Bristol Cup 2008, race 4, What a difference a day makes...

What a difference a day makes! Sunday's last race started at almost the same time as Saturday's only race but conditions were dramatically better, wind winds ranging from about 8 to 12 mph during the race. The committee boat's back-up anchor dragged, mostly because of short scope, so we had to reposition the boat to make sure the finish line would have the same shape as the original starting line.

The course was a 5G "full sausage" with a nominal round-trip length of 3.2 miles and was a bit of a respite to the crews who had some difficulty in figuring out the previous course's turning marks.

The boats stayed reasonably closely grouped with the second finisher within two minutes of the leader, and the third and fourth boats within 20 to 30 seconds of the second boat.

Boats heel just after the start of the Bristol Cup's final, fourth race (Sunday's third).

Zoom view of race 4 start with the Rock Canyon Marina visible in the background. Sunday's third race was the fourth race of the weekend because only one light-air race was barely able to be completed on Saturday.

Two J/24s find their proper course down Elephant Butte Lake.

These two J boats had the course figured correctly and were on their way to a great finish.