The Official
|
|
www.sailing.org |
Bill Hardesty and tactician Vince Brun aboard 'Events Clothing and Atlantis' also struggled for consistency today with a nineteenth in race one followed up by a solid third in race two. Asked about today's conditions Brun shook his head ruefully and commented 'Pretty tricky all round. It seemed to us that you had to pick a side, as there was nothing to be gained from working the middle. The spread of the fleet means that if you guess right then you are in the top few, but if you get it wrong you are nowhere.' Nevertheless after two races the 'Events Clothing and Atlantis' team sit securely inside the top ten in seventh place.
The ever improving Alan Field and his USA crew aboard 'WTF' sailed two impressively composed races today and their 4, 6 scoreline puts them in fourth place and well within striking distance of the podium teams. Top flight European Star helm Eivind Melleby steered Norwegian entry 'Full Metal Jacket' into fifth overall with an 8, 4 tally for the day. Current Melges 24 US National Champion Brian Porter on 'Full Throttle' started the day with a second place before faltering slightly with an eleventh in the second race and now sit in sixth place tonight.
Reigning World and European Champion and regatta favourite Lorenzo Bressani on 'Uka Uka Racing' had a terrible start to his title defence, due in no small way to an ankle injury sustained to bow-girl Francesca Prina yesterday, which tragically may see her take no further part in this regatta. 'Uka Uka Racing' struggled to an uncharacteristic 26, 10 scoreline and sit in fifteenth place at the end of the first day. Bressani was clearly speaking candidly when he told us that "The first race was simply a disaster. Everything was bad, my start, our tactics the whole thing just went wrong." Perhaps most significant however was the recovery that Bressani pulled off in the second race after another poor start. In a twelve race series it is always risky to bet against the determination of the 'Uka Uka Racing' and with every team here likely to put in a high score this week, only time will tell how important their tenth place this afternoon will be come the end of this regatta.
Results - click here