Oyster British Virgin Islands regatta - Mixed fortunes in day two
by Barry Pickthall on 15 Apr 2010
British Virgin Islands regatta - Day 2 Tim Wright / Photoaction.com
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Fortunes waxed and waned with the wind during the second day of racing in the Oyster British Virgin Islands regatta yesterday for the Pelagos Yachts Cup race.
Samantha Simmonds, who cashed in her career as a London based financial lawyer six weeks ago to sail the seven seas aboard her 16 year old Oyster 55 ‘Ostrika’, ended the day believing the wind gods were well and truly on her side.
However Midge Verplank and his crew on the local Oyster 82 'Sundowner of Tortola', could only wonder what heinous crime one of their number must have done for them to be dealt such bad luck. Not only where they left gasping for air at the start, as the opposing northerly and southerly airstreams tried to outsmart each other, but these Doldrums-like conditions doggedly followed them on whatever track they chose.
Other crews took the judgement that a swim and leisurely lunch anchored off Spring Bay was the more profitable option, but the Sundowner crew battled on like gamblers down on their luck, hoping for a change in fortunes. This dogged perseverance finally got them to within a shout of the finish, but just as the beers were about to break out, the wind gods turned off the fan once more, to leave Soundowner to drift so cruelly past the wrong side of the mark.
By contrast, Simmonds and her 'Ostrika' crew had a stress free day. Starting in clear air, they soon overhauled David and Tamsin Kidwell's equally venerable Oyster 435 'Twice Eleven’ and continued to carry the breeze with them until race officer Alan Brook decided to put the rest of the fleet out of their misery by shortening course. By then, 'Ostrika' was but a dot on the horizon to most of her rivals, some of whom were seemingly still struggling to cross the start. The Kidwell's 'Twice Eleven' took second place, ahead of Ian Galbraith's Oyster 53 'Jigsaw' and Vincent Bloem's Oyster 56 'Windflower'.
Class one was finally led home by Chris and Susan Shea's Oyster 72 'Magrathea', followed by two 82 footers, Bill Dockser's 'Ravenous II' and 'Oceana' owned by Stuart Smith and Barry Cooper. Mariusz Koper's Polish Oyster 72 'Kathlarsis II’, one of four yachts judged to be over the line at the start, recovered to take fourth.
Thursday is a lay day for the fleet before racing to Peter Island on Friday, when the forecast promises a kinder breeze.
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