the 2009 Midwinters & U.S. Nationals
Saturday: Race 4.4 & post-race
photos mostly by Randall Moring and Andrew Haill
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After the beep, it's the high fives for ...
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... skipper and crew.
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The final beat has begun for this ...
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... impressive fleet of MC Scows.
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Nearest to Uncle Al's camera are the MC leaders, Any Fox (windward) and honorary Wayfarer, Dave Moring.
- for full-sized pic, click here
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In W555, we have ...
- for full-sized pic, click here
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... Andy Douma with Paul Pineault who are pointing far better after the morning's tweak session, and are ...
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... on their way to a much improved 9th. Here they are about to cross Ted and Mary (991).
Meanwhile, Andy Fox (r) is maintaining his lead over Dave Moring (2188) in the MC's.
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Here we see the four of them a minute or so later.
 - for full-sized pic, click here
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Dave Moring (2188) has won his past two MC regattas (which, I believe, earned him his buzz cut on Friday??)
but here, Andy Fox has him safely tucked away as he sails towards victory in Race 1 of the MCs' George Washington Regatta.
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Just in case I some day get to borrow an MC and race with these guys, I could do worse than to study Andy's and ...
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... Dave's form, I guess. To leeward of Dave, we have Richard Watterson and Mark Nye,
who are cruising towards their only last-place finish of the series.
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Andy (12188) wisely makes sure he doesn't pinch up into Ted's dirt here.
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As Butch Minson run back towards the start area, Andy makes one last tack and will cross the line in MC first.
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As Eric Hood (2478) and Lee Sayler (2201) head towards 8th and 14th place respectively,
Peter Rahn (286) does his best to stay out of the way of the MC's - which seem to be everywhere!!!
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Frank and Andrew (r) await the day's second race in a pleasant little westerly breeze.
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Frank assumes the lounge position.
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Nick (l) and Al enjoy their post-race Grolsch.
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Peter (l) and Alex cruise on by as Uncle Al and Nick heave to. Which is when we first began to suspect the worst: Three times inside of two minutes, SHADES gybed out of the hove to position - something virtually unheard of. The jib was still backed all right, but the main was getting a totally different wind!! Weird - and a bad omen! As we feared, the wind went squirrelly for a few minutes, and then died. Nothing left to do but drift towards shore and await developments, such as the promised delicious burgers and sausages BBQ at the club.
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After the racing had been cancelled for the day, and after a the tasty BBQ,
Mark Nye, went out for a little run in his? little sailing canoe? made by Hobie.
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