Day Three at Lendy Cowes Week
Day three of Lendy Cowes Week delivered yet more blazing sun and a perfect of 12-16 knots that gradually built to a peak of 20 knots by the end of the afternoon.
It was a day of intensely close racing for many competitors, with numerous podium places decided by only a handful of seconds after more than three hours of racing.
Most of the early starts for the Black Group yachts starting on the Bramble line favoured the southern end of the line, but a wind shift under a line of cloud just before the start of the Quarter Ton class switched the bias towards the committee boat end.
This left Ed White’s immaculately restored Joker more or less alone at the pin, while Louise Morton’s Bullit avoided the pack, starting mid-line. Tony Hayward’s Blackfun won his first race of the series, finishing almost four minutes ahead of Sam Laidlaw’s Aguila. Bullit crossed the line 67 seconds after Aguila to take third place both on the water and on corrected time.
This class has a reputation for extremely close racing and this year is no exception. While Aguilla now leads the class overall with only six points, Bullit and Blackfun are on 9 and 10 points respectively and the next four boats are separated by only one point.
The right hand wind shift was still evident for the Contessa 32 start 10 minutes after the Quarter Tonners. Nevertheless, yesterday’s winner, Eldred Himsworth’s Drumbeat, started at the southern end, while most of the remainder of the fleet opted for the northern end, with Donna and Martin Rouse-Collen’s Andaxi and Mark Tyndall’s Persephone both making good starts there.
With Drumbeat retiring from today’s race, the way was clear for Andaxi to take her first win of the series, 27 seconds ahead of Ray Rouse’s Blanco. Ed Bell’s Mary Rose Tudor took third, just over a minute later.
This year IRC Class 6 is a large fleet with boats ranging from older 38 footers such as Jonathan Rolls’ Swan 38 Xara and David Kirkley’s Nicholson 39 Conteza, through Impalas to Edmund Gatehouse’s J/24 Jupiter and Kevin Downer’s diminutive Jeanneau Fun 23 Ziggy.
Full results for all classes: www.lendycowesweek.co.uk
