SECOND DAY OF SAILING WEEK STARTS AND FINISHES WINDLESS
25 Apr, 2005
Further inshore, Division B sat in rain, which took the wind with it.
The rain held off until the fleet had rounded the marks off Blue Waters
on the northwest tip of Antigua. After an unusual spinnaker run to
these marks, the fleet was heading back on an equally unusual beat when
the heavens opened and the wind disappeared. The fleet sat bedraggled
looking for wind, facing each and every direction. This same
rainsquall, which had headed up along Antigua's coast from the south,
hit the committee boat on Division A from the north. The yachts in
Division B slowly escaped the wind vacuum and the race committee
shortened the course.
Although it looked like a lottery on the water, a number of class
winners yesterday also won today including Dasian, Mustang Sally,
Nanuk, Justice, Seabiscuit and Durley Dene. Those that headed inshore
got the wind when it returned first. "We just kept trickling along. A
lot of the others just parked up," said Ollie Alsop, crew member on
Durely Dene.
Another boat to head inshore was Dufour 47, SAP Lycee Blanchet. This
yacht, crewed by students, and skippered by their teacher, was dragged
kicking and screaming from the bareboat class into Performance Cruiser
III. Never having flown a spinnaker before, this crew placed sixth
yesterday but racked up a first today.
"The rain and wind went left and right and we played good," said
skipper Frederic Fernandez. "After the rain came, everyone took their
spinnakers down but we kept ours for three or four minutes more. During
the rain we stayed in the right direction for the next buoy and we had
a little wind, but enough, to go on. After we go to the left, inshore,
we kept the wind and doubled [the distance] on all boats. We stayed in
the wind but we were a little bit lucky."
The day's results for Division B, Race 2A:
Performance Cruiser I - Dasian, Swan 75, Danilo Salsi, Italy
Performance Cruiser II - Shamrock, J/120, Tom Mullen, BVI
Performance Cruiser III - SAP Lycee Blanchet, Sunfast 37, Frederic Fernandez, Guadeloupe
Cruising I - Mustang Sally, Farr 46, Warren Batt, Australia
Cruising II - Arawa, Columbia 50, Doug DeCluitt, USA
Bareboat II - Nanuk of the North, Beneteau 50, Patrick Festing-Smith, Canada
Bareboat III - Dill, Dufour 50, Jan Soderberg, USA
Bareboat IV - Justice, Beneteau 47, Justin Barton, USA
Bareboat V - Seabiscuit, Sun Fast 37, Pat Nolan, British Virgin Islands
Bareboat VI - Durley Dene, Bavaria 36, Alsop Thompson, British Virgin Islands
None of the old-hands that have run Antigua Sailing Week were able to
recall a similar race day for the event. “Late-80s or early-90s”
was as close as it got.
An early decision by the race committee cancelled the inaugural Round
Island Race. The yachts in Big Boat Racing II and Racing 3 will
now join the rest of the Division A fleet on the South Coat Race
tomorrow. However, the wind is expected to swing back to an
easterly and settle back to more typical Antigua Sailing Week
conditions for the last part of the event.
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.
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