SuperFoilers: Terrific tech2 nearly strikes Gold on Gold Coast
by Nick Vindin/SuperFoiler 17 Feb 2018 00:35 PST
17 February 2018
Superfoiler Gold Coast - Day 1, February 16, 2018 © Andrea Francolini / SuperFoiler
The Luke Parkinson skippered tech2 has fallen agonisingly short of nailing the biggest upset of the SuperFoiler Grand Prix season – finishing just one second shy of the undefeated Euroflex in Race 5 on the Gold Coast.
"I think Nath had to change his underpants after that," said tech2's skipper after his close second place on the Broadwater, "We massively improved with massive gains on Euroflex, all you have to do is win by an inch not a mile and we are closing in."
It was a spectacular day of racing, headlined by Saturday's second skirmish which saw first and second decided by a single second and the battle for third and fourth determined by the same amount.
"It was a bit of a whirlwind I can't really remember too much of it, it was good racing when we finally got going," said iD Intranet's Ed Powys whose SuperFoiler managed to round out the podium.
The iD SuperFoiler had a tumultuous day. Tangling a mark in race one, claiming third place in race two by a second and surviving a close call with Record Point in the final race – with Ed Powys actually bumping up against the black and white boat skippered by Phil Robertson.
"It was pretty full on," said iD's Bowman "We had a close thing with Phil. We had rights, he thought there was a gap and we kind of came together. It is all good, no issues."
For the first time on the Gold Coast the undefeated Euroflex trio of Nathan Outteridge, Iain Jensen and Glenn Asbhby showed they were vulnerable. Their bowman forced to jettison from racing at one stage as the field upped the pressure.
"I was head down near the rudder and legs above my head. I was still hanging onto the boat but my head was dragging on the water, in the end I just bit the bullet, unclipped and thankfully I didn't hit the rudder and the boys swung back and got me," revealed Iain Jensen.
Despite the close margin, Euroflex still reigned supreme, "It was a great day and some awesome racing. A tight race course again in many respects like Adelaide, and some fantastic yachting again. How lucky are we to be able to rip around on boats like this," said Eurfolex's America's Cup winning mainsheet hand Glenn Ashby.
Sunday's racing will be livestreamed on www.superfoiler.com