Folkboaters take a tip from NASCAR

How many people can you put on the stern of a Folkboat before it submerges? By my count, 10 seems to be the number.
Why are these people doing this? Is this some sort of silly traditional internationals game to pass time between races?





Is it cheating to use the winches to pull the bow out of the water and up onto the dock?







...And if this were a competition which country would win?






Well, the answer is... some boats need a little love. Especially after the 40+ knots we had during racing on Wednesday.
The Dutch had their hands and buckets full, but they were still so fast!
They drew US 95, a season champion in her prime and every race there they were up at the front vying for #1.


The stem seemed to have a small leak and little special underwater epoxy later, she was ready for action.






Folkboat repair specialist Peter Jeal worked his magic and made this repair work for the rest of the regatta.





We all knew this boat was fast and a good draw, the Dutch might think otherwise having to pump every downwind leg. Didn't seem to matter much, they came in 1st in one race and if not for the last day they would have been in the top 5.