Sweeney leads Chill Chaser and Sword at Hunter 707

by Sophie Mackley on 9 Sep 2005 After day one of the Hunter 707 Nationals at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, Southern area champion, The Sweeney is overnight leader.

In race one Surfeit lead The Sweeney and rest of the fleet round the windward mark, having gone right up the beat as the sea breeze kicked in. On the long run Eh! took first place and The Sweeney took Surfeit to claim second. There was one more lap and although the top three did not change the next ten boats were very close behind and were swapping places with every wind shift

In race two the fleet was a little too keen and got a general recall but use of the ‘I’ flag brought them to heel. The right side paid again and The Sweeney lead round the windward mark from Feeling Touchy, Sword, Eh and Chilli Chaser.

Sword went right on the run and took the lead that they never lost. Chilli Chaser nipped into second when The Sweeney dropped the kite in the soup, dropping them to third. Again the top three did not change after the first lap and again the pack was chasing hard. This is the closest racing the fleet has seen in a long time.

Race three was started with a pin end bias. Chilli Chaser claimed the pin with The Sweeney next. At the windward mark these two were first and second. On the run Feeling Touchy and Sword went right again and the fleet swallowed up The Sweeney.

As the fleet started the second beat Chilli lead from Feeling Touchy and Sword in third. The positions stayed this way until the final short beat to finish where The Sweeney passed Sword to finish third behind Feeling Touchy and Chilli in first.

Overnight The Sweeney leads with eight points, Chilli Chaser in second on 12 and Sword is third with 18 points. With nine races to go and two discards to come there is a long way to go in this regatta and one of the perennial front runners, Pocket battleship has still to make her move.