SEPTEMBER 13 RACE: An "Air Sandwich" and "Chain of Fools"

Photos and video courtesy of Lisa Duret. 
We had eight boats, nine sailors and six Committee Boat volunteers.   Perhaps hoping to keep the ghost sailor trophy from haunting his house again, Chris Braun sailed with us for the first time this year, and it was good to have him back in competition in his Laser, and he did quite well.  Jack Gall raced the Laser his brother John fixed up.  Not capsizing was remarkable since it was his first time sailing it, and it is, well, a Laser.  John Gall meanwhile sailed the Truex Hobie with Arlene as crew.  We welcomed back Ross Kunkler and Allie who returned to the lake to help out on the Committee Boat, assisting Beth Auld, Jim and Mimi Riffle and Candy McClean.  They all did a fine job of it, and we are thankful.

Thanks also to Kevin Preuss  and Lisa Duret for setting up and taking down the race, to Lisa for the photos and videos in this report.   And to Wayne and Arlene Truex for hosting the Protest Meeting, and for all those that made the delicious treats we enjoyed.  A shout out to Owen Gall who, in abstentia sent delicious
cheese/pepperoni/olive appetizers and deviled eggs over with John and Jack.

It seems the wind throws us a different challenge at every race. A wind from the Northwest is rare...Eh?   We had good wind for the starts and finishes, but in the middle it was just air, little REAL wind.  I guess we were delivered kind of an "air sandwich".
From the first mark to the third mark, anticipating the wind was a total crap shoot in terms of speed and direction.  One had to be ready for anything.  Or nothing.  In such circumstances sailors must be especially agile, versatile, and always watching the water, waiting for the next wind direction clue and ready to trim their sails appropriately (rather than mentally drifting off into never, never land, or in banter with the other sailors, not paying enough attention).  This is demonstrated in the videos below.

Below is a video of the start of the first race – plenty of wind.

Below is a video of the random nature of the wind between the 1^st and 2^nd mark.  Note how some boats have wind, some don’t.   And those sailors that are moving are not necessarily moving in the right direction!

  

The title for our music selection for this race tells what trap one of our racers fell into at the start of the second race. You can cue the music, "Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin by clicking here (recommended).  Later you will learn why the title describes a common sailing trap, and who fell into it.

At least with few power boats on the lake it was easy to read the wind on the water as you may be able to see in the photos if you squint real hard (and accelerate that salty, weathered-sailor look). 

A good start to 1st race. Two outliers.  Predictably you can tell which one will finish first.  Many races are won at the start. 

 

Some are on their way to the 1st mark (flag at far left) , some have rounded it and are on their way to the 2nd mark.

Can you "read the wind" on the water in this photo?  If so, you should be out there racing with us.  We'll show you the ropes. These sailors found themselves a little to the left of the wind on their way to the 2nd mark.

1st place finisher Jim Voelz in background has rounded the 2nd mark.  2nd place finisher, his daughter Laura, is about to round the 2nd mark.  Jim and Laura finished 1st and 2nd in both races on an overall handicapped basis.  In the first race, Jim finished an impressive 5 minutes ahead of next-to-finish Laura (on a handicapped basis) and a whopping  9 1/2 minutes ahead of the next Laser.  In the second race Laura was only 9 seconds behind her dad (on a handicapped basis). The dynasty continues....    Oh yeah, and a sailing technique note: if you squint real hard again you can see that Jim has the centerboard of his boat raised up.  That is because he is sailing downwind with the wind directly behind him.  In that situation the centerboard serves little purpose but creates drag, slowing the boat down a bit.  Once he turns at the third mark he will have put the centerboard down again.

Start of 2nd Race:  All boats are near starting line, but spread out.  Schroeder is well behind starting line on far left.  He made a rookie mistake:  Well positioned and stalling for time just prior to the starting horn, he let too much of the wind out of his sails, lost momentum and found himself "in irons", or the "Chain of Fools". (The nautical term "in irons" means that heading straight into the wind, the sailboat acts like a weather vane and resists any attempt NOT to head straight into the wind, so the boat becomes trapped in a direction that prevents forward progress.  Thus it is "in irons", or in "chains", or Schroeder's case, the "Chain of Fools").

At the finish line of the 2nd race on the right side of the above photo, Kevin Preuss was trying to get by Andy Jennings, but Andy stayed in front of Kevin not letting him get by (Like at the Speedway, but an hour south).  They were very focused on each other in this battle to cross the finish line and did not notice a subtle wind shift that would have allowed them to turn slightly and have a shorter path to the finish line. Meanwhile,  Tom Schroeder (far left) running just behind them took advantage of the wind shift, turned slightly, and beat both Kevin and Andy by 3 seconds. Finishing within10 seconds of each other were Schroeder, Jennings, Preuss and Jack Gall - all have the same handicap.

 

 A FINAL OFFER (Oh yeah, and the race results):

Our last race of the 2015 sailing season is THIS SUNDAY, September 20th. Tom Schroeder has offered that any first-time potential sailing recruit for next year can join him as his crew in this last race for 2015.  No experience necessary.  You'll go out early to learn the ropes (there are only two of them), practice a bit before the race, and then help him win.  Give him a call at 317-873-1637.  

Race Results, 1^st Race:

Laser Class: Jim Voelz 1^st,  Andy Jennings 2^nd, Chris Braun 3^rd, Kevin Preuss 4^th, Jackson Gall 5^th

Butterfly Class:  Laura Garrett 1^st

International Class:  Tom Schroeder 1^st John Gall/Arlene Truex 2^nd

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring):

Jim Voelz 1^st, Laura Garrett 2^nd, Andy Jennings 3^rd, Tom Schroeder 4^th, Chris Braun 5^th,

 Kevin Preuss 6^th, Jackson Gall 7^th, John Gall/Arlene Truex 8^th

Race Results, 2nd Race:

Laser Class: Jim Voelz 1^st,  Chris Braun 2^nd, Andy Jennings 3^rd, Kevin Preuss 4^th, Jackson Gall 5^th

Butterfly Class:  Laura Garrett 1^st

International Class:  Tom Schroeder 1^st John Gall/Arlene Truex 2^nd

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring):

Jim Voelz 1^st, Laura Garrett 2^nd, Chris Braun 3^rd, Tom Schroeder 4^th, Andy Jennings 5^th,

 Kevin Preuss 6^th, Jackson Gall 7^th, John Gall/Arlene Truex 8^th