Two of our teams - the Rahns and the Johnsons - needed to leave pretty soon however, and were not keen on more racing at this belated hour. At which point in the debate, the train incident put an end to doubts as to whether we had enough time to sail one or two more races. One of the rare trains that use the tracks which we cross when entering or leaving the club, derailed, and word rapidly spread that no one would be able to enter or leave the club for at least four hours!! Ergo, there would be plenty of time for ...

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... Uncle Al (3854) and Peter Rahn (286). This was the race in which the SHADES spinnaker went up sideways on the first run, and Al and Nick had to dig their way out of a 5th-place hole at the start of the second beat. On the final beat (above) Al and Nick managed to squeeze past ...

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... Peter and Alex as well as John and Dolores (7351) near the finish line to finish 2nd and at least set up a points tie for the US Nationals series lead with Frank and Andrew going into the deciding final race of this no-drop series. If the racing had ended here, Frank and Andrew would have won the tie-breaker.

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... lovely roll tack. No more pictures - and it's just as well since our finale started with OK winds but had to be shortened to two sausages as the winds were once more dying. The RC must have enjoyed watching our nerve-wracking final-race finish as Al, Frank and Peter finished the finale in that order and hardly more than a boatlength apart.

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