The J/109 fleet started from the Royal Yacht Squadron line for the final day of Class racing at Skandia Cowes Week.
Zelda (Ben Richards/Michael Ewart-Smith) had the best start and tacked off heading for the mainland shore, closely followed by Mojito (Gary & Sasha Fry), Stalker (Steven Tapper) and Beth (Christopher Sharples/Richard Acland) for the beat to Aquaspec.
Hugging the mainland shore gave the advantage to those whose depth gauges were properly calibrated. A spinnaker hoist and run across to Elephant saw J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp) move up through the fleet to round in 5th place.
A beat back across the Solent saw Red Arrow (RAFSA supported by the RAF Benevolent Fund) strengthen their second place behind Zelda. A further run back to the Island saw Shiva (Matt Boyle) sail low and judge the mark rounding perfectly, but this excellence was too late for them to catch the leaders.
A final beat back to Peters & May allowed J-Dream to catch Red Arrow. Two evenly matched spinnaker hoists saw these two boats trade places for the entire run to Gurnard and down The Green to finish at Alpha. The top three boats were split by a total of 14 seconds.
The J/109 UK Class will race on Saturday for the Royal Southern Yacht Club Challenge Trophy.
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