(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
recently hosted the ninth Vice Admiral’s Cup Regatta with MUSTO as its
principal sponsor. Since its introduction the Vice Admiral Cup has gone
from strength to strength with it’s close racing format and fun social
programme making it enjoyable for all the competitors. Strong turnouts
of J/111s and J/109s made for fantastic racing across a broad spectrum
of conditions-- shorts & shades to something "good for ducks on a
cool, damp day". On the first day, with four frenetic races there was plenty of action for the competitors taking part in the opening round of the 2013 Musto Vice Admiral's Cup. Race Officers Bob Milner, officiating for the bigger boats, and Robert Lamb, on the small boat course, kept their customer's good and busy with some great windward leeward racing on Central Solent courses in a variable 8-15 knots from the north east. The smaller boats managed three races whilst the larger boats pushed through and went for a fourth.
Class
2s six J/111s proved to be a three way battle between James Arnell's
JEEZ LOUISE, David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM and Duncan McDonald
& Phil Thomas's SHMOKIN' JOE. The only boat that was able to
challenge the trio all day was Tony Mack's MCFLY who made the podium
twice with a second in race two and a third in race four, which put them
into fourth overall at the end of the day. With a 1-3-3-1 scoreline it
was JEEZ LOUISE that took J/111 of the day by a single point from
J-DREAM. SHMOKIN' JOE showed great speed, but a lost protest in the
fourth race, which means that although they still hold onto fourth place
they are now four points behind J-DREAM and only a single point ahead
of MCFLY.The second day of racing brought a mixed bag of weather. Morning saw very light airs and weak sunshine forcing the race committee to postpone. After an hour's delay racing began under steely skies in a shifty and patchy breeze of circa five knots from the west-south-west. As the day wore on the wind built slowly, maxing out at around ten to twelve knots by mid afternoon, and the sun eventually put in a most welcome late appearance.
With the Solent jam packed with dozens of events and classes, Bob Milner elected to take the big boats west for clear air and set up shop off the entrance to Beaulieu River. Meanwhile Robert Lamb managed to find a nice corridor for the small boat fleet up and down the Bramble Bank. Both fleets completed three races today.
James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE hung onto the overall lead in J/111s by the skin of his teeth. He went into the day with a single point lead and added a pair of seconds and a bullet to his score so now counts 10 points overall. Top performer of the day was Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas's SHMOKIN' JOE with a pair of first followed by a second, which jumps them up for third overall into second on count back sharing equal points with JEEZ LOUISE. David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM had a mixed day with a third and fourth followed by a did not finish and they drop down from second overall to third, six points behind the leaders.
"Good weather for ducks" is probably the best way to describe conditions on the final day of sailing where grey was the predominant color and oilskins were the preferred attire (good news for sponsor Musto!). Fortunately nothing could dampen the spirits of the competing teams who took on two final races to decide this hugely competitive series. Winds were predominantly from the northeast, but with some very big shifts and velocity ranging from sub five to around ten knots the tacticians and trimmers certainly got a strenuous workout. Once again Rob Lamb took the small boat fleet onto the Bramble Bank and Bob Milner returned to the Ryde Bank area with the big boats.
The final result of the J/111s went down to a protest between Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas's SHMOKIN' JOE and Tony Mack's MCFLY regarding a pair of incidents on the run into and rounding of the leeward mark in the final race. The Protest Committee elected to hear both protests together and ultimately found that SHMOKIN' JOE had not infringed. A very relieved SHMOKIN' JOE were delighted to claim overall victory in the class from James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE. Having had to pull out of yesterday's race seven David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM was back in the hunt today and a third and fourth place put them into third overall, just one point ahead of MCFLY. Thanks for contribution from Fiona Brown. For more Vice Admiral's Cup sailing information
