Atalanti X has confirmed her status as favourite boat on first day of One Ton Cup

by Joseph Monnier on 6 Sep 2001 New Zealand helmsman Gavin Brady is the man of the day. Two races competed, two races won, already 4 points ahead of the second placed boat in the overall rankings. Atalanti X was obviously above the other boats today. “The
boat has received the best possible preparation.” explains Gavin Brady, before tempering: “This was a real advantage
today, but it will be less and less true as races go on.” American tactician Robbie Haines confirms: “We have got a
good preparation before the race and today, we made less mistakes than the others.” That is the key point in
one-design racing. And a game in which even the best skippers can do the most basic mistakes. Ben Ainslie can
testify. He made a pretty good first race at the helm of David McLean’s Babbalaas right behind unbeatable Atalanti X;
but in the second race, he refused the way to Faster K-Yote I and had a penalty: a 360° which was quickly done, but
could not prevent the Welsh boat from being passed by all the other boats. The boats are so close to each other that
you do not have a second chance.

Today was a hard day for tacticians. With wind going up and down, left and right, it was difficult to “guess” the best
way within the contradictory unwritten rule : ”Stay with others and try to reach a better spot before them.” American
Dawn Riley, skipper of Faster K-Yote I all-women crew states: “Our first start was very average, the second one was
pretty good. But each time we were trapped in shifty conditions. The tactics was difficult today.” French helmsman
Laurent Delage from Faster K-Yote II agreed: “We made good starts, but we concentrated too much on wind, not
enough on control. And we did not find the good spots.”

As Babbalaas experienced in the second race, it is easy to move down in the ranking. The reverse is also true.
Competitors stay confident for the coming races and are more motivated than ever. Gavin Brady knows his advantage
is real but fragile. Ben Ainslie wants to forget the second race. Jeremy Robinson on Bounder and Nigel Bramwell on
Hawk showed how regularity could help a crew mainly composed of amateur sailors to compete with the world élite -
Bounder and Hawk are equal second overall.

Tomorrow, Thursday 6th, 3 races schedules with the first start at 10:00 a.m.

Provisional results after 2 races:

Pos. / Boat / Country / Owner / Skipper / R1 / R2 / Total
1 Atalanti X GRE George Andreadis Gavin Brady 1 1 - 2 pts
2 =Bounder ENG Chris Little Jeremy Robinson 4 2 - 6
2 =Hawk ENG Nigel Bramwell Nigel Bramwell 3 3 - 6
4 Babbalaas WAL David McLean Ben Ainslie 2 6 - 8
5 Faster K-Yote II FRA Stephen Kandler Laurent Delage 5 4 - 9
6 Faster K-Yote I GER Ortwin Kandler Dawn Riley 6 5 - 11

For further information visit the official event website