Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship - Day Four

CHAMPIONSHIP FAVOURITE PULLS OUT WITH MAINSAIL TROUBLE

Cam, the favourite to win Class A of the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship 2001, was forced to pull out of the windy fourth race after her mainsail halyard snapped.

The Spanish yacht skippered by Olympic gold medallist Fernando Leon was leading the competitive pack of 50-footers around the windward mark near the Valencian coast, when the halyard gave way and the mainsail started slipping down the mast.

The crew tried to continue racing downwind with just the spinnaker but eventually decided to retire. Racing was very tight in the rest of the fleet as they battled their way round three laps of a windward/leeward course in picture perfect conditions - 20 knots with blue skies and flat water.

Just five seconds separated the first three Class A boats on corrected time. Laureano Wizner's Botin & Carkeek 46 Banco Espirito Santo pipped the two 50-footers owned by Vicente Tirado, Caixa Galicia and Castellon Costa Azahar. Vincenzo Onorato's brand new 50-footer Mascalzone Latino continues to iron out her teething troubles, scoring a respectable fifth place, 21 seconds behind Jose Cusi Ferret's Bribon.

With Cam suffering a bad day, the fight for Class A looks increasingly like a showdown between Pasquale Landolfi's 50-footer Brava and Pedro Campos IMX-40 Telefonica Movistar, who now lie in joint first place overall. Brava's tactician Eddie Warden-Owen commented: "It's good to be first equal overall, but it was frustrating not to have been a couple of places higher today. We picked the wrong side of a couple of shifts that we could have handled differently."

The German IMX-40 Salty Dog had another solid day in Class B, and with a commanding lead after her victory in the offshore race on Thursday, she is going to be tough to catch. Hans Hout's team finished in second place today, 12 seconds behind Telepizza-Pepsi on corrected time.

Two races are scheduled for Saturday, with the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship 2001 concluding with a final race on Sunday 8th July.

Overall Results after four races:

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com IMS Page