[LG-list] 26 boats Wednesday Night!

[Rodge Voss]

A recount of Wednesday's race from Spirit:
"With about two minutes to go before the start I was coming back towards the RC on port looking for a good place to make my move. Just below the committee boat I found myself to leeward and behind a bunch of boats after tacking at about 1 minute to go, then at 30 seconds I worked up underneath Evolution and Witch Way along with a few others at the committee boat. I didn't want to get caught barging or in the second row so I fell off and kept my speed up. I heard Alfie screaming at someone not to go in between him and the RC. Linville was luffing near the line at the boat, then at 15 seconds I felt the need to get out of that mess so we ducked him and found an opening to leeward and accelerated to the line. The timing was perfect." 
"At the gun we had reached top speed and carved up and were off to the races. Looking around Wild Thing appeared to have started clean at the pin, Nigro's J/22 had a great start below us, and Flying Circus was a few boat lengths behind but to windward. After that it was a matter of sail trim, max crew weight cheeks-to-the-teak, and easing the genoa in the blows from the west to keep the boat flat. We kept up with the J/80 and ahead of the Viper pretty well the first leg and then after the rounding something happened with Wild Thing's gybe. They took down their sail to straighten things out. I think we were in first for a while but once that asysmetrical filled again they took off. Flying Circus was relentless in their pursuit and didn't let us separate too much from them, even with the lightening holes throughout their hull." 
Oh yeah, you didn't hear about that! Ken's boat got hit by lightening last week and had chucks of fiberglass and lead popped out like popcorn in the hull above and below the water line and worse with the lead in the keel which appeared melted! He mentioned how when the wind lightened they could tell how sluggish the boat got! Not too bad of a finish though for being struck by lightening. You guys are doing such a great job this season, and you are still in first place!  
"The second leg upwind was a little more concerning to me. Wild Thing rounded a couple of minutes ahead, Vaporize had worked their way just ahead of us at the leeward mark, and as we rounded and tacked to clear our air, I was determined to make the windward mark again on one tack. We recalled how the wind was more from the south at the beginning of the leg but swung around more to the west once we pasted Canoe, so falling off towards Speaker Heck didn't concern us too much. Sure enough the wind turned and we made it back to Diamond in good shape. The race was shortened and we ended up only 5 minutes behind Spencer Raggio, a few seconds behind Dave Dougall, and just ahead of John Haller in Revolution."
It wasn't until I posted the results Thursday morning on http://www.lakegeorgeracing.com/results.aspx?series=43 that I realized I won on corrected time by 75 seconds. It was good to get my first win of the season. 
A good call by the race committee with getting all boats to finish just under 2 hours. It's not how quick the first boat finishes but how long it takes the last boat to finish. RC duties are tough for those top 16 boats who "volunteer" to get us started each week. We don't want our sailors finishing in the dark. Especially next Wednesday with our Mid-series Party! Don't forget to come to the LGC Grotto after the race.
By the way, be sure to let your crew know what's going on. Get them to sign up for these news blasts by submitting their e-mail addresses to http://www.lake-george.com/mailman/listinfo/lg-list_lake-george.com. Or sign them up yourselves. 

 
Rodge
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