TITAN SETS RECORD IN SAILING WEEK'S INAUGURAL ROUND ISLAND RACE
28 Apr, 2005
From Titan's perspective, the weather was good for the entire way
around the island: 14-18 knots as they beat up the south coast, 15-20
knots along the east side of the island on a jib reach that opened to a
spinnaker reach and then a spinnaker run in 16 knots along the north
side. By the time Titan had turned the corner at 'Sandy' on the north
west side of the island, Titan hadn't seen the wind fade at all. A
five-minute wind hiccup to 10 knots after 'Sandy' quickly built back up
to 14-18 knots for the beat around the bottom of the island back to the
finish.
"It wasn't the windiest day ever but it was a good trade wind day and
there weren't any holes," said Titan's tactician Peter Isler on how
long he thought the record would hold. "The key is keeping the marks in
the same place."
"That [racing against the clock] has been the constant challenge for us
throughout the Caribbean series," continued Isler, "except for St
Maarten where we had Carrera to play with. The clock has always been
foremost in our minds especially in Tortola where we were always within
a minute on corrected time. We knew we had to keep the pedal down and
that's the way we have been sailing all week.
"The boys sail hard. They play hard just like everybody here but when
it comes to racing they push it hard. Maybe if there had been a
sistership out there, a phantom boat, we would have sailed a little
harder but not much. We didn't leave much on the table."
Michael Finn's J/160 Kativa from the USA obviously reveled in the round
island conditions and got her first gun today with Hissar second and
Storm third in Racing III.
The rest of Division A sailed a South Coast Race looping between buoys off Falmouth Harbour and Curtain Bluff.
Racing IV, the Caribbean class, saw some upset for the Antiguan boats.
Jamie Dobbs' Lost Horizon II was disqualified for missing a mark today
which has sent them to fourth in class. After a dismasting on Tuesday,
Geoffrey Pidduck's Mermaid II did not return to the start line today,
and neither did Caccia Alla Volpe after a disqualification on Tuesday.
Trinidadian Henderson 35 Enzyme won today and leads the class by one
point.
Mikhail Mouratov's Murka turned the table on First 47.7 Disco Inferno II and now leads Racer/Cruiser I by three points.
Division B beat to 'Standfast' out to sea and headed back inshore on a
spinnaker reach to 'Willoughby', followed by another beat to 'Halfmoon'
and a long downwind leg back to the finish off Falmouth Harbour. By
Willoughby, the wind and seas had started to die a little and as the
afternoon wore on the wind was down to 9 knots with puffs taking it to
11 knots.
The Italians onboard the 75-foot Swan Dasian, powered away from a good
start and held off the YDL 96 Symmetry until the last windward mark but
Dasian was faster downwind and beat the higher-rated Symmetry over the
water to earn another first place.
In the bareboat classes, Nanuk and Durley Dene of Horizon Yacht
Charters, together with Justice, topped Bareboats II, VI and IV
respectively for the fourth time today. The battle is on for the fleet
prize with one race to go. Justice leads Seabiscuit by one point, with
Durley Dene five points behind her. Last year's clean sweep winners in
class, fleet and the Bareboat Championship Race (BCR), Phil Otis and
crew, are third in class and tenth in fleet; they'll have to keep their
third place in class tomorrow to qualify for the BCR.
Jan Soderberg is tied for first place in Bareboat III with fellow Swede
Pereric Berggren with nine points each. Both are sailing Dufour 50s.
Division A, class standings after three races (Class, Name, Builder, Skipper, Country, Class Points):
Racing Big Boat II - Titan XII, R/P 75, Tom Hill, USA, 3
Racing III - Hissar, Swan 56, Edgar Cato, USA, 6
Racing IV – Enzyme, Henderson 35, Paul Solomon, USA, 7
Racer/Cruiser I - Murka, Swan 48, Mikhail Mouratov, GB/Russia, 4
Racer/Cruiser II - Tarka, First 40.7, Nicholas Jones, Great Britain, 3
Division B, class standings after four races (Class, Name, Builder, Skipper, Country, Class Points):
Performance Cruiser I - Dasian, Swan 75, Danilo Salsi, Italy, 8
Performance Cruiser II - Wayward, Beneteau 43, Jerome McQuilkin, Trinidad, 11
Performance Cruiser III - Finn, Finngulf 391, Diederik deMesel, Belgium, 8
Cruising I - Mustang Sally, Farr 46, Warren Batt, Australia, 5
Cruising II - Arawa, Columbia 50, Doug DeCluitt, USA, 6
Bareboat II - Nanuk of the North, Beneteau 50, Patrick Festing-Smith, Canada, 4
Bareboat III - Fifty Feet Ahead, Dufour 50, Pereric Berggren, Sweden, 9
Bareboat III - Dill, Dufour 50, Jan Soderberg, Sweden,
Bareboat IV - Justice, Beneteau 47, Justin Barton, USA, 4
Bareboat V - Seabiscuit, Beneteau 44, Pat Nolan, BVI, 6
Bareboat VI - Durley Dene, Bavaria 36, Alsop Thompson, British Virgin Islands, 4
Tomorrow conclude the 38th annual Antigua Sailing Week with the entire fleet racing off the south coast.
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
|
