# 23ft Solo Ocean racers (Minis)



## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

23ft Solo Ocean racers (Minis)

This is one of the sailing series that I enjoy most. I really love the epic battles these young guns fight among them on their pocket rockets.

I will post this thread because I want to share the pleasure. This is one of the most exciting ocean sailing race series, with sailors from a lot of different nationalities and with the biggest number of sailing boats participating (I mean, on a transat).

This is a thread about Solo Ocean Racing and about amazing boats, 6.5m ocean racers (sometimes they race also in duo).
These boats are the initiation boats for almost all solo racers. They are fast, there are seaworthy and they are affordable.

There are two classes, Prototypes and serial Boats. The prototypes have it all, including canting keels (not power assisted), but the series are so competitive that it has happened a serial boat (and a fantastic sailor) beat all the "Protos".

The races include some Transats and some smaller ocean races. It is not unusual to have more than 80 racing boats on these races, and sailors from all nationalities, including Americans.

Great boats in huge numbers and fantastic highly competitive races with a lot of young and fearless sailors&#8230;.What do you want more?

Story of this race series:

"Created by Englishman Bob Salmon in 1977, the Mini Transat originally started from Penzance (Cornwall) and finished in Antigua after a stopover in Tenerife (Canary Islands). It gave birth to one of the most innovative and active class of ocean racers, and quickly became a major stepping-stone for aspiring professional skippers. Salmon's idea was to go back to ocean racing's "Corinthian" roots, the financial excesses of the OSTAR (Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race) prevented most amateurs from entering never mind standing a chance of ending up on the podium. Taking a radical approach, Salmon decided to limit the boat length to 6.50 meters (21.3ft), which ensured that budgets would remain reasonable and, at the same time, gave the newborn category the 'insane' factor it is still famous for. If, on today's ocean racing scene, a class still embodies the original spirit of pioneering adventures, it has to be the Mini Transat!

Over its 32 years of existence, the Mini Class has seen the birth of more than 700 boats, some of which featured groundbreaking solutions that later made their way to bigger racers. Michel Desjoyeaux's prototype, notably, was the first ocean racer to feature a canting keel, and that soon became the norm for round-the-world IMOCA 60 footers. All the greatest names in offshore racing competed in the Mini Class before going on to win major TransAtlantic races or capture victories around the globe, and if the Mini has always been dominated by the French, the most prominent British racers have taken part with convincing results: Ellen MacArthur, Brian Thompson, Sam Davies - skipper of the Artemis Ocean Racing IMOCA 60 for the Transat Jacques Vabre - but also Phil Sharp or Artemis Ocean Racing's Nick Bubb, currently competing on the Artemis Figaro in the Tour de Bretagne, to name just a few".

Sail-World.com : Artemis Ocean Racing â€˜young gunâ€™ Mini Transat starter

Mini Transat 6.50 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

*The Boats:*

YouTube - Downwind in 25 kts
YouTube - Peter Laureyssens full speed in his proto mini 6.5 (Ecover)
YouTube - Transat 650 - portrait d'Alex Pella
YouTube - David Krizek - ATLANTIK FT CZE 516
YouTube - Pure fun - Adria4ocean on Minitransat 2007
Classe Mini

and this is the next race:

Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables
Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables

Five months to go and there are already 39 inscriptions, from *7 different nations*.

Regards

Paulo


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## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

Bonjour Paulo-
We were in Stonington CT last summer and saw one of these hauled at the yard there. (The one that the Johnstones were involved with designing & building, and which one of their cousins sailed.) Really cool systems and setup, to enable FAST singlehanded sailing 24/7. It would be fun to see more of these doing coastwise racing as well.


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

paulk said:


> Bonjour Paulo-
> ... It would be fun to see more of these doing coastwise racing as well.


Hello Paulk,

I think you wanted to say "Bom dia"

They participate in some races in the USA:

2010-Mini Friendly Races

As you can see they have a forum.

There is even one boat made in the US.

Buying an M65

Probably you will see more in the future because the Mini class is becoming more and more international and the French are starting to be beaten.

For instance,on the last races, the production boat class, has been dominated by Francisco Lobato, a Portuguese young sailor. In the last "Les Sables-Les Açores", racing with a production boat, he has beaten everybody, including all the protos that have canting keels and are made of exotic materials (carbon). He has also won, on production boats, the last big transat (from France to Brasil) and on the first leg of that race (France -Madeira) he has done it again: With the exception of one, he has beaten again all the protos, this time racing with really bad weather (winds over 40K). Average speed: Over 10K .

