Report on the 2014 Texas 200

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Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby jeadstx » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:40 pm

Here is an account of my experience on the 2014 Texas 200. I will be writing a more detailed account later.

We arrived in Port Mansfield about 11pm on Friday the 6th of June. My crew this year were Mark Neinast and his son Michael out of Plano, Texas. We parked the Jeep and trailer and got up to our room at Harbor Bait and Tackle. Turned out to be a real nice place with 3 beds which worked out great. We had a porch overlooking the harbor and a slip for the boat came with the room.
I try for 4 years to get other Day Sailers to sail the Texas 200, gave up and decided to sail an O’Day Mariner for a change of pace. This year three Day Sailers were registered, although only one sailed the event. I’m not sure what happened to the other two.

Plan was to launch and prepare the boat on Saturday. So late Saturday morning/early afternoon we loaded the boat with supplies and got it organized. Then we headed to the launch ramp and waited in line to rig and launch. The wind was very strong. We heard later that gusts were up to 37 knots. The first time we tried to put up the mast, the wind caught it and we almost lost the mast and the tabernacle. Our second attempt was successful. Other boats with tall masts were having similar problems. We finally got the boat launched and my crew motored the boat to the slip while I moved the Jeep and trailer to the parking area.

Sunday morning we had the skippers meeting before I drove the Jeep and trailer to the end point of the event at Magnolia Beach on Matagorda Bay. At the meeting, I met the crew of Reservoir Dog, the Day Sailer II that sailed the event. On the way to Magnolia Beach, we have to go through a Border checkpoint. When I got there, a few vehicles with empty trailers had already come through. The guard asked me if there was some kind of empty boat trailer convention. I told what we were doing and to expect many more empty trailers. The trip to the endpoint was uneventful. At the parking area, the little store that was going to be watching over the vehicles and trailers for the week, have a hamburger stand. The Texas 200 Sailing Club bought all the skippers lunch while we waited for the bus for our return trip to Port Mansfield. The bus arrived at 2pm and we headed south. The bus was packed unlike last year. One of the restaurants in Port Mansfield was asked to stay open a little later than usual for a Sunday evening so we could get dinner when we got back.

Monday morning was the first day of sailing. We got up early to a windy day. Winds were (from what I heard) over 25 knots, gusts into the 30’s. We loaded coolers and personal items, checked out of our room and got on the boat to head north. The fleet had started getting out about 6am. We got going after 8am. One of the small homebuilt boats pulled out just before we did. We decided to go with a double reefed main. From the dock we had to go about a hundred yards, then turn to starboard and head down the channel to open water where we would veer to port as we made a slow turn to the north.

As we got to our turn to starboard, we saw the little boat that went ahead of us had capsized. It was upright, but swamped. We called to the skipper to see if he needed help. He said he had friends in a boat that had been docked next to him coming to assist. We picked up a cushion of his and told him we would return it later. Mark found him at Camp 1 where he said that after an hour and a half of trying to rescue his boat, they gave up and put his boat ashore. He then went on the boat with his friends in what looked like a Venture 17.

We headed down the line of buildings along the channel. When we got to open water we saw another small boat having problems (no capsize, just rough wind) about a half mile away headed down the marked channel. We made our slight turn to port to shorten our route out to the main channel. We had gone a short distance when we noticed we were healed, but not really moving. Took a moment, raised the centerboard, and with a lot of mud to the stern we got moving. After an hour or so we got to the main channel and turned north. The winds were still high and the boat surfed down the waves. The waves made holding course difficult. Normally sailing up the Laguna Madre you see dolphins swimming along the boats, but we didn’t see a one. Ahead of us was the bulk of the fleet. 50 to 60 boats started that morning. As the day wore on we started passing the slower boats and a few faster ones passed us. The Day Sailer was ahead of us somewhere. After a few hours we made it to the “Land Cut” where the winds were still strong, but the chop of the bay was reduced. A couple hours later we were at Camp 1. My crew attempted to set up their tent in the high winds, I had planned to sleep on board. The Mariner has wider seats than the Day Sailer and I took advantage of them to lay down and try to get out of the wind. My crews tent didn’t do well in the high winds. When their tent partially collapsed, one of the others sailors helped them relocate to an area partially blocked by the wind. They also had to repair their tent poles. The wind stayed strong until 3 or 4 in the morning. My boat, although beached stayed at about a 15 to 20 degree heel due to the wind.
Tuesday morning we awoke to light winds. The “Ducks” headed out at first light. The “Ducks”, 15 of them were involved in a cancer fundraiser. We had found out when they got to camp that during the Monday sail, they had 5 rudder failures, a capsize and dismasting and few other equipment failures / damage. They had repaired en-route and continued to camp. The rudder failures were caused by parts being screwed together rather than through bolted. They bolted the parts together and solved their problem.

