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| And so, while Tim (7346) and
Jamie (4594) hold port towards the right side of the beat, will Lori ... ... |
 |
| ... find happiness nearer the
middle? Stay tuned. ... |
 |
| Having happily held port as long
as was necessary to stay with Bill (937), Marc tacks to put himself
between Bill and the windward mark. ... |
 |
| Bill (yellow) has been
outpointing Marc so ... ... |
 |
| ... the latter tacks across for
two good reasons: 1. if Bill is consistently sailing in a lift that
Marc has not been getting, the latter will do well to go over and get
the same benefits; 2. by going ... ... |
 |
| ... across, Marc can get back
into the safe position ... ... |
 |
| ... between Bill and the mark.
Now, a big lift can no longer move Bill past Marc. Of course, had a
knock come along while Marc was still to leeward and ahead, he would
have gained big time, but why take chances when you're already ahead? ... |
 |
| Right after completing his tack,
Marc briefly foots to get his speed back up, as the battle between the
leaders continues. ... |
 |
| Marc tacks again in order to
maintain his position between Bill and the mark. ... |
 |
| We must be getting close to the
mark, since Frank already has the pole ready for action aboard Buttercup. It will the crew's job
to call the ... ... |
 |
| ... tack that will allow us to
... ... |
 |
| ... lay the mark. Again, no big
hurry about the upcoming spi hoist here, what with hull speed wind
making the spinnaker only a marginal upgrade. Much better to
concentrate on ... ... |
 |
| ... heeling to windward to help
the turn. And of course, we have
discussed strategy during the approach to the windward mark: Once
again, we'll go with our preference to defend the left, which means ... ... |
 |
| ... a gybe followed by a hoist,
which we hope will discourage Bill from fighting us for the left. ... |
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| And it does! Meanwhile, the Dave
and Carol Hansman (282) comeback continues as they have ... ... |
 |
| ... moved past Andrew (4610)
into
3rd place. ... |
 |
| Jamie (4594) has caught up
nicely on this leg and is now 5th, just ahead of Tim. ... |
 |
| One of the fun things about runs
is that, like on a beat, boats can choose a number of different paths
to the next mark. ... |
 |
| Marc (red spi) has decided to
sail his own race and "let Bill (937) go", but continues to defend the
left side of the run, which ... ... |
 |
| ... will give him the essential
inside position at the mark before the final short beat home ... ... |
 |
| ... if the boats should arrive
at the mark overlapped. ... |
 |
| In the event, they don't. Marc
(3854) has found more good puffs than Bill and increased his lead. Marc
and Al have thus broken the Stuart Walker admonition: "Don't be
greedy!" Note
the fairly early douse which costs little but ... ... |
 |
| ... guards against any major
foul-ups (see next page for a lengthy example!!!) that could cost us
the lead! ... |
 |
| But first, these two pictures
again show how Marc and I, very briefly, undersheet ... ... |
 |
| ... the jib while the crew
cranks the main in hand over hand. It is less costly to let the jib
luff a bit for a couple of seconds, than it is to sheet all the way in
too soon. |
| next photo page return to 06 Onts index |