We had a great day of racing for the monthly club RG-65 day, getting eight boats (including one visiting custom 36/600) on the water for some good racing...complete with an appearance by the elusive David Eldridge, who raced (and won) several times with Eric's boat. We had the open RG's outnumber the DF's for the first time in a long while, with Eric, Mauricio, and I running swing-rigs, and Bob getting his yellow "Banana Boat" going in a fractional rig that was a bit bigger than DF, but lower aspect than the other RG's. Bob is still working this boat up, but my opinion is it will be fast in the mid-to-heavy wind ranges. Eric and I share identical sail plans, so it's an interesting comparison.
Eric won the day easily, sailing with A-rig all day (despite some near pitch-poles) with David sailing a few firsts with it as well. We didn't keep the results, but I suspect I finished 2nd with three 1st's, two 2nd's, and two 3rd's. Mauricio tried several rigs again, and was uniformly fast. Bob, and the DF's started off a bit slower, but as the wind built into upper-A ranges for the open RG's, they became very fast and competitive. The fractional rigs also caught a break when the wind shifted several times to turn the runs into reaches; a swing-rigs advantage is the downwind leg (it is fast upwind, but must usually sail lower, which tends to be a push from a VMG standpoint)...the repeated reaching legs made for difficulty with the swing rigs because it replaced large portions of the race that should be their best leg (running) with their worst (reaching). Educational to say the least, and I for one benefitted from practice trying to hold them off on those reaches! I had to drop to the B-rig for two races, and the DF's were right on top of me, and very tough downwind with their greater sail area (being able to stay in A).
Anyhow, a beautiful day, and great racing. Pictures, below, as usual. Next week, the DF Series is off to Austin, I hope to see you there!
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| Mustang, rigged and ready! |
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| A Blue Splash (Mustang) and two DF65's warming-up before racing began. |
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| Two DF65's...they got very competitive as the wind built, the Dragons like it over 9mph! |
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| Mustang, a Blue Splash, spent most of her day powering along in her tall A-rig |
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| The wind slowly built... |
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| Beautiful weather at Rymer today. |
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| We had a good turnout; seven boats! |
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| Pre-start maneuvers... |
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| Day-O! Bob Piper's Banana Boat got rolling today! |
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| At the gun, starboard tack boats go to port, Mustang and Mauricio (#71) go low looking for a lift... |
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| Note the high aspect rigs on #62 and #11, advantageous in the lighter airs... |
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| Eric's #11 in the lead, as it went for most of the day. |
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| Pulling away from the start, close racing... |
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| The boats low on the start get their hoped for lift as the pack converges on the mark... |
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| Will they catch the leaders? |
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| Almost...Mustang hot on Eric's heels at the mark... |
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| Eric pulls away downwind as the fleet rounds... |
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| Mustang's lift put her in second by Eric is comfortably ahead... |
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| The shifty wind makes the run more of a reach... |
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| ...in a reach the fractionally rigged boats are a bit better off... |
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| Nonetheless, as went much of the day; Eric ahead with Mustang chasing in 2nd... |
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| ...while the rest of the fleet hunts for a good breeze to roll-up the difference. |
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| Fun, sun, sailing...no complaints! |
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