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The (very well hidden) beauties of
airport smoking
lounges around the world
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Toronto
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Helsinki
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Even these two mermaids tried
to help
me find Jesper at the Copenhagen airport but none of us noticed him
until
he and I had been waiting for nearly an hour. The mermaids of course,
are
used to waiting even longer.
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Jesper Friis: a Regatta
Chairman's work
is never done!
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A nice welcoming smile from
Uncle Al's
genial host.
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Jesper's wife, Aida, was due
back later
in the evening, and her daughters, Gritt, and Katja (standing), and
Gritt's
boyfriend, Ulrik, were already at Jesper's for a surprise welcome home
party for Aida. Of course, we needed a little barbecued snack while we
were waiting for the big event.
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Mother Martha (Jesper's
daughter) soon
arrived (but too late for the snacks, alas!)...
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... with her husband, Anders,
and Jesper's
grandson, Casper.
(Denmark seems to be crawling with
Anders's
- why, even Donald Duck is Anders And in Danish!)
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I think we have a born
Principal Race
Officer here!
That look that says: "So what was
your question about the Sailing Instructions??!!"
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Imagine this room in 30C
darkness and
you'll get the scene as family and neighbours very quietly (even
Casper!)
awaited the moment when they could yell surprise (or its Danish
equivalent).
Uncle Al of course was expected to be there so he got to wait in the
cool
outdoors and greet Aida as if from an empty house. But first the others
had to wait and wait and wait while Aida unpacked and stowed the things
that needed refrigeration. Then Jesper and I got to admire enough
duty free smokes to stock a whole store. And all this time, Casper
remained
quiet in the living room. We finally did manage to lure Aida into the
living
room and a gratifying surprise was sprung on Aida who had been
extremely
glad to see the last of Greenland - although we did relive her time
there
at some length with great pictures and interesting stories.
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Elof Andersen (good God,
another Anders!)
has talents that go beyond being a fine musician and sailor. Here he
spends
his Thursday before the DM putting the finishing touches on a new
launch
ramp and dock which was named the Jyske Bro (dock) after its sponsors,
the Jyske Bank in Farum.
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Team Holland rolled in on
Thursday afternoon:
Ton Jaspers (right) and Giel Bloks.
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And the UKWA was represented by
Paul
Knowlson (right) and his son, Andrew.
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Some of Denmark's top Europe
dinghy sailors
were on Furesøen, hoping to get used to flat water, shifty
conditions
that they would get at their Worlds to be held in Hamilton, Ontario at
the end of the month. Trine Abrahamsen (above) even went so far as to
sound
out Uncle Al about any local knowledge he might have - which is limited
to: On a beat towards the Skyway Bridge, go right towards the steel
mills
side. At this writing (1 Sept. 02), Trine is lying 10th among 55
Olympic
hopefuls in the Women's division. Good luck, Trine!
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Carsten Holtborg (12), Trine
(11) and
Michael Risoer (55) return after some serious tuning and practice.
Michael was 13th of 55 at this time of
writing,
with two other Danes in the top 10!
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I still can't believe that they
can stay
under that boom while tacking, or - God forbid - during a heavy air
gybe!
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Joel Bøgh (right) stands
by as
Jesper takes yet another call regarding DM preparations.
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Thursday's most important task:
moving
the (not very easily) portable draft beer assembly and many (but not
enough)
kegs of beer from the warehouse to the sailing club. Christian Friis
and
an employee look on as Jesper wonders if his former mainsheet is up to
the task of tying everything down. It was!
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Ton and Giel prepare for the
mandatory
buoyancy test on Thursday afternoon. Note how the sun tent has already
been put up on the deck in front of the club. After several severe
tests,
the tent was found to be fairly downpour-proof on Friday and Saturday.
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Ton and Giel enjoy a fine, warm
afternoon
as their Wayfarer continues the buoyancy test which it passed with
flying
colours: no water in the bow and less than a draft glass full in the
stern
compartment!
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The calm before the storm:
Farum Sejlklub
(FAS) seems almost deserted in late afternoon as the Europe enthusiasts
put away their boats, but soon FAS will be a hive of activity since
Thursday
is club race night. Note the nice, symbiotic set-up of the building: a
new bigger and better restaurant upstairs shares the premises with the
sailing club (left) and the rowing club (right).
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