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I’m sure by now you have read many reports highlighting how close the VS racing is. Day 1 featured a dead heat. The racing on day 2 of the nationals wasn’t quite as close but again seconds separate places, not minutes. Check the results!
Race 3. Go the Lightweights! Another soft Easterly was the breeze of the day. At least the fleet should have known which way to go. After a good even start, one thing became clear. Both Meeks Real Estate & Troy Botting Shipwright were going to be hard to beat. Whilst they are lightweights in crew weight, don’t think they are any less skilled than any others in the fleet. By the time they rounded the windward mark for the first time they had a lead of 100m over the rest of the fleet. Very impressive. Mick, Rob & Mark were particularly on song, sailing superbly to open up a nice lead over TBS. Meeks looked comfortable until they fell into a hole on the last run to allow Col, Adam & Janine to close up at the leeward gate. But Meeks were confident in their speed & took the gun by 5 seconds from TBS. A couple of utes further back, but having their own battle was Range & Firestorm. After a tacking duel to the finish John, Dale & Lindsay took 3rd by 5 seconds over their heavyweight rivals. The next few places were again a race long battle, with positions swapped regularly through the race. In the end Jeremy, Hugh & Tom on SFC claimed 5th, from Black Diamond & Plan B not far behind. Then it got close again. Peter, Steve & Ryan on Stowe are another crew looking for more breeze but had a good race with Battleship. The gap across the line – 2 seconds! With Michael on the helm, Battleship have been tuning throughout the regatta & improved enough today to take an easy handicap victory. Race 4. Return of the Heavyweights? Once again all boats looked set to get away to an even start however the breeze clocked left just as the gun fired. Steve, Mick & Troy seized the moment, tacked & headed right into good pressure. By the time the rest of the fleet tacked to port the lift was gone. As too was Range. With a little more pressure they were flying, rounding the top mark with a good lead over the fleet. TBS and Meeks set about hauling Range in but suffered a few problems. TBS had a kite pulley jamb, which cost them a few swims. Meeks also had a quick swim when they got in an awkward position at the gate. This left the door open for Firestorm, who picked a good lift up the last work to ease in front of Range and take the win. Meeks were again flying & also edged past Range. Mick, Rob & Mark taking 2nd from Steve, Mick & Troy. The battle between Black Diamond, SFC & Plan B was again close. There are plenty of tales after the race of passing & being passed if a lift or a gust is missed. Chook, Hayden & Ben got the got the bragging rights in this race, a ‘comfortable’ 17 seconds ahead of Tim, Lyndon & Mitch, with SFC just a little further back. The slight increase in breeze also helped another ‘heavyweight’. Peter, Steve & Ryan were not far behind SFC across the line, close enough to give Stowe an easy handicap victory from Meeks & Plan B. Early stages yet but Black Diamond, SFC & Plan B are all neck & neck in the overall handicap places. Their 3 way battle continues… Comments are closed.
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