I believe that there are also some Americans racing on the international series as well as sailors from all around the world. The number of racing sailors on the minis increases every year. Great competitive ocean racing on tiny but fast boats.

Regards

Paulo


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

I think I see Fred's next boat...


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Paulo,

They sure look like fun! Almost like something I could drive! Do you have any experience sailing one? Finding a location to sail one without a high risk of picking up something with the keel or one of the rudders would be tough and the speed of the encounter would sure make it interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

Down


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

There area a couple in Puget Sound, one went somewhere recently to race in one of the longer races. They do get up and go. But not super fast. But still look to be a lot of fun. The couple of them here were dry sailed out of ShilSHoal which helps for racing here to a degree. The big issue is trying to race PHRF, which is not really nice to this style of boat. Rated about 20-30 secs a mile too fast for buoy racing. On the open ocean, the initial rating was probably correct.

Ive liked the concept since I first saw these back int he early 80's.

marty


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## midnightsailor (May 23, 2003)

Thanks paulo for sharing this and bringing up these boats and races. I had become so involved in cruising and other aspects of sailing and boating that I had totlly forgotten about this class, basically only focusing on the more widely popoplar and known races like the Vende, around alone, etc. Way back when I was fairly new to sailing I started to follow these races and recal that Steve Callahan, the author of Adrift, was enetred in the mini transat which I believe started in England somewhere and was to end in Antigua. I believe he was somewhere between the Canary islands and Cape Verde islands , when he lost his self built racing sailboat "Napoleon Solo" setting off his historic , and epic feat of survival while adrift in a liferaft for 76 days , if I remember correctly. I will defeinately be paying closer attention to these boats and the races now that you have brought them back to my attention. regards, Rick


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

downeast450 said:


> Paulo,
> They sure look like fun! Almost like something I could drive! Do you have any experience sailing one? &#8230;
> Down


Down,
I would like to try one, but no, I haven't.

But I am looking for a new boat and, as almost all Europeans that like fast, small crew (or solo) oceangoing sailboats, I have my eyes on the new breed of fast cruising boats that are arriving at the market. They are not only arriving, they are selling .

These boats, between 32ft and 60ft, have incorporated many things that have allowed the Minis, the 40class and the Open 60 to be safe, fast, and forgiving boats, that can be handled by a single sailor. Of course, the cruising boats are less powerful, more easily driven, but are fast upwind and can go downwind without second thoughts or difficulty, well over 10k.

These boats are very light (for a cruising boat), hi-tech, with variable draft, some with water-ballast and with a very light but functional interior.
I want to try one of these&#8230;and they are certainly a desirable option for my next boat&#8230; If I can convince my wife of their beauty and if I can find the money for one (they are inevitably expensive).

I will soon share more information about these boats on this thread:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/boat-review-purchase-forum/62341-interesting-sailboats-2.html



blt2ski said:


> &#8230;The big issue is trying to race PHRF, which is not really nice to this style of boat. Rated about 20-30 secs a mile too fast for buoy racing. On the open ocean, the initial rating was probably correct.
> Ive liked the concept since I first saw these back int he early 80's.
> marty


Marty,
You are right, neither of these ocean racers (Minis, 9mclass, 40class, Open60) are good at any form of rating racing ( the ratings are too bad and anyway with any rating system it is not pure performance that matters).
This is also a new racing concept (well, it was new some years back) the basic concept that among the boats with the same size, the first to arrive is the winner.

Of course, if you try to ocean-race any other type of 23ft monohull against a Mini, you will be beaten and by a large margin. After all, that is a very Open class and that hull shape has evolved trough decades of racing, to the best compromise between an easily driven hull, stability, sailing carrying power and seaworthiness. If other hull shapes were as suitable to pure ocean sailing performance you would see them among the 80 participants of a Transat.

By the way, this is not only a very interesting class in what regards racing but it is also a very interesting class in what regards Boat Designers. Almost all of the best European designers have begun designing Minis and some of them, designing, building and racing them.



midnightsailor said:


> Thanks paulo for sharing this and bringing up these boats and races. I had become so involved in cruising and other aspects of sailing and boating that I had totlly forgotten about this class, basically only focusing on the more widely popoplar and known races like the Vende, around alone, etc. Way back when I was fairly new to sailing I started to follow these races and recal that Steve Callahan, the author of Adrift, was enetred in the mini transat which I believe started in England somewhere and was to end in Antigua. I believe he was somewhere between the Canary islands and Cape Verde islands , when he lost his self built racing sailboat "Napoleon Solo" setting off his historic , and epic feat of survival while adrift in a liferaft for 76 days , if I remember correctly. I will defeinately be paying closer attention to these boats and the races now that you have brought them back to my attention. regards, Rick


Rick,
Thanks for enjoying. The pleasure is mine. I love Ocean racing and it is much more agreeable to follow the races sharing them with sailors that love them as much as I do.
Yes, I remember those first races. To be true, at the time I thought that they were crazy. And probably they were . It was not just race but a big and dangerous adventure. All kind of sailors were in, including a lot of mad ones, that had not a clue about ocean racing, or even bluewater sailing. The accidents were more than many&#8230;and many serious sailors gave it a wide berth.

