Bad News, having already won the July series and clinched the overall season championship, needed only one win today to capture the August series as well and thereby complete a clean sweep of all three.  The course for race #1 was 2p (red nun inside Ft. Adams),13p with the wind from the SSE at 10 knots, the tide flooding.  Both boats shied away from aggessive pre-start maneuvering in this pure match race situation and Bad News ended up starting slightly ahead but to leeward of Machbuster on a line which favored the rightside committee boat.  After several minutes of even sailing on starboard, a small righthand shift gave Machbuster a brief lead as Bad News elected to tack and duck.  With little appetite for spending the next hour in a tacking duel against a younger crew, and with lots of respect for Bad News' downwind speed, Machbuster gambled her slim chance for an August series title on a strategy of sailing off on her own.  This rarely successful approach had backfired before the boats even passed Rose Island, as better breeze on the right favored Bad News.  Then as Machbuster approached a long port layline, any remaining chance for victory was lost with an inopportune winch override that took several minutes to rectify.  Nothing short of a sinking could now keep Bad News from a well-deserved sweep of this year's series.  Bad News won the first "match" race by an un-match-race-like five hundred yards. 

Race #2 was shortened to 2p (the nun and back) and the wind was now down a knot or two.  Bad News again approached the starting line ahead and to leeward of Machbuster only in this case better timed, forcing Machbuster right once she cleared the committee boat.  Bad News followed to the right but Machbuster was able to cross after several minutes.  Unwilling to learn their lesson, Machbuster refused to cover Bad News closely, and again found themselves on the wrong side of a shift, handing the lead back to Bad News. However this time the boats were nose-to-tail as they rounded the nun amidst the returning Farr 40 fleet.  The two J/22's were soon side-by-side with their chutes up drawing admiring glances from even the grand prix yachts.  Benefiting from a balance of youth and sage wisdom, the Bad News crew (led by Michael Marshall, skipper, and Roger Marshall, middle) were content to allow Machbuster along side, and at times even slightly ahead, on the run to the finish, but never allowed Machbuster to gain control of the favored left side of the course.  At the finish it was Bad News by two lengths in a skillful example of match racing know-how against the out-smarted, but undaunted Machbuster. Next week, the Around-the-Island Race!