WIND RETURNS FOR THE SOUTHBOUND DAY THREE OF 38TH ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK
26 Apr, 2005
In Division A, as it was for Division B towards the end, sailing the
shifts - of up to 30 degrees - was the order of the day. As the fleet
headed upwind "good size puffs" came off the island to the left and
while following them was the thing to do, the key was to not get too
close to the cliffs and get becalmed below Shirley Heights. Downwind
these same puffs held further offshore and so the winning boats stayed
further out where there was also a little more current to carry them
back to the leeward mark.
Both divisions converged towards the end of racing at the Legacy mark
off Curtain Bluff, the last windward mark for Division B, and the
leeward mark for Division B.
Tom Hill's Titan XII racked up another win to go into LayDay leading
class and fleet with two points in each. Edgar Cato's Swan 56 Hissar
won Racing III today and shares class lead with Swan 56 Aqua Equinox
and Trinidad's R/P 44 Storm.
"We got a good start and got out in the fresh air before the other
boats did and then we had really good speed and legged out from the
other boats" said tactician Jack Slattery. "Once we got about 50 yards
out we stretched from there and stretched all day."
Hissar, Aqua Equinox and Storm are also tied for second place in fleet with six points each.
Disco Inferno II, the UK-based First 47.7, racked up her first win in
Racer/Cruiser I and Tarka, one of six First 40.7s in the class, won
racer/Cruiser II to solidify her class lead.
In Performance/Cruiser I, Abbott Brown's 96-foot Symmetry finally got
the better of the Italian Swan 75 Dasian. So did Genesis, Capercaillie
and Burggolf. Dasian found herself fifth today but still remains top of
the class with Symmetry only one point behind.
In the Bareboat classes, some yachts are beginning to entrench their
positions: Patrick Festing-Smith's Nanuk Of The North racked up a third
win today and now leads Bareboat II by three points. Justice also
racked up her third win and leads by seven points as does Durley Dene
in Bareboat VI.
In Bareboat V Ora, Seabiscuit, BVI Yacht Charters and KHP Bulle 12 are
shaping up for a tussle after LayDay with a six-point spread between
them. Ora got a first today, Seabiscuit took the other two days.
Overall in bareboat, Pat Nolan's Seabiscuit leads Justice by one point
with Durley Dene three points behind Justice. Two more races after
LayDay will decide not only class and overall winners but also those
eligible to enter the third annual Bareboat Championship Race.
Division A, class standings after two races (Class, Name, Builder, Skipper, Country, Class Points):
Racing Big Boat II - Titan XII, R/P 75, Tom Hill, USA, 2
Racing III - Hissar, Swan 56, Edgar Cato, USA, 4
Racing III - Aqua Equinox, Swan 56, Filip Balcean, Belgium, 4
Racing III - Storm, R/P 44, Paul Amon, Trinidad, 4
Racing IV - Lost Horizon II, Olson 30, Jamie Dobbs, Antigua, 3
Racer/Cruiser I - Murka, Swan 48, Mikhail Mouratov, GB/Russia, 3
Racer/Cruiser II - Tarka,First 40.7, Nicholas Jones, Great Britain, 2
Division B, class standings after three races (Class, Name, Builder, Skipper, Country, Class Points):
Performance Cruiser I - Dasian, Swan 75, Danilo Salsi, Italy, 7
Performance Cruiser II - Hu Go II, First 456, Hugh Bailey, Antigua, 8
Performance Cruiser III - Finn, Finngulf 391, Diederik deMesel, Belgium, 6
Cruising I - Mustang Sally, Farr 46, Warren Batt, Australia, 4
Cruising II - Arawa, Columbia 50, Doug DeCluitt, USA, 5
Bareboat II - Nanuk of the North, Beneteau 50, Patrick Festing-Smith, Canada, 3
Bareboat III - Dill, Dufour 50, Jan Soderberg, Sweden, 6
Bareboat IV - Justice, Beneteau 47, Justin Barton, USA, 3
Bareboat V - Seabiscuit, Beneteau 44, Pat Nolan, BVI, 4
Bareboat VI - Durley Dene, Bavaria 36, Alsop Thompson, British Virgin Islands, 3
After a good day of racing today, English and Falmouth Harbours started
to rock tonight and LayDay tomorrow will see fun-filled antics on
Pigeon Beach followed by hockey, Canadian-style, at Falmouth Harbour.
For more information on Antigua Sailing Week visit:
www.sailingweek.com. Stanford International Bank Limited is a diamond
sponsor of the event. Platinum sponsors are Cable & Wireless,
English Harbour Rum and Yachting World. Virgin Atlantic and LIAT are
silver sponsors. Oceanus is the official timer of Antigua Sailing Week.
Click here to see all news
|
