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| With the blue shape on the RC
boat about to come down to indicate one minute to go, Jamie (4594), Al
(3854) and Bill (937) are already booking front row seats. ... |
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| Well under a minute to go. Al is
worried about being able to hold his position and so ... ... |
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| ... takes this fortunate
opportunity to bail out so that he can take another, more comfortable,
run at the line a bit further down. ... |
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| Jason (3140) looks like he'll
have room at the boat end. Alan (7346) is approaching from a dangerous
position since he'll have trouble slowing down, but ... ... |
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| ... it looks like he'll be OK
this time. The yellow shape will come down to indicate ... ... |
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| ... that we're OK to go. Only a
couple of seconds to go, and Bill (937) and Al (to leeward of Bill) are
working to get to full speed. ... |
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| At the gun, Alan (7346), Jason
(3140), Bill (937) and Al are moving well, but Jamie (4594) is still
sitting and stands to get thoroughly buried. ... |
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| Alan (7346) was positioned for a
great start but is too slow to point up and has sailed right down into
Jason's backwind. ... |
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| A bit late is Andrew (4610), but
late at this end will at least give him the option to tack, unlike poor
Jamie (4594) who will be stuck in dirty air for some time now. ... |
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| Having started to windward and
astern of a non-pincher (Alan), Andrew (4610) comes out of this
smelling of roses. Dave (far left,
black bow) is buried once again, but even he is better off than
Jamie (4594), because ... ... |
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| ... Dave at least is in a spot
where he can tack away easily. On the right, Al (3854) is pinching off
Bill (937) who ... ... |
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| ... remains SHADES' nearest rival in the series. ... |
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| Bill (937) is now well and truly
backwinded by Al (3854) and now has to decide which is the lesser of
the evils: stay in Al's dirt or tack and go behind Andrew (4610)? ... |
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| When Robin (l) looks up after this tack to
clear his air, he will be unhappy to note that Dave (282), not
unexpectedly, has had the same idea and is now between Robin and clear
air. ... |
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|
Al (3854) begins to pull away
while Bill (937) has decided to ride this out. That may or may not be a
good move since Al won't likely tack until Bill does, so that latter
may be in for a long stretch of dirty air. Bill's best hope may be to
pinch up and try to force Andrew (4610) to tack away, which would then
give Bill the option to tack, too.
... |
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| After a belated start, Brian has
tacked away into a great breeze that has crew, John, doing his fine job
of hiking once more. Everything looks great on Afternoon Delight. ... |
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| Later in the leg: Bill (yellow)
has been hurt by sailing in dirt and has fallen behind Andrew (4610) as
well as ... ... |
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| ... Dave (282) who is again
recovering nicely from his unimpressive start. ... |
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| Here Dave has just crossed Bill
and Dave will also ... ... |
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| ... cross Jamie. ... |
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| Here, Dave (282) misses a chance
to boat speed test against the speedy Andrew. Unless he smells more
wind or a propitious shift closer to the port lay line, Dave might have
done better to tack to leeward of Andrew in order to challenge him from
there. ... |
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| Near the port lay line:
Turnabout is fair play. This time Bill (937) will ... ... |
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| ... cross Dave. ... |
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| Out near the port lay line, we
find Al still in the lead and protecting same by ... ... |
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| ... staying between Bill and the
next mark. Al seems to have sailed into a big knock. If this holds, he
will tack, since playing this big a shift is more important than
staying with the competition at this early point in the race. |
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