Tuesday’s sail was enjoyable although the winds were lighter than we would have liked. Mid afternoon the wind almost disappeared altogether which provided a little bob-n-bake. The dolphins finally made their appearance. Watching them never got old during the sail. A large portion of the fleet was also together. Mid afternoon the wind began to pick up again and the fleet started to spread out with the Ducks towards the back. As we approached our camp, one of the larger boats ahead of us was steering an odd course. We thought it might be one of the few fixed keel boats and they needed to make a different approach to the anchorage. Turned out that their rudder had popped out of the gudgeons causing some hectic moments. The Tx200 is rough on rudders. We anchored the boat in about a foot of water. The bottom wasn’t as muddy as our previous camp, so several people were relaxing in the water. The Day Sailer crew found me and took me over to show me their boat and what they did to get it ready. They did a good job preparing it and it was one of the faster boats in the fleet. A very good looking boat.

My crew, after destroying their tent at the previous camp decided to sleep in the cockpit of the Mariner, I was in the cabin. We set up my cockpit tent as an awning to get some shade. With the winds blowing from the shore, we had no problem with mosquitoes all week. The boat was a little crowded, but this was the sleeping arrangement the rest of the week, except for cover over the cockpit.

The Ducks, shortly after arriving at camp decided to sail another 7 or 8 miles to have a shorter third day.

Wednesday morning the winds were around 10 knots. Today we would cross Corpus Christi Bay, then in Corpus Christi Channel past the ferries at Port Aransas, turn up Lydia Ann Channel, around Mud Island and across Aransas Bay to our camp at Pauls Mott. Pauls Mott is where I capsized my Day Sailer in 2012, didn’t want to do that again.

We headed out to the channel, running aground a few times on the way (as were several other boats). The last time we used this camp in 2011, I don’t remember running aground at all and I was using the same GPS waypoint data. After a few bumps we made it to the channel. At channel marker 37 there is a place called Snoopy’s. Several boats had stopped for a sandwich and ice, we decided to continue on. The “huge” Yeti cooler my crew had brought still had ice in it (last day it still had some ice), so we didn’t really need to stop.

We went under the John F. Kennedy causeway bridge and followed the channel to Corpus Christi Bay. The dolphins were all around the boat. After a short distance from the channel, we made a turn to starboard and headed across the bay. Mark took over at tiller and using my old GPS unit navigated us through the channel at Shamrock Island and the narrow channel through Stingray Hole. He had never navigated with a GPS before and wanted some experience for when he sailed his own boat in the Tx200 next year. Once through Stingray Hole, we turned to starboard and headed up Corpus Christie Channel towards Port Aransas and the ferries at the highway crossing. A barge was coming down the channel, but we had plenty of room to pass. Once past the ferries we turned to port and headed up Lydia Ann Channel heading north. Along Lydia Ann Channel we saw the Duck fleet pulled over on the shore, taking a break or doing repairs.

