| 2004
AEC
Wayfarer Worlds the fifth day of racing - 5 photos by Kim Bergevin |
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| Peter Ayres (port)
crosses Andrew Haill near the windward mark. ... |
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| A much needed puff is
about to bless these boats. (l to r) Doug Honey, Jeff Cox, Bob Kennedy, Heider Funck, Liz Feibusch, David Platt ... |
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| Ed Morysiak (4601)
battles Nick Seraphinoff who started several minutes late. ... |
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| A lovely sight off
Port Credit: (l to r) Toby Mace, Steve Carroll, Gordon Harris,
Peter Rahn, John Hartley, Neil Fletcher, Jay Colville, Roger Challis, Søren Jensen ... |
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| Close battles almost
everywhere: (l to r) Dwight Aplevich, Alan Bell, Doug Ryan,
Mike O'Malley, Alastair Ryder-Turner ... |
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| (l to r) Dave
Hansman, Reg Bunt, Heider Funck, Peter Kozak, Dave Platt, John de Boer ... |
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| The fleet looks great
as we ... ... |
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| ... near the leeward
gate - for larger
version of this pic, click here ... |
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| Streaks of wind
(almost) everywhere: (l to r) Stephan Nandrup-Bus, George
Blanchard, John Goudie with Stewart Reed to leeward), Paul Laderoute ... |
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| Roger Shepherd comes
in from the right side as Neil Fletcher (9644) and Roger Challis battle
it out. ... |
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| Some of the
front-runners near the gate: (l to r) Toby Mace, Søren
Jensen, Gordon Harris ... |
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| (l to r) Andrew
Haill, Richard Johnson, Anne Armstrong, Peter Ayres ... |
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| Fine light-air form: (l to r) Doug Honey to leeward of Mike O'Malley, Roger Challis, Neil Fletcher (9644) and Stewart Reed ... |
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| The close battles
continue. ... |
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| A view from near the
leeward gate - for larger
version of this pic, click here ... |
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| Best buddies and
arch-rivals: Jesper Friis and Søren Jensen (Ed Tait's W825
a.k.a. 9355 Whistle) hang on to a narrow lead over Marc Bennett and Uncle Al. ... |
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| (l to r) Brian
Mills, Roger Shepherd, John Hartley, Paul Laderoute, Brian Jeffs, Steve
Carroll, Stephan Nandrup-Bus ... |
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| Race leaders, Graham
and Robin Barker, in excellent form after rounding the left mark of the
gate, have found a nice clear lane in which to put in a bit of time on
starboard tack, as Mark Taylor (7673), Søren Jensen (9355) and
Uncle Al (3854) prepare to round the left mark, also. ... |
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| But not before Ted and
Wendy Gadd sneak around in second place. Another boat that has caught
up amazingly well is Bizarre (8686) with Guy Hacon and Daniel
Watson, who have passed literally dozens of boats on this run!
Amazing!! Søren (2nd from left) is inside boat for the
left mark but has pulled his main in too soon, and will be nearly dead
in the water as he rounds, allowing ... ... |
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| ... Mark Taylor (7673)
to dive through to leeward and making Uncle Al choose between hitting
Søren's transom and ... ... |
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... a very quick tack
right at the mark. Kudos to crew, Marc Bennett, who is seen here,
completing the tack as though he had been given ample warning! Al can
safely tack here since Toby (8848) will not be allowed to alter course
in such a way as to give Al no chance to keep clear. Ted and Wendy
Gadd, of course, have no such concerns, since they have only clear air
in front of them!
... |
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| Things do look a bit
messy aboard SHADES. But not for long. After sailing through a
batch of spinnaker boats, Al and Marc will sail one of the best beats -
speedwise - of their long career: despite a progressive veer of over
30° that will benefit those who tacked later, SHADES went
so fast and pointed so well on a long, long starboard tack, that she
pinched off several of the top contenders even though the latter were
getting lifted inside SHADES. We ended up rounding off this
beat in 2nd place! Too bad we got no pictures of our settings!! ... |
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| Alex Rahn prepares to
douse the chute as Shadow nears the gate still well in
contention but with team Rahn disappointed at having lost a few boats. ... |
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This picture reflects very nicely, the
situations that were often faced by the competitors:
Should Toby Mace and Rachael Rhodes go through this mess, or tack and
have their wind screwed up that way? They have three seconds or
less to make up their minds!! And of course, they have to watch out
that no starboard boats will nail them after a potential tack!
... |
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| The next group nears
the gate - and a sizable group ... ... |
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| ... it is,
too! A wise John Hartley (7628) stays on port tack for the moment to
avoid the mess of spinnakers. Uncle Al meanwhile, threads his way
through (4th from left) with twist in his main to help SHADES
cope with the disturbed air, and will have a nice open stretch after
this brief lack of wind. Spinnakers from left to right: Mike O'Malley,
Dave Hansman, Peter Kozak (300), John Goudie, Ted Lacelle, Paul
Laderoute
behind Neil Fletcher (9644), Doug Netherton, Roger Challis, Alastair
Ryder-Turner, Heider Funck, Jeff Cox. |