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I can't recall ever being in another race like that!! What excitement!! Notice how Søren Jensen (10212) who had been on the very outside approaching the mark has slowed down to let Steen Madsen (far right) go by, and is now right inside. And Anders Friis (222) has to keep clear of both Søren and Al, so will have to go a little further before turning - enough to allow Per Larsen (far right) to round inside him. And have another look at Steen Madsen (far right): Has he left the two-boatlength circle? If so, Søren and anyone else who can get there is entitled to room at the mark! .. |
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| Other than a lot of nervousness, I
don't
remember much about this beat except that we defended the left side
against
Steen Madsen and Anders Friis who both headed out that way from time to
time. In winds that were getting lighter, all three of us seemed to
pick
the puffs and shifts well, and were moving away from the other closest
competitors - except for Poul Ammentorp who had gambled everything on
holding
a loooong port tack to the right side after rounding right with the
leaders.
Anders (P.) and I certainly kept a nervous eye on Poul and Irene who
were
far, far away on the other side of the course, and I'm sure Steen and
Anders
were doing the same, wondering if Poul would get lucky and get just a
little
shift that would give him the lead. And sure enough, when Poul finally
tacked, it was into a starboard tack rummer and he looked like he would
cross us. But then Poul sailed into a patch of light wind followed by a
skraller and that left Anders, Steen and Al to fight it out for the
lead.
At the windward mark, it was still Al by about two lengths over Anders
who was just a bit ahead of Steen. Aboard Whistle, we had
decided
that we would defend the left side which would give us the crucial
inside
position at the leeward mark where we would start the very short broad
reach to the finish line. Since the leg was still not dead downwind but
rather a starboard tack broad reach, this meant we would have to sail
lower
than Anders and Steen after rounding the windward mark - something that
takes a lot of nerve!
Spectators on shore who could see the whole thing quite well, later told us that it looked like Anders and Steen had passed us almost immediately after we rounded. And it's true that Anders got his bow out in front of ours by sailing higher right after rounding, but then he decided to defend against Steen who was close behind him and trying to take his wind. In winds that were now barely strong enough to fill the spinnaker, Al stood in the boat and constantly watched for puffs that were coming from windward and astern. He would sail higher to get to the puffs and then go straight downwind with them. Halfway down the run, we were actually below the rhumb line while Anders and Steen had worked their way up about 50 metres high of it. And we were still about bow to bow with Anders who continued to hold about a two-length lead on Steen. So while it looked to our support team of Aida and the Coach and his wife, Mette, on shore like Anders and Steen were ahead, we actually were feeling better about our position every minute since the time was fast approaching when Anders and Steen would have to bear away (= slow down) onto a dead run to get down to the mark. .. |
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sail higher than before to get up to the mark and speeded up into... .. |
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as 3rd-place Steen Madsen nears the gybe mark which is not in the photo... .. |
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Mogens Just just (aha! a pun = play on words) visible on the extreme left. .. |
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with Steen Ammentorp in 9733 (5th) and Poul og Irene Ammentorp in the red-hulled Woodie (6th). .. |
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Poul (239) can't get by to windward on this short reach to the finish. |