Byte CII World Championship day 2

by Byte Class Association on 29 Aug 2008 Byte CII World Championship 2008 Day 2 - Although the championship is now Jon Emmett’s to lose, the Singapore sailors did finally get to him on the last race of the day. However, he is dropping that third and is counting a string of eight firsts.

For Races six and seven the wind was well down from the low twenties of yesterday and the first race was run in 8 to 10 knots. 'After the last two days it felt like a drifter' was a comment from one competitor. It did not seem to matter to Jon Emmett (GBR) as he cake-walked the first race and later the second one, sailed in 10 – 12 kts. Brazilian Michael Louzada got closest to him with two second place finishes and while he was as fast, or maybe even faster than Emmett off the wind, he could not match him upwind.

Race eight was held after a lunch break when the competitors went out to find that the wind had increased and was up into the 15kt range. Once again, below, the fleet gets away clean, albeit with a bit of a sag.

Surprise of surprises it was Jon Emmett (GBR) again leading the pack from start to finish and, below, he crosses the line all alone.

There were lots of individual duels in the racing behind him. Below, Nicholson (CAN) leads Tieman (USA) and Tack (GBR) at the finish.

The course was triangle/sausage/triangle/windward finish for Race nine and again the start was clean. Below, the leeward end of the fleet with about 30 seconds to go.

At the moment of the gun. About as close as you can get!

Finally it looked like the Singapore sailors would get to Emmett and, at the first weather mark it was Ian Rezel (SIN) in the lead. However by the end of the triangle Emmett was back in the lead and, below, was still holding it at the end of the next (sausage) leg.

Blore (GBR), Woo (SIN) and Nurfendi (SIN) at the bottom of the sausage

Germaine Teo (SIN), Richard Whitehouse (GBR) and Shevaun Sethi (SIN) at the bottom mark, all about to gybe.

Emmett (GBR) was still leading Fengyi Lei (SIN) and Ian Rezel (SIN) at the weather mark of the second triangle but he felt himself slowing down. It turns out that he had pulled a toe strap screw out of the cockpit floor and was slowly taking on water. He then got flagged on the reach, did his turns right after the gybe, and Lei and Rezel flew past. However, they were still not out of reach and, by the finish, at the top of the beat, only Lei was still clear ahead. Below he crosses, Emmett before tacking for the line and the gun.

Fengyi was very gracious in his summary of the race. 'I was a bit lucky with Jon getting a flag the problems he had with his boat - but you take what you're given and I'm very happy with the win!'

At this point, Emmett had caught up to Rezel but Rezel was on starboard, laying the line and, below, Emmett was forced to tack to leeward, just yards from the finish but still able to lay the pin.

Despite a large luff at the pin end, it was not enough and Rezel took second.

Below, Hanna Blore (GBR) comes into the finish with Eugene Woo (SIN) on her hip. She would finish fifth but Michael Louzada BRA would slip in between them for sixth and the come-back of the race. He did a 720 off the start, after an altercation with Blore, arriving at the first weather mark in the high teens. He slowly worked his way back but time finally ran out on him.

Below, Gordon Kevan (GBR) finishes just ahead of Sacha Roberts (CAN) and Chris Tack (GBR).

Bill Tieman (USA), coming in to the finish on starboard, was lee-bowed by Sacha Roberts (CAN 3127) just feet from the finish. He threw the helm down in a last ditch effort to get his bow over but came up just short and went in to boot!

Dr. Amandio Rampinelli, a Brazilian Cardiovascular surgeon, started his sailing when a grown man but sails for the love the sport. One of the most dogged and determined sailors in the fleet, he finishes off the day well out of the money but in great style!