2000 NAC race 5 part 2

The leaders begin the run with the heart of Toronto's impressive sky line as a backdrop. Actually, Annemarie missed the part where Uncle Al gybed just after rounding in a 20-knot gust, lost the tiller, nearly swamped and then nearly death-rolled when Frank and Al overcorrected to windward. That may explain why Keith has yet to hoist his spi, and why Heider (pink and white) took a minute or two to raise his spi. After this, Uncle Al was a bit too nervous to truly enjoy this exciting run.

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Now the fleet approaches the RC boat, which is perfectly positioned to see the exciting run up close. From left to right, the boats are: Ryan, Roger, Peter Ayres, Keith, Randy (beating), Heider, Al and Hazel (far right).
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Comin' atcha!!! Frank looks quite relaxed after the earlier adventure, but Al has that anal retentive look and hasn't even ventured to lean forward to release the main cunningham! (ed. note: my spell checker wanted me to change this to cunning ham!!!!) Mike Mac's spare spi (8868) which Mike gave to Al after the '92 Worlds at Hayling still looks pretty darn nice!!!

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And here's how it looked without the zoom: (left to right) Roger, Ryan (7380), Peter Rahn, Ivan Pedersen (beating), Keith, Al, Heider, Kit Wallace (I think!) and Hazel Hewitt.
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Congratulations, Annemarie Pedersen, on one of the finest sailing photos I've ever seen!
This one has atmosphere, symmetry, colour, action - the works! Look at the concentration on the crews' faces - and Heider doesn't look all that much less anal than Uncle Al did, I'm glad to note!
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Peter and Alex Rahn pass the RC boat - in a bit of a lull!
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But soon they're off and ready to plane in the next puff!
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The leaders approach the leeward mark: From left to right, Keith still trying for the inside overlap on Heider, Peter Rahn, Roger Shepherd with Ryan Mahaffey right off his bow, Uncle Al going low as he likes to do on the free legs, and Peter Ayres with that patriotic Maple Leaf spi once more.
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Stefan (left) appears fully recovered from his swim in Lake Ontario!
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Dennis Platt checks for incoming bird droppings as George Blanchard cruises by the RC boat.
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No more pics from this race which saw Frank and Al round the leeward mark with a nice hundred-metre lead over Heider which he converted into a perfect covering position by tacking 50 metres after rounding the mark and then tacking again as Heider rounded. This put Al where he wanted to be, between Heider and the finish line. From there, Al covered Heider methodically to win the race and clinch the 6-race, one drop series with 1-1-1-2-1 placings. Heider's 2nd place finish also clinched him the series runner-up spot with one race to go. Keith Haill and Sam Hodder took a big step towards securing series 3rd when they beat out Ryan Mahaffey and Alan Laderoute for 3rd place in this heat. A 5th for Peter Rahn left him with only a slight mathematical chance at series 3rd: He would need to win the finale while both Keith and Ryan had to place worse than 6th!

Roger and Carl Shepherd pretty well sewed up series 6th with a 6th in this race while 13th-seeded Peter and Jon Ayres completed one of their best Wayfarer races ever in 7th. John and Dolores deBoer placed 8th for the fourth time in five races, while Hans Gottschling (9th) and Randy Park (10th) completed the top 10.