Some decades later it is a completely different story:

A long evolution has transformed the Minis into seaworthy boats that have to comply with strict and well proven safety rules. New sailors, before having their inscription accepted for a major race have to race very demanding ocean racing series to prove that they are up to the job.

The result:

On the last Transat (France-Brasil), from 85 boats only 7 boats retired from the race. All made it to port by their own means. And these guys were not cruising, they have endured winds over 40k and several boats made better than 270 miles on 24h (better than an average of 11k). They have stressed the boats to the limit.

That's an amazing low percentage of retired boats and a true demonstration of the incredible seaworthiness of these boats, taking into account their size.

From the seven, several retired by electrical problems and autopilot failure, some with broken rudders (they have two), only one had problems with the canting keel (after colliding with a submerged obstacle), one got stuck in a sand bank 60 miles from the finish line and the most funny story: they had to send two airplanes and a Brasilian navy vessel to catch a guy that passed at large of the Brasilian coast, and was heading to the South Pole. He had a "problem" with the GPS .

One of the guys, after the big party, is going to sail the boat home, as soon as possible, to Saint Martin on the Caribbean. That's for sure a sailor that doesn't mind to sail solo .

Headlines - La Charente-Maritime / Bahia - Transat 6.50

Regards

Paulo


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## midnightsailor (May 23, 2003)

Paulo, I see what you mean about the evolution of these boats and of the race itself. I watched the videos links you included and quite a few more other videos and I can tell you that I am suitably impressed with the speed and desighn of these boats. It is nice to hear of the current safety record too. If i recal the first one only had a 600 mile solo sail to qualify and there were at least one death and several other serious accidents in that race. I will be looking forward to following the upcoming race. Rick


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## Greenflash35 (Dec 1, 2008)

No Mini Transat in 2010 .


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

I remember first hearing about and getting interested in following the race myself in 1997 when Ellen MacArthur was putting a boat together for it...I think she finished 17th

I agree it is a great race.

YouTube - Ellen MacArthur - motivation, preparation & communication p1


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

You are right. Not a Transat but a big Classic: Les Sables, Açores, Les Sables. That's almost as much mileage as a Transat

Last edition had 70 boats, 1/3 of them was not French.

This Year's edition will start at 1 of august and has already 18 inscriptions, one of them, an american sailor.

Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables

On this year's edition it is possible that they have less boats. Some of the best guys (and girls) from the minis will be racing on the Solitaire du Figaro, also a big classic solo race, but raced on the Figaro Benetau, a 33ft boat.

They are kind of upgrading, because on the Figaro races you will find some of the world's best ocean solo racers, coming from the minis, to the Open60, Class 40 and even multihulls. That's a very exclusive race, even the best from the minis have to race qualification races (the guy that have won the last Les Sables, Les Açores and the last mini transat had to run qualifying races, as all the others ).

Le Figaro - La Solitaire

Regards

Paulo


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Stillraining,

That´s a nice video. thaks for posting.

Ellen is quite a lady. As you know she is not racing anymore, but still sailing, but this time with a different objective: Help young people that recentely recovered from a bad disease, through sailing.

She uses sailing as a therapy for regaining confidence and trust.

*"The Ellen MacArthur Trust takes young people aged between 8-18 sailing to help them regain their confidence, on their way to recovery from cancer, leukaemia and other serious illness."*

YouTube - EMT2007#!

The Ellen MacArthur Trust

On the last years, after the end of the IMOCA world championship, we have not seen many images of those spectacular big multihulls (that we can see on the video) racing together. They have grown in size and have been racing circumnavigation and Transats, to set new world records.

For the first time in several years we are going to see them competing together, first on the "Route du Rhum" and after on a no limits circumnavigation race.

I hope you are interested not only on the little ones, but also on the biggest and fastest ocean sailboats. I am waiting those races with a lot of expectation.

YouTube - Maxi Tri Banque Populaire V at Very High Speed

YouTube - Groupama 3 -- 7-31-2009

YouTube - Francis Joyon The Globe Killer

Regards

Paulo


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Paulo,

Just did a quick parusal of the mini transat site, but could not figure out whom the americans are. where is that info?