I took over at helm again as we headed for Pauls Mott. I always go to the outside of Mud Island when I head towards Pauls Mott, it’s a little longer than taking Blind Pass on the inside, but less navigation involved. I had both routes loaded into my GPS. I made a wrong turn and didn’t realize until it was too late that we were on the inside of Mud Island. We kept bumping bottom and I knew we shouldn’t be doing that. I looked at my charts and realized my mistake. We were able to find the channel fortunately. The channel is very narrow and goes at an angle to a channel about 10’ from shore. We bumped bottom a couple times but managed to get into the channel along the shore heading north. With the centerboard about half down we got through Blind Pass. We passed a couple other boats in there, much smaller than my boat. One of the Ducks had missed the channel and was forced to pull his boat across a 50’ wide mud flat to get through the pass. Once in open water again we headed for Pauls Mott. We decided to switch at helm again as it had been a long day. The winds had become stronger as well. While switching Mark slipped a little and came down on the tiller cracking it. We were still able to steer, but needed to watch it. I stayed at helm as we only had a few miles to go. After we beached at Pauls Mott and secured the boat in the anchorage we tended to the damaged tiller. I had brought my Day Sailer tillers as a spare, so we were able to swap out tillers. The Day Sailer tiller is about 10” shorter than the Mariner tiller, took a little getting use to.

There is an old trawler mast with spreaders that looks like a cross at Pauls Mott left as a memorial to someone. When we got there it had been knocked down and half buried. When the Ducks arrived, the Duckers re-raised the mast were it was suppose to be. They did a great job.

Thursday morning we got up to about 15 to 20 knot winds. NOAA radio said we should expect gusts in the afternoon of about 28. We were going to be sailing through a series of reefs that day and I wanted to take it easy so we didn’t miss any of the twisty channels we were going to have to negotiate. So we set out with the main only, double reefed. We got through the reefs with a minimum of bottom bumping. Unlike last year, my GPS wasn’t having problems and was accurate. I had loaded some new waypoints based on the 2013 course from last year. We decided to take it easy sailing to Army Hole, until we were in Espiritu Santos Bay and the Paradox “Scout” passed us. We raised the jib, quickly overtook and passed him and quickly left him behind.

As we approached Army Hole the wind was coming straight at us from the docks. We decided to power up the propane motor and power in to the docks. Army Hole is an old Army Air Corps bomber training base from WWII that was closed in 1946. Texas Parks & Wildlife maintains it, but there are no facilities other than the docks, picnic tables, and fire pits. Army Hole is only accessible by water.
Several people got together that evening at one of the picnic tables. It was a nice evening. When we turned in for the night, we were unaware a storm was approaching. About 3am it hit us. High winds, heavy rain, lightning and several us sleeping on boats with a dozen lightning rods sticking up in the air. Fortunately we didn’t get hit.

Friday morning we headed for the finish. Most boats took the channel, considered to be the shortest route rather than the back way which was more scenic and difficult. The wind was suppose to be light out of the south. We were nearly across the bay when the wind died. We powered up the motor as everyone else with a motor was doing. We got into the ICW and motored up a ways when the wind freshened. We shut down the motor and started sailing again. The wind was dead on our nose causing us to tack. We were at high tide so the current was against us as well. We saw a boat some way down the channel tacking back and forth (later realized it was the Day Sailer). We tried tacking a few times, we could make some headway, but not much. The lug sail rigged boats were having a much harder time making progress as they couldn’t point as well as we could (or the DSII ahead of us). We decided to try motoring again. We motored a half mile or so up the channel and decided to try to sail again. After a few more tacks dodging local traffic, we decided it would be safer for us to motor and leave more room for the traffic to get around for those that did not have the option of motoring. We later learned that many of the small boats walked their boats down the channel. We motored up the channel finally passing the DSII. We had gone a short ways past them when the propane cylinder emptied, we had been running it more than an hour. Mark’s son Michael grabbed another cylinder and changed cylinders on the motor, only took a few minutes. With a fresh cylinder (turned out to be the one that had been used for cooking and was only half full), we turned the boat around and headed back to the DSII to see if they needed a tow. Another boat had offered to tow them but was at a dock trying to get gas for their motor. The gas they had was contaminated with water. The Day Sailer accepted the tow from us and we got them nearly to the jetties before our (unknowingly) half empty cylinder gave out. Just before the cylinder gave out, a dredge parked itself dead center in the channel, forcing us over near the rock jetty. We released our tow as the boat headed for the rocks. Michael jumped over the side and held the boat off the rocks, Mark grabbed another cylinder and replaced it. The Ducks were all along the jetties on both sides trying to pull their boats to open water so they could sail. We got off the rocks and motored to the end of the jetties and got back under sail. We passed a few Ducks that had made it past the jetties. The Day Sailer was soon past the jetties and sailing towards Magnolia Beach as well. After getting past the jetties and back under sail we couldn’t get the motor mount to retract back up out of the water, something was jammed, we didn’t get it freed until we reached Magnolia beach. The DSII soon passed us as they headed to the finish.
I think the longest part of the trip is the last day’s sail to the end, even tho it is the shortest leg of any day. The beach was finally in sight. We sailed right up to the beach and actually hit it rather hard. I got a ride from Hamilton Cowie, of the Day Sailer to the Jeep and trailer. Mark and Michael motored the boat along the beach to where the trailer was waiting. We recovered the boat right off the beach. Lowered the mast and secured the boat. Then we went to the shrimp boil. After staying in a motel for the night and getting hot showers, we headed for home Saturday morning.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
jeadstx
 
