Sailboat racing on Lake Erie is a sight to watch... |
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| I have watched a little around Seattle
while we lived there, but didn't get to participate. Once
again while visiting Jim's brother, we get to enjoy ourselves out
on "Changes". Wednesday night, June 11th, "we" are the committee boat. We make sure that the boats know what the course is, we keep track of who is racing, check to make sure it is a clean start and who finishes when. We get to sit, watch the boats do the course and enjoy each others company. There is not much wind, so the course is a short one tonight... |
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| The committee boat is one of the first ones out to the sailing area, so here come the racing boats... | Adrenaline is getting ready to put up their sails and get ready to race. |
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| Back on the committee boat, Jim, Phil (boat owner) and his wife Lorraine are trying to get the GPS running correctly. It is used for moving around on the course, but also for the time for sounding the horns, putting up the flags, etc. | Terri is doing her job, she keeps track of each of the boats that come out to race, she is also checking the wind to try and figure out what the course will be. Check the water behind them, pretty still... |
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| And the horn is sounded and they are off! There are two groups of racers, Jam (which the boat we are on is one of them, no spinnaker) and the Spinnaker group). | This is the Spinnaker group taking off from the starting line... |
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| With so little wind, they are all grouped together at the line. Phil (b-in-law) is making sure they are all legal at the starting line. | and they are racing! but a turtle might win this one ;) |
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| Friends cruise the committee boat, in this case Grant and Betsy. Betsy cleaned my teeth while we were visiting :) she works with Terri at a dentist office. | This is one of the joys of being the committee boat, enjoying a little food and wine while waiting for them to come back to the finish line. |
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| On the back leg, they need to put up their spinnakers. I love this site. | Sailboat crossing the finish line being silhouetted from the sun. |
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| Here come the two Jam boats (there are only 3 that race and one of them is the committee boat this race :) | One of the Jam boats crossing the finish line and silhouetted from the sun. |
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| It's an easy cruise back to the marina after such hard work as the committee boat. | Sunset at the Grand River Yacht Club (GRYC) Marina. |
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| Happy skipper Phil | Terri & Phil, what a great crew couple. |
| The next race is on Sunday, June 15th and we get to race with the other 2 "Jam" boats. I don't have a picture of the "Changes", but LOTS of pictures of the other boats :) What a great way to spend Fathers Day... | |
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| Wish heading out to the starting line. | Phil (not skipper Phil) takes control on the way out. |
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| The stern of Changes with the crew thinking about the up coming race. | Spinnaker boat Bird of Prey is getting ready by putting up their sails for their race. |
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| It's the start of the spinnaker boats along with the committee boat. | There they go! |
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| Looking up the mainsail on Changes | Terri doing her job on the bow of the boat, she checks for the markers, works the sails, etc. |
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| Checking the wind direction and that the little flags are where they are suppose to be. | Spinnakers are up! both types of boats are racing at the same time and usually even on the same course. |
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| Jam started first on this day, so we are ahead to start with. They eventually pass us, but it's fun to watch them come up on us. | We had some wind, you can see how far the boat has "heeled" by the angle of the boat to the waterline. |
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| Everyone needs to be on the high side so the boat doesn't go over to keep the wind in the sails. We had to do the same thing...that is what I do, I am moveable ballast :) | Different angles of boats as they heel. |
| Our last day of sailing before leaving Ohio is on Wednesday, June 18th. It was a chilly day, but not sure whether we would have the wind we needed to get the sails full and the boat moving... | |
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| It's a cooler day today, the water a little more choppy with more wind. | The racers all heading out to the course, we are still in the river channel. |
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| This is an evening race, with lots of clouds so it was fun to take pictures with the different light. Lorraine to the left, her daughter Katie and then Jim. | Family photo, Phil & Lorraine and Katie. |
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| Terri and Phil having a quiet moment before the fun starts :) | Sun beams trying to get through the clouds. |
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| Sweet Water heading out, you can see the nuclear reactor cooling towers to the left and the steam shows you how much wind... | Notorious almost looks like a hat for Phil :) |
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| The seas got choppy, sun beams and clouds. | The spinnaker group going around the mark. |
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| one of the Jam boats with the sun beginning is slow climb into the west. | Phil keeping track of the wind and the sails. |
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| One of the jam boats and one of the spinnaker boats behind us. I love these pictures with the clouds and sun. | Skipper (or is that Captain?) Phil making sure he is on course and heading into the wind correctly. |
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| More night pictures of the spinnaker group | okay, here's another one |
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| oh yeah, and another one, but not bad, even if I say so myself! | Brothers |
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| Sister-in-laws | The boys on the ship... |
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| Another sunset at GRYC Marina from the slip of Changes. | I thought this was kinda interesting. I took this with the natural light (no flash). Can't figure out why everything is green, but hey, fun to play with! |
| We had an awesome time, once again out on Lake Erie with Phil & Lorraine Dolsen on their ship Changes. I really want to thank them for letting us come out and sail. They really don't need the extra weight and only Jim can do much of anything. He was learning how to "break" and to "tail". Me, I just put my fanny where ever they needed it :P (which was mostly out of the way) and enjoyed the fun and took LOTS of pictures! | |
