... their close battle. Before Colin got his overlap on Geoff, he should have thought ahead to the possibility of getting stuck in this position. How could he have avoided this position? Well, what he (should have) wanted to do was pass Geoff to windward, or at least end up inside at the upcoming mark (to Geoff's left). To that end, Colin wants to start right away by sailing a few boat lengths high of Geoff's course, which would leave the boat ahead with clear wind and usually not inclined to fight with the windward boat. There are other reactions from the leeward boat and counter-moves by windward that are fun to contemplate, but I don't want to bore you. Such a discussion is best done over beer!  Suffice it to say that, unless Colin had a clear and pressing reason (more wind???) to go to the right on the run, he should have attacked by going left.   

Mark and Paul (7673) round like the champions they are. In their first race together, Marc and Julie have sheeted their sails in way too soon. The jib especially is too strapped in, even for a beat - note the nice curve in Paul's jib by comparison! And of course, Marc won't have had time to coach Julie into doing what he does for Uncle Al: take the mainsheet and whip the main in as Al rounds, before handing it back to Al who pulls in the final few inches. But be that as it may, Marc is doing a nice job of Slow down and win. He is strategically better off here to ...  

Looks like Rodrick (3568) will beat the other two to the leeward mark here. Meanwhile, the apparent collision between Alan and Gary (2679) could lead to an interesting protest: Gary is leeward boat and so Alan needs to keep clear - unless they are so close to the mark that they are "about to round", at which point Gary would be bound by Rule 18 to give Alan enough room to make a seamanlike rounding.