Yachtsmen from across the world are drawn to the Solent for the testing conditions and the second day of Skandia Cowes Week proved more challenging than most as stiff winds converged with strong spring tides to make for some highly eventful and exciting racing.
By early afternoon Sunday, the wind instruments were showing 20 knots of breeze, gusting 26 but there were also rain squalls, poor visibility and lumpy seas to contend with, which resulted in a series of collisions and breakages.
3 Sad Old Blokes lost the right to fly the coveted pink spinnaker tomorrow after they were beaten into second place by Ian Williams' Team Pindar who enjoyed one of the most dramatic overnight improvements in performance, rising from 30th place on Saturday to first on Sunday by a margin of one minute and 17 secs.
Aimee, Julia Bailey's Dragon has made a stonkingly good start to her 10th Skandia Cowes Week, posting two wins in two races and shaving ten seconds off the winning margin in the stronger breezes thanks to secret weapon Joe Bailey, Julia's nine year-old nephew who is proving to be a highly mobile and versatile 32 kg package. Len Jones' Rumours, which was second overall in 2007 were runners up.
John Mander and his 'ace' helmsman son Rupert have become a real tour de force in the Flying 15 class over the 20 years and 2008 is no exception with two wins in two races already under their belt on their 2003 built Men Behaving Badly.
In 2007, they managed five wins in seven races and on the evidence of their performances this week, which resulted in a victory by more than three minutes over Gavin Tappenden's Fflux today, the rest of the 14 strong field may already be feeling a little dispirited.
The Brighton medics on board Joe 90, the J/90 racing in the J-Sprit class, also made it two in two, relishing the stronger winds to record a whopping 17 minute win over second placed Trion.
Duncan MacDonald, Phil Thomas and Charlie Wise bought their boat, formerly Moose on the Loose, in October last year and have won every club race they have competed in. Although they posted a tenth at Cork, they could be well placed to pick up their first Skandia Cowes Week trophy if the winds continue to blow.
Duncan's brother Neal, the veteran Volvo racer who is competing with his wife Lisa on Stuart Robinson's TP52 Stay Calm, had a disappointing day by their standards coming fifth in IRC Class Zero though the diem horribilus belonged to Andy Soriano who rounded the mark the wrong way in his Mills 68 Alegre and retired.
By contrast, Niklas Zennstrom, winner of yesterday Queen's Cup had another resounding win in his TP52 Ran, this time with a ten minute advantage over Henri-Lloyd Cutting Edge who finished a minute ahead of Charles Dunstone's TP52 Rio on corrected time.
The 39-strong J/109 class were given a committee boat start but struggled to locate it prompting the race committee to signal a general recall. A restart under the 'Black Flag' rule found the fleet in less unruly form and Michael Jones raced to victory in Joyride with one of the favourites for the 2008 title Shiva, campaigned by Matt Boyle in second place.
Contender for the brand new Liz Earle "Close Shave Trophy" which at the end of the week will be awarded to the overall winner across all classes who grasps victory by the closest margin, is Nick Woolgar's Goose who snatched a ten secs win over second placed Lady Laetitia, campaigned by Willie Clegg, Rory James-Duff and Billy Clegg. -- Kate Laven
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