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You betcha! I believe this is
where the RC is informing the Eclairelle crew of their OCS! A
tough pill to swallow! But before I depress you, have a peek to the
right: What's wrong with this picture? It looks like Geoff's windward
spi sheet barber hauler has come loose and the sheet is going almost
straight up. Geoff appears suitably concerned but crew, George Waller,
looks like he's busy with his laptop or something. Still, Geoff and
George must have done a lot of things right since they reached the
leeward marks right with the leaders.
.. |
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| Meanwhile, Nick and Marc
complete a fine gybe with Nick keeping the chute full while Marc works
on the pole. .. |
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| Ted (l) and Fred pass
on the one side of the RC boat ... .. |
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| ... while David and Peter carry
a nice puff past the other side. .. |
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|
Al and Frank have managed to
move past Heider and Tom into 1-2 or 2-3 depending on how Paul and Alan
make out at the other end of the gate. On the right, George and Mike
gybe as they prepare to round the left-hand mark also.
.. |
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|
Half a minute later, Uncle Al
(just visible off Geoff Edwards blue and white spinnaker) has rounded
smoothly, about three lengths clear of Heider who is rounding the
left-hand mark at the same moment as Paul rounds the right-hand one. As
can be seen from this photo, it's a good close race for the entire
fleet.
.. |
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|
Here Nick is rounding the
left-hand mark in 4th place which will soon be a 3rd since Paul and
Alan have had spinnaker overboard drill or something and have stopped
near the right-hand mark. Now that Al is clear of most of the
spinnaker-disturbed air, he begins to think in terms of putting some of
his narrow lead to windward of the high-pointing Heider by throwing in
a couple of quick tacks.
.. |
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| Mission accomplished! Actually,
I seem to recall that Heider tacked first and we followed suit
immediately whereupon Heider tacked again as did we! .. |
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| 3854 came out of her tack
faster than 6. Neither of us worries about Nick, just about each other.
Actually, as it turned out, despite Nick's much improved speed this day
... .. |
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| ... 3854 and 6 were still just
a bit faster. Thanks for the loan of the jib, Nick; it really helped!!! .. |
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| A grimly determined team of
Frank (l) and Al show great upwind form as they cover ... .. |
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| ... Heider and Tom ... .. |
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| ... relentlessly. .. |
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| Superb upwind form for Doug and
Françoise also. .. |
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| After their leeward mark
spinnaker debacle, Paul and Alan (r) have some serious catching
up to do as they prepare to cross behind Kit and Gord (1037). |