Third day of the NAs began with ovrcas skies and a northerly breeze. The top three boats were each separated by one point... essentially a 3 boat match race within the regatta.
The r/c set a windward/leeward course three times around. Planxty started towards the pin end of the line, with John White's Intentionally Left Blank to her left, and Zephyr closer to the boat. First to the weather markwas Sea Biscuit, followed by Planxty and the White's boat close astern.
Down the first run, John White pulled ahead of Planxty, and Zephyr 2 boatlength's astern. This has certainly been some of the tightest racing I've been involved with!
On the second beat the sun came out. Chicago couldn't have looked better. Both White Boat and Zephyr headed left, while Planxty held on right expecting the wind to clock a bit more. The wind backed 20 degrees which pretty much took Planxty out. Now it's a 2 boat race.
For the 3rd beat, the r/c moved the windard mark 20 degrees left. First to the mark was White Boat with Zephyr close on her heels. In order to win the regatta, Intentionally Left Blank had to put two boats between her and Zephyr. Intentionally seemed to forget about the course change, and allowed Zephyr to gybe early for the mark... just enough for Zephyr to pass and grab yet another first place.
A wonderful regatta it was! Congratulations (for the second weekend in a row) to team Zephyr from New Orleans.
For final results, see: http://web2.chicagonet.net/~dbartley/nas
