The one disadvantage of winning The Cup was that the Newport Daily News just had to point out that "Alas Infinity did not fair so well on the race course finishing tied for 9th in her class" Oh well the price of fame. We did like the e-mail we got from one our supporters though;

"When your eyes are fixed on the real prize you always win...you couldn't have shared a truer testamony of where your heart and soul are in this whole thing...thank you and all the others who contributed to and participated in this effort...Thank you for your inspiration"

Thanks Again! Brian.

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Click on any of the images for a LARGER version

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Saturday morning was warm and sunny. Great day for a race, except there was NO WIND! Debi, Chris and I powereed out on INFINITY to the start early. An hour after the start was scheduled, I was in the water trying to clean some of the grass off of INFINITY's water line. No anchor was out. Sixty or so boats were just parked around the committee boat. The only sail that was up was UNPLUGGED's new mainsail with the "Leukemia Cup" and "Banks Sails" logos on them.

Finally the wind picked up enough for a start. I thought I had a good approach for what I thought was our start, when Deb pointed out a boat near us that was in the class before us. I beared off thinking I must have screwed the sequence up again. But then saw the boats in our class go for the line. Damn, blew it again. It didn't really matter that we got a bad start. INFINITY with her older heavy hull, dirty bottom, and almost transparent headsail, doesn't like light air. We got killed on the first 6 mile race.

It was kind of interesting because, all the PHRF classes had the same course with the 2d and 4th mark being the same mark. We're trying to get around our second mark from our down wind leg with the big boys rounding it for the second time. As the Providence Journal noted though. The boats were a little more forgiven then usual at close roundings. Hey, Its for charity and we're all out here just for some fun! By the time we made it to the finish line most of the fleet were drifting or powering around the committe boat axiously waiting for us to get in so they could start the next race.

The second race was a shorter 3 mile race. Just before the start the wind actually picked up enough for INFINITY to start moving. We actually got a pretty good start this time. We tacked over toward the Jamestown shore along with Mistress and Tarimasu while the rest of the fleet favored the Newport side. Tarimasu just seemed to disappear once we got close to the Newport Bridge.

We were holding our own with Mistress up until the first mark. At least on actual time, We still owe her a ton of time. That's a picture of Mike Kelly's MISTRESS to the right. We had a pretty good tacking dual going for a while. I think I had boat speed over her but lost time on every tack. I've got some strange one speed reduction winches and it takes me for ever to get my genny in. Plus our third crewmember was down below sleeping by then. I've got a million excuses. What's that Dennis Connors quote "No excuse to lose!"

The wind seemed to lighten a little by the time we got to the downwind leg and we just couldn't get INFINITY to move. We finshed dead last again but at least we were within site of other boats this time. And at least we crossed the the finish line in the correct direction, AIRWOLF! Anyway it was a great day on the water. This was only about the 4th time we actually got to sail at all this year. I was just glad to be out on the water. Does that count as another excuse?

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HERES THE BRIEF RESULTS -TOP 3 OF EACH CLASS

NEWPORT LEUKEMIA CUP "2000" AUGUST-26
CLASS	FIRST	SECOND	THIRD
J-30	Phat Cat	Good News	Falcon
J-105	No Surrender	Kima	Rigadoon
J-22	Catch	Bad News	Blues Eraser
"A" SPINN	LeRenard	Timberwolf	Chris. Dragon
"B" SPINN	Pinnochio	Pretty Sketchy	Feral Child
"C" NON-SPINN	Madrigal	Glamourous Glenice	"R" Bouy
"D" NON-SPINN	Windekind	Counterpoint	Tiramisu
FUND RAISING	INFINITY	UNPLUGGED	AIRWOLF

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE RESULTS

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All comments & suggestions welcomed and appreciated. You can automatically E-Mail us by clicking on my address  C30INFINITY@aol.com.