2006 World PDRacer Sailboat Championship Race - Playoff
By Doug Day (retired) #1 "DUB"
To give you an idea how fast the wind was blowing, here is Dave using one of our course markers as a kite.
You can also see the cat paws on the water.
I think it is great, lots of wind with no chop, perfect for PD racing.
Unfortunately after Andrew stayed down at the leeward mark, a mutiny was forming with the request to move the leeward mark in a LOT closer. So we moved the lee mark closer to shore.
Typical sailboat races are started with the boats sailing around near the start line, and there is a "right of way dance" that everyone plays and is a bit confusing unless you are an experienced racer.
Also there is the issue of making sure people aren't over the line early, and coming up with a signal system to send them back incase they do.
The beach start (which does have a proper name, I just can't remember it) is a lot simpler.
Everyone has to have one foot on the sand, above the water.
You can point or hold your boat anyway you want, but you are not allowed to have assistance propelling it after the start.
A count down is called, the whistle goes and everyone is off.
Phil (on the right) nearly took out the aft end of the Bobcat, and then suddenly BAM!, the clew of his sail ripped out.
Completely my fault, I was rushing when I built the sails and thought since the tyvek was so much stonger than tarp that I could get away without putting in corner patches, and I was wrong.
I called them both back and we repaired Andrew's sail with the Survivor Man's pebble trick. Have you seen the Discovery Channel show "Survivor Man"? In one episode he has a tarp to make a shelter with, but it doesn't have grommets in the right place. So he puts a pebble in the tarp and then wraps a piece of string around it. This forms an attachment spot, we did that and the sail lasted the rest of the day.
We re-started the race and they were off in about the same fashion.
A couple of guys were out there observing, most of the time they stayed clear and down wind.
Phil got caught in irons, and Andrew pulled ahead.
With all his talking about his poor sailing skill, he sure is doing great!
Andrew takes the first lap.
The the lead changed and Phil took the 2nd lap
Andrew close behind and then took him on the far side...
Andrew pulls ahead to take the race !!!
That was close!
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