Photos courtesy of Ultimate Yachtshots
Posted with permission
Lots more at http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/
Great sequence captured by Serge on film
Elise and a group of boats on their way to the leeward mark
Opa! and Elise approaching the leeward mark
Opa! starting to douse its spinnaker
Opa! turning around the mark, setting itself up for upwind sailing
Elise now approaching the leeward mark
Elise starting to douse its spinnaker
Scott and Patrick in Foredeck and Pit/Mast positions were so fast that we were dousing right at the mark, allowing the boat to go as fast as it could all the way up to the mark.
Then as the boat turns the spinnaker is blanketed by the genoa - in this case, we did a leeward douse (behind the genoa) because of our choice of mark (a leeward gate has two marks and you are free to choose one or the other to go around. If all the boats choose one, it is a cue for the Race Committee that they are not set correctly...)
Nat a bit late bringing the main in as the boat turn, slowin the boat down a bit, so that's another area where we can improve and get a few seconds
When everything is sorted the boat is ready for upwind again - on the other tack on this photo, back to the cityfront where the current was more favorable. Doing a windward douse allowed us to tack very quickly after the mark
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