Marty


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Here :

Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables

Ryan races a proto.

RYAN FINN OCEAN RACING

On the Serie boats you will find a guy from NZ.

http://www.conradcolman.com/

Les Sables - Les Açores - Les Sables


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Hey, nice stories on Conrad's site. Nice Guy:

" Another of the mini sailors who was out doing the qualifying voyage at the same time as me had dolphins save his boat from a sorry end on the rocks. He had fallen asleep while heading in towards shore when the was awoken by a dolphin knocking on the hull and splashing to wake him up when he was dangerously close to the rocks. Next time you see flipper, throw him a kipper to say thanks."

http://www.conradcolman.com/


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## puddinlegs (Jul 5, 2006)

blt2ski said:


> There area a couple in Puget Sound, one went somewhere recently to race in one of the longer races. They do get up and go. But not super fast. But still look to be a lot of fun. The couple of them here were dry sailed out of ShilSHoal which helps for racing here to a degree. The big issue is trying to race PHRF, which is not really nice to this style of boat. Rated about 20-30 secs a mile too fast for buoy racing. On the open ocean, the initial rating was probably correct.
> 
> Ive liked the concept since I first saw these back int he early 80's.
> 
> marty


Two local sailors (Craig Horst, and Chris Tutmark) did the mini Transat. Kurt Hoenke did one of the double handed qualifiers with Craig and wrote a nice article about the experience for Sailing magazine as well as Yachting Northwest. They *are* super fast in planing conditions, but Puget Sound on an average day isn't a typically good venue to showcase their capabilities. But you're right, they aren't buoy racing boats, nor were they intended to be.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

puddinlegs,

I remember the article(s) one or both of them wrote in a couple of the local freeby rags, but it NW yachting or 48N. But could not remember if they were going to do this again. There was another that did this a few yrs back. He currently has a Riptide 43, had the RT35 "terramoto" before. Writes for Sailing world too, has a twin?!?!? brother that also sails pro IIRC. 

Paulo, 

I do not know that american off the top of my head. You might also want to check out the above mentioned Riptide 35, a very interesting boat of which 2? only were made. Water ballast and the whole works, still a very fast local boat here in Puget Sound. Set a record or two IIRC on the Victoria-Maui race.

Marty


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Mini sailors have nice and interesting stories.

This one is from Ryan Finn (an US racer) and happened on one of the qualifying races (Mini Pavois) to "Les Sables, Les Açores, Les Sables", the big race:

"Well, I definitely saw the shark. I'm guessing it was a basking shark, because it was a shark that was basking. Combine that with the fact that I don't really know anything about sharks and this is the kind of information you end up with. It was definitely big though. The picture I took is way too lame to publish, so I'll leave it to your imagination to come up with an image.

That was second day into the Mini Pavois race, after this happened: which was a result of an autopilot ram failure. Unfortunately it was my only autopilot ram that did this, and I had to sail back to La Rochelle (the start) and rush to a shop in Gill foul weather gear to buy a new ram. 

This is a story to itself, but basically the shop in La Rochelle fronted me the ram with no collateral, in faith that I'd pay them when I got back. Pretty amazing, but somehow part of the spirit surrounding the Mini scene and solo racing in general in France. You'd have to see it to believe it.

*How I got to that point:* 
We started in 20-25 knots for a short upwind leg before heading off to Gijon on the north coast of France. They give us these upwind legs to keep us on our toes, I think&#8230; So I have a decent start, round the top mark in good shape, so I can take my time setting up the code 5 for the wild broad reach to Spain. That involves going below and stacking all of the gear aft, because minis are incredibly nosey boats. I left the water ballast in, because I knew I'd need the righting moment to stay high and clear the tip of an island which we must keep to port. below is Myrna in the fight. 

 SNAP! Kite up, and the boat is flying over, then crashing into the back of a short chop in the bay created by a current coming in and wind going against. I've never taken such a constant amount of water over the decks downwind. Anyone know what a crankbait is? The bass fishing lure? This was that, and it was going to be a long night. 

It soon became obvious that the sailplan was too powerful to carry the island, and I had to get the Ullman code 5 down. Boats were wiping out all over the place, so I was feeling pretty smart in my thinking. Pilot on, and time to sort the tack line and halyard before cracking off for the douse. I pick up the tack line and then hear a beeping noise (autopilot alarm), and bam! We broach hard. 

