This illustrates how free-sailing races are run. The boats race two at a time, up the course and back. A skipper is credited with 3 points for winning a beat (upwind heat) and two points for winning the run (downwind heat).  The boats are launched in waves, so several races can be going on at once. The beat is done first; as soon as one pair of boats reaches shore and are turned, the next pair is launched.
(Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version; use your browser's "Back" button to return. Photographs by Judy Boebert)

After you launch, you and your competitor trot smartly to the point where your boat is coming ashore and turn it with the pole before it stops.  The stronger the wind, the more smartly one must trot, and sometimes run. After I've turned "Ex Libris" here, she'll sail on port tack all the way across the lake and be turned by one of the volunteer "free mates." I will have walked briskly to thepoint where she'll come ashore again and do it a second time.  A well-trimmed M boat should require three or maybe four tacks to beat the full length of the lake.  On my first heat to windward Itook ten, owing to a badly misadjusted vane. Live and learn.

When all the boats have reached the windward end of the lake, they are pulled out and retrimmed for the run. This involves resetting the vane, adjusting the sheets, and possibly rigging the spinnaker. It also gives you time to catch your breath and socialize with the other skippers until it's your turn to sail. Here we see Roger Stollery (on the left), one of the most prolific and successful designers around, taking a break with Russell Potts, chairman of the UK Vintage Group while a group of San Francisco skippers set a spinnaker in the background. This was late Saturday, when the wind was uncommonly light for Fleetwood.

This is Stollery's "Brandysnap," a legendary boat back in the water for the first time in decades.

Another shot of "Brandysnap," showing Stollery's coaxial vane design, which represents the ultimate evolution of the moving carriage vane.

Another example of the high standards of craftsmanship exhibited by many of the UK boats. Unfortunately, we didn't get the name of the builder.

Skippers awaiting their turn for the runs. The body language tells you that this is late in the day.  We all did 16 heats (8 up and 8 down), which means you walked, trotted, or ran about 2 1/2 miles each day.

The UK skippers set these huge polyethelene spinnakers even in high winds.

The swans take the boats in their midst with customary aplomb.

We end appropriately with a shot that demonstrates the way the UK boats dominated the event. This is an example of Stollery's "Bloodaxe" design running nicely under spinnaker.

Click here for a technical evaluation of how the various features of "Ex Libris" did.