…the mice beat TOP GUN!
Here’s the summary from our poet laureate, Gil “Gadge” Lamothe:
Well, honestly, if I were to write about what I saw, then it would be a tale of tell tails that I would tell. Shifty wind doesn’t quite describe it so constant trimming was in order, but I digress…
Ken engineered a great start, both timing and position wise. The wind out of the NE had us sailing towards mark 7. We started off on a starboard tack, knowing we would soon be over on port, as the best wind was along the Hamilton side. Once we felt the wind diminishing, we made the tack and just kept her moving as fast and as high as we could. There was a progressive lift as we made our way down the bay. Top Gun was even further toward the Hamilton shore, clearly off our starboard side. Sometimes we were faster, then they were faster. As the lift continued to build, they were more and more to the outside of the course, and maybe not getting lifted quite as much. Finally they tacked, we held our line, and they cut our wake a good 5 boat lengths below us. It was clear the boats in the center of the course were losing wind, so we stayed wide and went significantly higher than the “lay line”, to ensure that we could withstand any knocks that might take place near the pin. Battlewagon tacked earlier, and were able to hold that lay line, rounding just ahead of us. Top Gun was in a world of hurt in the middle of the course, still trying to make headway up the course as we were rounding. We hoisted and followed Battlewagon on the starboard jibe, debating whether or when to jibe to port to get back to the Hamilton side. The wind started dying (the course was shortened to 7 – 14) and it was all we could do to maintain way. We finally got near enough to a patch of wind in the center of the course to risk a jibe and went for it. Top Gun had finally rounded, we must have had 800 meters on them, and immediately jibed and headed for the Hamilton side. By the time we reached that wind, Top Gun had a full head of steam and had closed to within 300 meters and gaining. We jibed to starboard, got trimmed up and finally got some boat speed, but TopGun had closed to 200 meters. Battlewagon had never jibed and went closer to the Burlington shore, where perhaps a sea breeze had built. They ran down the course from there and crossed well ahead of us. We maintained our lead on Top Gun and crossed the line with high fives all around.