... the winds were still quite gusty. About half a mile from the finish, Dwight - still leading by about 100 yards - almost got swamped by a vicious gust/knock combination that had caused one of the J-24's about 100 yards in front of him to to do crash spi douse. Not unwisely, leader Dwight did the conservative thing, and doused his chute. Equally wisely, Al and Marc decided to let it all hang out, fully aware that they had no chance at all of catching Dwight in what little of the race remained. They hiked their little hearts out in the gusts (see above) ragging the main and bearing away as necessary, all the while hoping and praying that they would get a header that was so bad they'd be planing right at the rocks to leeward.  

Luck entered the picture as well: one of the lengthier more benign moments like the one pictured above lured Dwight and Pat into trying a windward spi hoist. Halfway through this, they hit a nasty gust and were forced to abandon the project which had by now left the two boats virtually even. With photographer Carol cheering herself hoarse on behalf of the underdog Eclairelle team, the lead now went back and forth: Being to windward, Dwight and Pat would get any new gust first and surge ahead, then the better pressure would hit Al and Marc who would leap-frog ahead as the gust had already passed Team Aplevich. The decisive factor turned out to be that ...   - click here for full-size pic

... the leeward end of the line (see appropriate Canada flag on far point - Carol is standing at the other end of the line with her camera) was favoured, and in the end Al and Marc edged out Dwight and Pat by the slimmest of margins after an exciting 12 miles of racing. - click here for full-size pic

Happy to be back after a tow home are Fred Black (r) and Marc Tessier. (Today - 8 Nov 07 - Andrew Haill has provided more insight as to hwy Fred ended up towed: "there was a comment on Fred Black capsizing at the start.. as perhaps the reason for their DNF.  They may well have capsized (no idea, but don't think so) but the DNF was them breaking their rudder.  After passing the J5 turning mark, I noticed Fred and Marc sailing way off in the completely wrong direction and not looking like they were having much fun.  The main and the jib were half down and they were struggling with both sails.  There wasn't another boat close or noticing so we turned around and chased them down.  Once within talking distance we could determine they were okay with the exception that they no longer had a rudder.  There wasn't much we could directly do but hang on a bit until a tail end boat (the safety boat possibly) noticed their plight and came by to give them a tow home to their DNF.  I will say that as we turned upwind during this diversion, the reefed main I decided on after getting a bit anxious about the wind and weather during the tow up to North Bay was perfect for that condition... if only that race had been a close reach as anticipated instead of a broad one..." Al's note: An excellent example for us all: The very first item in the Racing Rules of Sailing, not to mentions the sailors' code, requires us to assist fellow sailors in distress, even during a race!!