes of the first finishing boats in the challenging conditions. At the start, the fleet was generally scattered down the line. Spirit and Crackerjack started at the boat end with Animal, Vaporize and Cut Loose opting for an early tack to the east also starting at the boat end but slightly later. Crackerjack, following a very fast and flatter Spirit up the middle sailed the long leg first. Uncle Ludwig led the west side boats. Eventually, Crackerjack tacked towards the approaching east-side boats where Animal passed in front with Vaporize and Cut Loose close behind. Spirit led the way around the first mark by 5 boat lengths with Animal, Crackerjack and Uncle Ludwig in hot pursuit of each other and separated by only a few boat lengths to each other. However, Animal set their chute perfectly, while Spirit had a disheartening wrap around the forestay and eventually had to strike it and sail downwind on jib alone.

Meanwhile, one Crackerjack’s crew (to remain nameless in this account) decided that the water looked very inviting and decided to take a quick bath! Fortunately the crew did not let go of the boat and was back on board within seconds to finally get their cute up and drawing. Half the fleet opted for spinnakers and had a very fast run with surfing conditions down to North Canoe. Meanwhile, the Viper 640 was planing without a chute down the east side of the course. Most of the boats needed only one gybe to the leeward mark but waited for the lower winds and flatter water in which to execute it in.  During the run Crackerjack was able to reel in Animal while Uncle Ludwig and Cut Loose also carrying their chutes passed Spirit. At the rounding, the order was tight and Rob signaled for a shortened course by radio and flag. Crackerjack had to tack out from the bad air off Animal’s sails after rounding within inches of the lead boat. Demonstrating some great upwind sailing, Animal pulled out a substantial lead toward the finishing line and the order around the leeward mark was the finishing order as recorded by the committee boat.

Congratulations to Animal starting the second half of the season as they did the first half! Rob was very humble after the race acknowledging that Committee Boat Duty requires lots of knowledge and teamwork and a bigger anchor! Next week our committee boat host will be the crew of woot!