| The Irish one-tonner Jamesons III ( or is it I,the Irish boats are named
Jamesons I,II & III ) hit a rock whilst trying to sail between Hampstead
Ledge and the shore, one of those things that Solent sailors know is possible
but nobody in the right minds tries ( at least not downwind in a force 6,
which were the prevailing conditions ).
The boat, which actually belongs to King Haaken of Norway, was steered
towards the shore, where it beached. It is believed to be a write-off.
crew said the impact was not particularly hard, but the keel has partially
pulled away from the hull. Irish attempts to sunstitute a second one-tonner
have failed as they did not gain unanimous approval from the other teams
Several other one-tonners also hit the same rocks and at least three were
ashore being filled and sanded before Fridays Channel Race. The German boat
also damaged their rudder and threatened to withdraw in protest against the
organisers decision to send the boats that near the shore. However, as the
50ft and two-ton class escaped without damage, the conclusion was that the
one-tonners problems were self-inflicted, as they all followed each other
into danger.
The Channel race was less eventful, with Italy pulling out a lead over
the Australian team, with Britain having a dismal race finishing behind
the now-two-boat Irish team.
There are 4 more races this week, including two back-to-back on one day, and
then the 605 mile Fastnet starting on Saturday.
Chris
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| The Italian team have held on to their lead after the second Inshore race, held
in Hayling Bay, east of the Solent.
This race was also full of incident, with the Italian One-Tonner, Brava-Q8
tangling with the starting line buoy just before the start. The start was
postponed, and the the buoy was eventually cut free. Brave then got some rope
round her prop, and ended up 2 minutes late for the start. She eventually
fought her way up to 2nd place at the beginning of the last leg, only for
her rig to drop over the side.
The Japanese One-tonner Nippon broke her boom whilst leading the race, and
the British 50 footer Indulgence had a lot of problems when the spinnaker
pole end-fitting failed to close during a gybe.
Meanwhile, in the Cowes Week Regatta, Dennis Conner has turned up, steering
an Etchells-22. He has had a first, a third, and one poor result, caused by
rounding the wrong mark whilst leading. Somebody should tell him that Cowes
Week is not meant to be taken too seriously ! He is over here with his Whitbread
60, Winston, and has announced that he will be taking part in the first leg to
Uruguay, and the short Fremantle to Auckland leg. As for the rest, he hasn't yet
decided.
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| I'm sorry that I didn't finish this, but I was on Holiday, and I missed the
newspaper reports.
Basically, the Germans won the cup, by the smallest of margins from the
Australians. The Italians, who led before the Fastnet but were down to two
boats, lost another with a broken mast and dropped out of contention. The
British yacht Indulgence made up for a dismal series by winning the Fastnet
amongst the Admirals Cup boats.
The Fastnet, which started off as a light beat, and became moderate to fresh
beat then run, was particularly eventful for the Whitbread boats, nearly all
of whom were taking part. The first 3 slots went to new 60 foot designs, beating
the first Maxi New Zealand Endevour into 4th. This has raised the possibility
that the 60's might beat the Maxis on some or all of the legs of the
round-the-world race which starts next month. Fortuna was a disappointing 11th,
last of the Whitbread boats, and serious discussions are underway about the
future of the project.
The 1995 Admirals cup event will be run under IMS, and although the exact format
has yet to be decided, the small boat class will be a new one-design, called
the Mumm 36, designed by Bruce Farr, and being built in several locations round
the world.
Chris
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