So Myrna is on her side, I blow the tack line grab the sheet and pull the kite in to windward of the mainsail with the halyard clutch open. It is both ugly and effective and the kite is unharmed. Boat back on feet, and on course. Then I realize the bowsprit had gone to the dark side (leeward) and when I try to rotate it to windward it's clear that there were victims in this little event. The sprit gooseneck pictured at the top is what was left, and was rendered unusable. 

I reset the pilot, and it seems to work while sailing underpowered and trying to figure out what to do with the bowsprit issue. Then the alarm goes off again and the ram seizes again. It's a high voltage alarm, and I recognize it from testing my back up ram the day earlier, which I discovered also didn't work. It means the motor if f'd. But hey! it's a short race. What's the risk of going with one ram? Umm&#8230;

So I decide to head back and figure out what to do with the rest of my race. It's a long upwind beat in 20-30 knots, and I anchor outside the harbor for a couple of hours waiting for a tow in. Tow boats are limited, because they are assisting a boat or something, then when I get in I realize that two boats have been dismasted, one flooded with a ballast scoop failure and various other boats with smaller problems not unlike my own. So I was lucky.

I rush off to get the ram, replace some broken battens with battens from the mainsail of a friend who lost his mast, and head off again just before sun down. Without the bow sprit I only have main and jib, and it's a pretty damn dull way to sail a mini, but that's that. I need to finish the Mini Pavois to get the qualification miles for the Azores race, and the guy who gave me his battens to cut up basically said I have to finish, so&#8230; Plus, my computer was in a van on its way to Gijon. I really had no choice.

Getting to Gijon doesn't much deserve writing about, but I did see a very large shark basking, and I love Spain. The food is great and I had a meal twelve hours ago that I'm still full from. However, the best discovery I've made since getting to La Rochelle for the Pavois is how much I'm enjoying the mini and the people who make up this amazing class. There is nothing in my experience to compare it to, and I am very glad to be a part of it now. 

To be honest, before I started this race, I actually looked at the mini as a thing to get through rather than a thing to enjoy. Now I'm finally enjoying it and even starting to get it. Who knew. 

The second leg starts on Monday, and at the moment looks like a quick ride on an alternate course bouncing us all over the bay before finally finishing in La Rochelle. With help from the organization I've had the bowsprit uni joint sorted out and I will work my ass off to stay at the front. I'm not worried about damaging the boat anymore. It's just part of the process of working a boat up. I just happen to be getting scored for it."

05/10/10

Sailing Anarchy Home Page


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

blt2ski said:


> Paulo,
> 
> You might also want to check out the above mentioned Riptide 35, a very interesting boat of which 2? only were made. Water ballast and the whole works, still a very fast local boat here in Puget Sound. Set a record or two IIRC on the Victoria-Maui race.
> 
> Marty


The architect says about it:

".. The concept for the 35 was conceived by Jonathan during a long and uncomfortable distance race on an ultralight 50 footer. He realized that a high percentage of the sailors on board were there purely as human ballast. His design brief was for a high performance racer/cruiser capable of blistering speed on the race course (Jonathan is an Olympic gold medalist in the FD class and a silver medalist in the 49er class). The boat was intended to be sailed only by the number of people required to handle the boat. In addition the boat also needed to have reasonable accommodations for family cruising with standing headroom, galley and enclosed head. She is capable of being sailed to a large percentage of her potential with a crew of two or three persons."

This is the same program as for example a 40class boat in cruising version. It is a very nice boat.

The draft limits a lot the boat for cruising. The new Pogo 12.50 solved this with a retractable keel.

I feel the same as Jonathan about crews and racing boats. Looking at a big racing boat with 25 guys sitting on the rail it is to me an anachronism (back to XIX century): Human bodies as ballast

Regards

Paulo


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Paulo,

I though you would like that boat. I could not believe how fast it was the first time I saw it race. flew thru the water on a night of <8 knot winds, the rest of us pretty much sat in comparison. IIRC they did a double 5 mile loop in the same time it took most of us to do one loop. Boats ranged in PHRF from about 40 to 250. IIRC 100 is about a 1.000 in IRC. Use as a reference, I may be off some. J109s are 72, that might be better reference. Terramoto is a 39. There was a TP 52 or two around here for a bit, IIRC about -60. These were older models, NOTHING like the current breed in the med and near you in Cacsais at the start of the Audi med cup. Compare an original Figaro to what you described the FIII to be.


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

Marty...How about some picture of your last races blistering results with my daughter aboard...I promised Dog updates...


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Scott,

oops, for got the camera! Not sure if results are up as of yet, I have sent them to the web miester. Home, click calender and events or Calendar click that for that page. As of me typing this, they are not up. I usually need to give Curt a day or two. I'll email you the results in a moment.

marty


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