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Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:10 am
Location: Dripping Springs, Tx

Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby K.C. Walker » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:24 pm

Great report John… thanks!
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby TIM WEBB » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:36 pm

Thanks for the writeup John! Didn't realize you actually had 2 crew. The winds you had that first night sounds a lot like the winds we had on the second night of the FL 120 ... ;-P
Tim Webb
1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby jeadstx » Tue Jun 24, 2014 12:19 pm

I read yesterday from the event organizer that the winds the first day were 30-35 knots. I'm glad I thought they were lighter. It's good the wind was behind us for the most part. Someone sailing one of the Ducks wrote (or somrthing like) "surfing down the waves was fun after you got over the terror of it".

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
jeadstx
 
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Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:10 am
Location: Dripping Springs, Tx

Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby GreenLake » Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:51 pm

So you now have a Rhodes and a Mariner?

Not that many boats to go to complete the collection...
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby TIM WEBB » Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:14 am

jeadstx wrote:I read yesterday from the event organizer that the winds the first day were 30-35 knots. I'm glad I thought they were lighter. It's good the wind was behind us for the most part. Someone sailing one of the Ducks wrote (or somrthing like) "surfing down the waves was fun after you got over the terror of it".

John

If I had known what the winds were going to be that first day of the FL 120, I would have probably erred on the side of caution and not gone either. However, those with more experience than I said I could manage with two reefs in the main alone, so off I went. Had the wind been even five degrees more on the bow, a lot of folks, including me, would have been in a world of "this sucks" that day.

The second day, it started out light, but kept building and building up stronger, and more on the bow. Anchored at Juana's, it was all we could do to keep the boats from crashing into one another. I put the tent/cot ashore that night ...
Tim Webb
1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
TIM WEBB
 
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby jeadstx » Wed Jun 25, 2014 1:58 pm

Yes Greenlake, I now have both a Rhodes 19 and a Mariner 2+2, along with my Day Sailer II I refer to them as the O'Day Collection. I told Rudy at D&R Marine that last time I ordered when he called me, he was a little confused what boat I was ordering for. He laughed at the term "The O'Day Collection". The BB Swan is related since the Beetle Boat Company was bought out by Marscot.

Tim, on the Tx200, usually the winds are light in the morning and then begin to build as the day gets hotter. By late afternoon the winds are the strongest and continue into the night which blows the mosquitoes away, a good thing. About 3 or 4 in the morning the winds die down. We had no mosquitoes this year at any camp.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
jeadstx
 
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Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:10 am
Location: Dripping Springs, Tx

Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby GreenLake » Wed Jun 25, 2014 4:31 pm

I can tell, I haven't really kept up with your collection. You did mention your acquisition, I dimly recall, but it didn't sink in, since Mariner and Rhodes are so similar.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby jeadstx » Wed Jun 25, 2014 4:36 pm

Both have the same hull, rudder, centerboard. The R19 has a cuddy cabin like the DS, the Mariner has a small cabin the sleeps 2 to 4 people (two quarter berths and a V berth). I slept in the cabin this year.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
jeadstx
 
Posts: 1216
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:10 am
Location: Dripping Springs, Tx

Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby TIM WEBB » Wed Jun 25, 2014 9:02 pm

jeadstx wrote:Tim, on the Tx200, usually the winds are light in the morning and then begin to build as the day gets hotter. By late afternoon the winds are the strongest and continue into the night which blows the mosquitoes away, a good thing. About 3 or 4 in the morning the winds die down. We had no mosquitoes this year at any camp.

