Uncle Al's
Pictorial Pearls of Wisdom
 from the Mississauga SC Wayfarer/CL Regatta
a potpourri of educational items suggested by the photos
Fine boatspeed testing being done between Kit (1037) and Uncle Al (3854) as they come in from the left side of the beat. This is a situation in which both boats can make small adjustments to sail trim or weight placement, and gauge the effects. If the other boat is outperforming you, don't hesitate to look to see what they are doing differently from you, and copy that.
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Reverse angle view of Al who has gybed to port. Note the patchy-looking wind on the water, and that the spinnaker is being helped to fly by no leeward heel and the pole end angled lower than in a normal breeze. This was a good time to not only go up in the lulls and down with the puffs, but also to use the Bud Melges technique of sailing a bit high to build up pressure, speed and apparent wind, and then once your speed is up, bear away. Repeat as necessary.
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As seen from the other side, Al holds the boom out and moves his weight to give a slight heel to windward.
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Meanwhile, Colin is holding the spinnaker "short", i.e. holding the leeward sheet from just aft of the leeward shroud so that the weak wind doesn't have to lift a whole long length of sheet as well as the spi cloth. To keep the sheet from getting wedged between boom and shroud, we put on a bit of barberhauler on the leeward side.
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A study in concentration. In these conditions especially, those who work the hardest tend to get the breaks.
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Paul (l) and Mark enjoy a nice puff. This picture lets me better explain what I mean by holding the spinnaker "short": the crew would grab the leeward sheet just where it comes out from behind the boom at the shroud, and would play it from there - something that only works on a run or broad reach, and is only necessary in light winds. This picture also shows how easy it would be for such a sheet to get wedged between boom and shroud. To prevent this we would tighten the leeward barberhauler (coming down from Mark's right elbow) a few inches.
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Especially with a new crew, it can pay big time to have the helm fly the chute and let the crew take ample time
to stow the pole as the end of the run approaches.
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Notice how nicely our spinnaker is still flying, even without the pole, as I invite Colin to get the board full down and his feet in front of the windward jib sheet, so that when he takes the spi down to windward, it will be clear of the jib sheet when the latter needs to function the first time we tack to starboard
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The three leaders remain close as they come towards the finish line from the left side. Al (3854) and Mark (7673) are using the "live and let live" approach by covering without actually sitting on anyone's wind. This is slightly riskier and more nerve-wracking, but makes the sailing more fun for all three - and gives fine speed testing opportunities!!
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Near the windward mark: Here, Al feels justified in sitting on Mark's wind since every foot of distance he can put between himself and Mark will help when the boats round onto the run in a minute or so.
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This would be a good time for Geoff (9483) to sail higher to see if he can't get the breeze that the Taylors are enjoying.
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Note how the lowered pole aboard Ab faB is helping the spi set better here.
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An unnecessarily late and thus risky douse for Gary and John: By dousing half a minute earlier, they might have lost up to 5 feet of distance. They'll lose at least that much with the rushed douse and rounding here, and of course, a ton more, should they hit an unexpected snag in the procedure!
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After the hoist, Al continues to steer with his knees as he tries to fly the chute to which Colin is adding the pole.
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A classic case here of "when in doubt, let it out" for Geoff (l) who is strangling his main way too much,
especially here where he's well above the mark and could be footing off to start the next leg with some speed! 
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Colin did make one rookie mistake: he forgot to bring his sunglasses. As it was he had to make do with Al's treasured W3854 cap. If you look closely, you can see the leeward barberhauler partially tightened to keep the leeward spi sheet from wedging itself between boom and shroud as Colin is flying the spinnaker "short" again.
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Note the mini-bowsprit intended to keep the spinnaker sheet
from going under the bow during the spinnaker takedown.
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Al has finally found a lane of clear air but his plan to go left early to get the suspected better breeze further out in the lake is on hold indefinitely. If Al was pretty sure there was more wind out on the left, he would need to go there at almost any cost, but here, he's not at all sure, so a trip to the right in clear air seems OK, provided he keeps an eye on the left and heads over there if a left-side advantage becomes obvious.
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Note the angled-up boom on 929 which is often a sign of
a mast not raked aft enough, something that inhibits pointing.
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By contrast, Al's boom  is nice and level, reflecting the recommended mast rake of about 23' 6" on SHADES.
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Might as well use the furling gear and get the jib out of the way.
This works in really light airs, and is definitely worth a try here!
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On the far left we can see Al gybing towards what he sees as a better breeze on the left. Things did not look good there for a while, prompting Mark to stay out on the right where he was. Of course, to be really safe, Mark could have "spent" some of his respectable lead (note his considerably shorter apparent mast height than anyone else's!). That way he could have made 99.9% sure that Al wouldn't get a breeze of his own. Which certainly did not seem likely at this point, but ...
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... sure enough, later in the leg, Al (r) did find a slightly better breeze on the left, and pulled even with Mark
not far from the leeward mark. And to add insult to injury, Al will have the inside overlap at the mark.
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By flying the chute himself, Al gives Colin lots of time to calmly stow the pole while SHADES is still well away from the mark. This would be a seriously annoying time for a rounding fiasco. Any second now, Colin will gather the foot of the spinnaker so that we can't sail over the sheet, at which time Al will check that there are no tangles in the spi halyard, and then Colin will pull the spi down while standing forward of the windward jib sheet so that he can just stuff the spinnaker in front of him and have it out of the way of the jib sheet for after the gybe.     
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