We had another Tuesday night with an easterly that demands that you go left to the corner, tack and hope you don't overstand. The first race start, I was all alone at the pin, went left, and led wire to wire. The second race, the word was out and the pin was crowded, so I started in the middle of the line but still went left. Walton's boatspeed is always too much for me in the 12-15 knot flat water conditions, so I followed him around the course.
The third race brought others into the mix as the middle of the course for some reason started to look good. First to emerge from the pack was Nigel, fresh from his victory at the RCYC Open. Close behind were Joe Van and Tobin Young. Nigel picked the shifts perfectly and took the win, while I crashed at the leeward mark and limped to a fourth or fifth. The every present Ken W I think came 2nd.
The last race was one of those incredibly satisfying races where smart sailing and good boatspeed combined to get me to the front of the fleet. I went left from close to the pin, and came across to see that the fleet was tight coming to the windward mark. As I approached the starboard tack layline, it was clear I was too far away from the mark to get the layline exactly right and I might waste valuable space if I overstood. And I was worried that the boats further to windward and behind on port would lift above me as we approached the mark, which is what always seems to happen with an easterly. So, I tacked early (about 10 boatlengths from the layline) and took the starboard tack hitch to cross the port tackers before they got their lift. After the last one ducked me (Tobin) I immediately tacked on his hip. If we had to go more than 10 boatlengths, he would have leebowed me and buried me. As it was, I was in the power position on top of about six port tackers stacked up heading for the layline, all unable to tack to starboard without tacking too close and interfering with the guy above him. A couple of starboard tackers passed behind and I could see they were not on the layline. I hit the layline, tacked right on top of the two boats on starboard and nicely ahead of all the port tackers that had to wait for me to tack, I rounded first.
On the reaches, Nigel and Ken battled for 2 and 3, and I managed to stay ahead. On the last beat, I held on port after rounding till Nigel tacked. I tacked and ended up almost directly to windward of him, while Ken continued to the right side of the course. I felt that Nigel would want to explore the middle again, and I was not keen on the left corner any more, so my plan was to stay to the left of Nigel, but play the shifts. Because he was to the left of me for the first starboard tack stint (below and slightly behind), that meant I had to hold on a bit once he finally tacked away. I did, however, feel the header he had tacked on but believed there was more header to come. There was, and when I tacked to port I was sailing much higher that he and gained some space. I continued to play the shifts up the middle, trying always to stay to the left. Ken, meanwhile, decided to hit the opposite corner on the right, and came up to the mark just short of the layline about two boatlengths behind me. He had a good angle but less pressure. Again, it was important to me to stay to the left, so I tacked right in front of him and he had to tack away. I tacked back to head towards the starboard tack layline with a clear lead over both Nigel and Ken, and rounded first. Nigel and Ken rounded quickly after, and they fought each other enough to allow me to extend to the finish. Nigel was second, Ken third.
Rob Koci races in both the Laser Full-Rig and Laser Radial fleets around District 3. Currently, Rob is the District 3 secretary and maintains a frequently updated race diary on D3Laser.com. Rob's home port is St. James Town Sailing Club in Toronto, Ontario.
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