Racing 7-16-2016

                                                                                                                                                 by Cathy

3rd race - getting in place for the start - photo 1.

3rd race - getting in place for the start - photo 2. 

Burton, Sandy, and Nancy - the race is on!

Thanks to Gary for posting scores.  I was too far back to know for sure but looks like Sandy placed 1st in the 1st race before Gary took over and placed 1st in the last 2 races. Burton took 2nd in all 3 races, Larry got a 4th in the 1st race, and Nancy got a 3rd in the last race.  

Great to see some familiar faces which we had not seen in awhile. Laurie, Nancy, Amber . . . and Bowman sailed over in her new beautiful Butterfly on her way to race committee.  Cool to see all the girls out there! Tom, Jim, and Bruce were all rambling around the docks but not sailing . .. well, maybe next time!  

I had missed sailing for several weeks but heard the reports of all the great wind we'd been having and that we had lots of boats on the line each Saturday. I was so jealous but enjoyed some cooler climes up north. Still it's always cooler on the lake and yesterday was no exception. The morning temperature was fantastic, winds just a little on the light side, but overall very nice. This allowed me to get out early and give a friend, Gina, a ride on my Butterfly and we also participated in the 1st race. She had crewed on a Snipe a couple of times before and I think she saw the joy of being in the Butterfly, too - with it's simplicity and usually just being single-handed. 

Meanwhile, Paul and Bowman were on race committee and went above and beyond! It seemed they were not still for a moment, either dragging logs out of the lake, taking photos and videos, rescuing capsized Butterflys or just hovering nearby while self-rescue was attempted. Four capsizes in all with only one being able to self-rescue. And all of this after Paul had driven back from Michigan where he was 1st in all 6 races, capturing 1st place in the Butterfly Open National Championship while also giving advice to younger sailors about mast rake in heavier air, etc. And not only that he brought back a new hull for Bruce in the back of his pick-up truck. We are so lucky to have Paul as our fleet captain. Yea, Paul! And yes, he admitted to being tired at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, I was usually pretty far back except in the 2nd race, I rounded the first W mark in 2nd place, right after Gary - but then fell behind Gary, Burton, and Sandy to finish 4th.  I was pretty happy with that plus I grabbed Burton's hat out of the water before rounding the L mark and heading up to the finish and I didn't lose a place! 

The 3rd race?  Here is the start captured by Paul:

   

Not my best start and it seemed we got a wind shift and it looks like several of us just had to tack onto port to get over the line.  I know I did.  But the start turned out to be a lot better than my finish, as I caught a gust and shift right before the finish line and then capsized.  I'd been waiting for a few years to see if Marshall's method would work for me if I didn't succeed in getting the boat up by jumping over the high side and standing on the dagger board.  As it worked out I wasn't able to self-rescue but have some ideas about what I did wrong - some things having to do with the cleat and some things having to do with not following Marshall's directions to a T.  I'm sure there will be a next time and certainly do appreciate Paul and Bowman's patience while I tried a few things.

Here is hoping we continue to have some beautiful summer days with enough wind to sail. Hope to see everyone out there soon!