Race night 4 provided warm temperatures but little in the way of a steady wind. Kyle LaVoy and the extended crew of Uncle Ludwig hosted last evening’s race. Thanks! An I5 was set in the streaky NE air which seemed to increase and disappear in seconds. A windward tetrahedron was placed directly into the prevailing air and North Canoe was used as the leeward turning mark. At the start, the ten-boat fleet spread out along the line and a haphazard fleet split followed. From my vantage point it was very difficult to tell who was actually in the lead on the way up to the first mark. Witch Way found itself in a hole while others just tens of yards away were clipping along in 4 knots of air.

Wild Thing prevailed to lead the way around the first mark with Cut Loose and Catchin’ J’s next.

The sportboats pulled to the front on the downwind leg but four of the J/24s and Catchin’ J’s were in tight pursuit. Christian and Alfie were struggling to find the same air the leaders were sailing in and every attempt at searching for better wind ended in frustration for them. Woot! and Brad Taylor’s J/80 slipped in front of Wild Thing by the next rounding but John and Sam were ahead of the J/24 pack.

What followed was a dramatic velocity drop to drifting conditions and what little air remained came out of the west. The RC left the marks untouched to at least give the boats some forward momentum. At the next rounding Brad had taken the lead with  Wild Thing pulling back ahead of woot!. And there again was the J/22 ghosting along. Spirit made its way to the top of the J/24s and the RC shortened course to the original starting line with two horns and a radio announcement to make sure everyone was in the know.  It would have been a real struggle to get everyone finished if the next mark was used. As the leaders approached the finish two boats decided enough was enough and headed in.

Brad and crew took line honors and second overall with Wild Thing in next across and third overall, but Catchin’ J’s took the night on corrected time. Well done to all competitors in the very variable conditions.

Next week’s race will lead to the first of scheduled throw outs.

A Solstice evening raft-up is planned for 22 June if the weather cooperates. All are invited to attend. More info to come!

As always the results are calculated and posted to www.lakegerogeracing.com

A W6 course with a windward tetrahedron mark lurking in the sun-glinting waters greeted the 11 boats that came out on the gorgeous evening. The very warm west winds swung from to W to WNW almost immediately after the start. Just prior to the start, there was a ruckus at the RC boat-end that is currently under review. This left a few boats uncontested midway down the start line. Unfortunately, Catching J’s got caught OCS and had to return to the start line after the rest of the fleet sped off towards the first mark.

Wild Thing was sliding along nicely and led the way around the course for the entire race. Spirit and Vaporize were also in the lead pack around the first few marks. With the big shift, the RC changed the course and used Cotton Point as the new windward mark with multiple sounds, C flag, and green flag flying, plus multiple announcements on the radio. This course change actually got the fleet tacking on the shifts, especially as they approached the Cotton Point reef.

It was great to watch the boats round the Cotton Point reef and pop spinnakers, back-lit by the low angled sun. Wild Thing held on to starboard gybe while most of the other boats gybed immediately after the reef and got back into the steadier winds away from the west shore. After the fleet rounded Cotton Point and headed back to the start pin/leeward mark on the fourth leg, the wind appeared to be dropping both to the north and south of the course, so the RC decided it would be prudent to head up to the weather mark and shorten the course.

Wild Thing held onto their lead coming down the fourth leg by a few boat-lengths. Brad Taylor tried to convince the RC that a finish was expected. even as other boats were rounding the leeward pin, and had to back-track around the mark. As this was happening the RC picked up anchor and headed up the weather leg. Once anchored and as the fleet approached the new finish, the shorten course signals were made with two sounds and S flag displayed.

Unfortunately for Dave and Nelson it appeared Vaporize fell into a hole somewhere along the last two legs, slipping out of the lead pack. Wild Thing prevailed to cross the line first followed by Spirit, Brad’s J/80, and woot! All but one boat finished the course within eight minutes of the leader. Catchin J’s, left behind at the start, used the shifts well and worked its way back into the race after the change in course … nicely done John!

Unfortunately, a protest was lodged and the results are considered tentative and under review. They will be updated upon conclusion of the protest “hearing.”  Results, as usual, posted on lakegeorgeracing.com

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Side note: Once a race is started, the RC should not be hailed for clarification of the course. The RC will do everything it can to inform the fleet of changes to the original course.  Please print out the sailing instructions and grab a rule book to review “Part 3 Conduct of a Race.” This section is approximately four pages long. There you will find Rule 32 Shortening or Abandoning after the start and Rule 33 Changing the next leg of the course.

Have a great holiday weekend! Kyle and the crew of Uncle Ludwig will be hosting next week’s race.

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

Seven boats turned out for the annual LGCYC Sabbath Day Point Race on August 23 under sunny skies, flat water and a nice eight-knot northerly at start time.

The race course was set for “Mark A, Finish” and the fleet started at 0915. Vaporize gained an early lead, followed closely by Brad Taylor in J/80 69. At the windward mark it was Vaporize rounding first, followed closely by Wild Thing. All seven boats set spinnakers and headed south for the Narrows.

Unfortunately the wind died just as the fleet re-entered the South Basin. Vaporize found a light breeze along the east shoreline and was able to finish the race. The other six boats found themselves stranded just north of Dome Island in no wind and considerable powerboat chop, and one by one dropped out of the race.

Congratulations to Dave Dougall and Nelson Snowden on the Viper 640 Vaporize. In 2016 this race is planned to be held in the spring as a warm-up for the Ti Race.

Thanks to Jim McAndrew for the use of Laurelin for signal boat and to the Lake George Club for the use of start pin, timer and flags.

Course Details:

Measured via GPS, from the start line to Three Chimney Shoal at Sabbath Day Point, and back to the finish at Hogback Reef is 29.5 miles.

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.