2018 Vice Admiral's Cup: Close racing on Day 1
by Rupert Holmes 18 May 2018 22:43 PDT
18-20 May 2018
Simon Perry's J109 Jiraffe took two bullets on the first day of the Vice Admiral's Cup on the Solent © Rick Tomlinson
A long wait for a sea breeze gave way to a glorious afternoon of racing in sparkling sun for the opening day of the Vice Admiral's Cup.
It was a day of super-close racing, especially for the smaller boats. After three races the top three HP30s were all tied on six points, and the Quarter Ton class had only three seconds separating places two through five in their final race.
Racing for the seven classes was run from two committee boats in the central Solent. For the faster boats PRO Stuart Childerley set windward/leeward courses starting on the southern edge of the Hill Head plateau, initially in a west south-westerly breeze of 10 knots that built to give gusts in the mid-teens.
In the first start, for the Performance 40 class, Michael Blair's King 40 Cobra led the fleet into the line, putting her bow down and accelerating quickly at the one minute gun. A swift luff 20 seconds later allowed Thomas Keen's JPK11.80 Sunrise a clean run into the pin. Most of the fleet, however, was gathered at the committee boat end, amid much shouting. The most windward boat, the J/122 Juno, jumped the gun and was called OCS, leaving Sunrise, Cobra and Andrew McIrvine's First 40 La Reponse all well placed on the line.
Cobra held the lead on the water at the end of the first lap, but Nifty made a neater mark rounding, tacking on Cobra's transom. The first four boats crossed the finish line separated by only 82 seconds, with Nifty taking line honours, but the lower-rated Sunrise winning on corrected time by four seconds. The second race saw the order reversed, with Nifty saving her time to win ahead of Sunrise, leaving both boats tied on three points at the end of the day.
The second start, for the two one-design J-Boat classes, had the potential to be more congested, but many were line shy in the strong ebb stream that was carrying the fleet over the line. Tony Mack's McFly led the J/111 fleet into the first windward mark, 27 seconds ahead of Chris Jones' Journeymaker ll, who lost out through overstanding the layline. Hans Zwijnenburg's Sweeny rounded third, barely a length behind Journeymaker, neatly gybe-setting to head towards tidal relief in the shallow water of the Bramble Bank.
While the leading group of Performance 40s judged the tricky cross-tide layline into the leeward gate accurately, the J/111s found it more difficult. McFly again led into the mark, but approached against the tide at a low angle, giving scope for Journeymaker and Sweeny to eat into the leader's advantage.
By the end of the race Martin Dent's Jelvis prevailed, ahead of Sweeny and McFly. Dent also won the second race, ahead of Cornel Riklin's Jitterbug and Sweeny. The J/109 fleet saw, Simon Perry's Jiraffe win both races, with Christopher Preston's Jubilee second in both and David Richards' Jumping Jellyfish third.
The Diam 24 trimarans, adopted a different technique for their starts. These lightweight, powerful boats stayed back sailing slowly before pulling the trigger to accelerate dinghy style with 10 seconds to go. At the first windward mark Riccardo Pavoncelli's Gaetana 3, held a big lead on Phil Cotton's Buzz and Jon Hutchings' 3 Wise Monkeys. By the finish of the two-lap race, Pavoncelli was a full half leg ahead of the rest of the fleet.
The second race saw Buzz gaining an initial advantage and leading for most of the first round of the three-lap course. However Pavoncelli again came to the fore. He therefore leads after the first day, with Cotton and Hutchings tied on five points.
The second committee boat, for Quarter Tonners, HP30s and SB20s, set a 0.6 mile windward-leeward course, extending it to one mile for the second race and 1.2 miles for the third. In the SB20 class, which is holding its Southern Area Championship at the Vice Admiral's Cup, John Pollard's Xcellent took the first two races, but Richard McAdam's Breaking Bad beat him by two seconds in the third. At the end of the day they are on four and six points respectively, while Charles Sheppard's Sharc and Tom Clay's Whyaduck are tied on 10 points.
Catrina Southworth's Whiskers won the first race in the Quarter Ton class, nine seconds ahead of Tony Hayward's Blackfun, with Louise Morton's Bullet taking third five seconds later. In the second race, Tom Hill's Belinda set up with the aim of winning the pin at the start, but was marginally early, leaving Julian Metherell's Bullit beautifully placed mid line. He pulled out a four-length lead at the windward mark, approaching tight on the starboard layline.
At the finish Bullit was 23 seconds ahead of Louise Morton's Bullet, taking both line honours and first place on corrected time. "Julian and the team are really pleased to win a race in such a competitive fleet at a grade one event in our first season with the boat," says Bullit mainsheet trimmer and tactician Paul Blowers. "We were also pleasantly surprised to get such good racing in on what could have been a difficult day - full compliments to the bravo course team for getting three races in so efficiently."
Whiskers was third in the second race, just three seconds behind Morton on corrected time. The third race could not have been tighter Paul Gibbons' Anchor Challenge took both line honours and first on corrected time. Metherell was second on the water, but dropped to fifth on corrected time, despite being only three seconds drift of the runner's up time.
Racing was equally close in the HP30 class, where the top three boats finished the day tied on six points. Malcolm Wootton's Farr 30 Pegasus Dekmarx took the first race, winning line honours ahead of Glyn Locke's higher-rated Farr 280 Toucan. Another 280, Jamie Rankin's Pandemonium, was third on corrected time.
The next race saw Rankin cross the line first, saving his time to win on corrected two seconds ahead of Wootton. Locke won the third race on corrected time, five seconds ahead of Rankin, with Wootton just eight seconds adrift in third place. "We had a really great day - it was fantastic racing and we're very happy that the results are so close," says Alex Locke of Toucan. "We've spent a lot of time on the water, practicing manoeuvres and tweaking settings, as have other boats in the class and it's great to see it pay off."
Racing continues over the weekend, with four similarly short, sharp and intense races scheduled for Saturday.
For full results click here.
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