Yeah, that was a great side effect of the weird winds at the 120 as well: no bugs!
Tim Webb
1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
TIM WEBB
 
Posts: 1208
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 10:28 pm
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby jeadstx » Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:52 pm

I downloaded my GPS tracks fro the Tx200 the other day and plotted them up. Attached are the tracks of our two attempts trying to tack up the Port O'Conner channel with the wind coming straight at us and the current against us. The second set (heading northeast) is where we backtracked to pick up the Day Sailer as a tow once we started the motor. As I recall, their report said they had tacked over 35 times at that point.

John
Attachments
Tacking Attempts.jpg
Tacking Attempts.jpg (126.74 KiB) Viewed 19649 times
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
jeadstx
 
Posts: 1216
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:10 am
Location: Dripping Springs, Tx

Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby GreenLake » Fri Jul 18, 2014 3:48 pm

John, in another post you claim that you were running into a 2mph adverse current. On your track, your tacks do not look like what I would expect from that much current. (Especially the middle group in the first set, once you had sorted out what you were doing). I don't know whether the Mariner has much better tacking angles than the DS, but I can find angles like that in my tracks from current-free water :)
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby jeadstx » Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:40 pm

The other post where I say we were going 2 mph was when we under power after we began towing the Day Sailer. I didn't check our speed while tacking. The wind was coming straight down the channel. Reported current was 2 to 2.5 knots. We were able to point pretty good. We were definately pointing better than many other boats. Our limitations on each tack was the shallow water on each side of the channel. My GPS was recording data every 10 seconds.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
jeadstx
 
Posts: 1216
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:10 am
Location: Dripping Springs, Tx

Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby GreenLake » Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:55 pm

John, the current may have been reported at those figures, but trust me, if you had encountered a current of that magnitude it would be visible on the track.

If you assume a very optimistic 6kt of boat speed and a nearly as optimistic perfect 90 degree tacking angle, then the outer black wedge should be what you see on your GPS.

However, with an adverse current lined up with the wind, the GPS track (course over ground) becomes the hollow line. You notice how the tacking angle is closer to 60 degrees (at best).

TackingInCurrent.jpg
Effect of current on tacking
TackingInCurrent.jpg (51.69 KiB) Viewed 19623 times


Because current doesn't fluctuate as quickly as the wind, we can assume that the best tacks you did would have resulted in 90 degree tacks in still water. Since that section of your track shows some tacking angles that are close to 90 degrees, I respectfully doubt that the actual current at the time was anywhere near 2 knots.

Now, your track shows a number of much pointier tacks than just the few "best" ones. My assumption would be that those reflect tacks that weren't optimal, in other words you took a few tacks to get the hang of them again. The first two turns on the SB side of the channel look like you had some trouble making the turns, and the first few tacks from the SB to the P side of the channel all show a bit of a "kink" meaning that you guys initially turned too much, and then corrected. All totally normal, especially after several days of pure downwind sailing :D :D

There's always the possibility that the wind shifted right as you were making a tack. That can happen, and I've been on a boat where the wind shifted a full 180 degrees - as we were turning around a mark, no less - but with a series of tacks that becomes less likely.

Turns 9 through 12 approach 90 degrees, so that would put some limit on the likely amount of current. I would wager it was less than 1 kt at that time - less if your max boat speed was closer to 4kt than the 6kt in my sketch.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Report on the 2014 Texas 200

Postby TIM WEBB » Sat Jul 19, 2014 1:16 am

GL, give the guy a break already! He just sailed almost 200 miles, is pretty close to finishing the challenge, and you wanna talk about tacking angles in a very narrow channel with no other options?

Sheesh!
Tim Webb
1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
TIM WEBB
 
Posts: 1208
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 10:28 pm
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