THE RACES

Saturday’s breezes came up the lake swinging between westsouthwest to southwest, giving a long beat, and a long run (with the opportunity to gybe to either side tactically) and then a short fast reach across to the downwind mark. The breeze stayed light, occasionally increasing, and always giving enough to keep going.

 In Race One Paul used a good start at the starboard pin end to climb fast to windward to lead at the top mark. Behind, Alastair Forrest and John Terry capitalised on good starts only to watch the rest of the fleet lift past them on one of the shifts characteristic of the whole day.  Down wind, the tactics  centred  on gybing as the wind shifted, and deciding whether to go a longer course, keeping to the middle of the lake for better wind.

(Photo below: Paul, 507, left hangs on to his Race One lead downwind.)           

(Photo Bala CC Rescue Rib, with thanks)

 

 John Terry escaped the crowd at the leeward mark to stretch out to chase Paul, not able to reel in Paul's lead. Behind, in the gybing pack, Alex Montgomery straddled the mark spectacularly. George Evans moved steadily through for a good third.

For Race two following back to back, the conditions appeared unchanged but Stuart recognised a shift favoring a port start, appearing out of nowhere ahead of the starboard pack and holding a good lead round the top mark (See picture below; Stuart holds on to a deserved lead at the top mark while others tack up.) The pack of four event-favorites gradually separated themselves from the rest, to chase and catch Stuart one by one, with Alex moving out downwind to take the win from John T, with Paul third and Gareth Ede fourth, setting up the battle for the Nationals. Behind, Alastair gained downwind to emerge from the pack for sixth.

 

On Sunday the wind swung right round as forecast, to swing between NE and NNE. Coming in over the hills, this presented two big technical challenges: getting the start right (when the favoured port end was in deeper wind shadow) and keeping speed around the sheltered top mark before broad reaches across the lake and back past the start spit to the bottom mark..

 For Race 3 Alex and Alastair had position and breeze at the straggling start to move slowly away. Alastair kept  out in the lake well past the top mark before turning in, with a good gain, to chase Alex. These two moved out around the next lap, until Alex' final reach let him burst away. Behind, John Tfound himself headed on the long long starboard tack down the lake, and put in a short tack across the lake to find breeze, and he and Gareth came up to challenge Alastair in the final reach in building breeze, to just fail to catch him

 After lunch to with the breeze steadying and building a little, the course was extended to include a long tight reach up the lake, with a long broad reach back, but by the time racing  started the breeze had shifted more to the northeast giving a part beat (with chance shifts deciding if the distant mark could be laid in one long port tack) and a long run. Again, wind shadows and shifts at marks near the shore  tested concentration and character.

In Race 4 Paul held on to the advantage of a good start with the advantage of clearer air to the sheltered first mark, while the pack behind struggled with the starborad turn (picture below) with many opportunities for port-starboard incidents. Downwind, the fleet closed tightly up w2ith a big group at the bottom mark struggling to get safely back onto the long port tack down the lake. Alastair turned as quickly as possible to escape the pack, with a big gain in better wind, almost up to Paul after the top mark.  Behind,  coming up fast, John T was ahead of Gareth starting the final broad reach from mark 7 to the line. Riding a good gust Gareth sailed over the top of John with the line in sight, but John picked up the gust and took third by a bow-board.

(Below: Top-mark lottery. Race 4: Alastair, 524 right, has come in on starboard hoping to catch the almost-motionless pack---but it is his turn to hit the header and lull.) (Photo Bala CC Rib.)

 

For Race 5, the course was shortened, with a reach across the lake instead of the long port leg and run back. A close start saw John, Alex, Paul and Gareth converge on the first windward very close together. Gareth threw away a small lead by setting off on the earlier course before tacking back, allowing Alex, Paul and John to round the mark and start heading off on the reach.The race then turned into a battle between John and Alex at the front, and a gap back to a second battle between Paul and Gareth (with a healthy gap between them and the chasing fleet.)

(Below: close racing further down the fleet, Race 5, coming to the gybe mark.)

 

 On Monday morning, the breeze was back in the forecast SW, and building cloud banks behind the sunshine indicated more pressure on the way. The course returned to a port turn at the top mark, with starboard turns marking the short fast bottom reach. Going into the final Race 6, the two leaders. Alex and Paul, were only a point apart, but the closeness of the racing forced them to battle this out back in fourth and fifth positions, often only yards apart.

 The conditions suited Gareth and John T, trapezing all the way up the long beat, and Gareth took an early lead which he continued to build on for the rest of the race. John chased, and again George showed good upwind speed and pointing, to hold onto third all the way. John lying second had a chance for the Nationals title, but needed Gareth to come behind him, but ahead of Alex, to win the event, which was not to be.

 John's second place lifted him to tie with Alex, and George coming in fourth ahead of Paul pushed Paul into a tie with Gareth. Three tie-breaks determined the top six positions, with countback giving the Nationals again to Alex.

                                                                                 RESULTS