RMW extend

Andy Rice reports from day two of the International 14's Riva Cup

Alister Richardson and Dan Johnson put together another excellent day on a windy Lake Garda on Day 2 of the Riva Cup. The RMW boys aren’t the fastest starters, but they have reliable pace and above all, immaculate boathandling.

RMW took an early lead in the first race, staged in strong winds gusting to 20 knots, and they were never headed. Martin Jones and Andy Rice were lying second in Gill Marine but a capsize at the leeward mark put them back to fourth, while Hyde Sails and Pinnell & Bax cruised past to score second and third respectively.

The RWO crew of Tim Robinson and Zeb Elliott scored a lowly 10th place in the first race. They were late for the start after a 505 careered out of control while launching off the notoriously difficult slipway at Riva, and capsized RWO, putting an irreparable rip in their heavy air mainsail. Having put on the fat head mainsail, Robinson and Elliott were finally ready to join the fray. They ground down a few boats and capitalised on capsizes by other teams to break into the top 10 by the end of the three lap windward/leeward course.

At the start of race 2, Mike Lennon and John McKenna launched Hyde Sails up the track and manoeuvred themselves into a comfortable lead. Behind, a battle ensued in the pack, but once again it was RMW that broke clear and started to challenge Hyde Sails down the final run. It was a gusty and shifty day with big gains and losses to be made upwind and down, and Richardson found a good seam of pressure to get inside Lennon and win the race by a whisker. RWO crossed third, followed by Gill and Pinnell & Bax, sailed by Ian Pinnell and Tim Hancock.

The wind softened for the final race of the day, although there was still sufficient to overpower the massive rigs of the International 14 fleet. It was Jones and Rice’s turn to take up the lead, and they led round the first two laps of the course quite comfortably until getting caught up in bad traffic with the 505 fleet at the final leeward mark. RWO closed in on them, but Richardson and Johnson tacked RMW out to the middle of the lake away from the traffic and found a new line of breeze. The next time the boats came together, RMW had moved into the lead ahead of Gill and RWO. The yellow spinnaker of RMW led down to the finish once again, with Gill holding off RWO to score second place. Hyde Sails was fourth, with Jarrod Simpson and Tim Paull grabbing fifth ahead of Pinnell & Bax.

With a possible three races to be sailed on the deciding day of the Riva Cup tomorrow, RMW holds a very useful lead. She counts four victories and is currently discarding a 2nd, with Hyde Sails 4 points behind in second, and Gill third on 11 points. British teams dominate the top placings, with first non-Brit in 7th, a German boat helmed by Stephan Heim.

Results after five races (one discard)

Pos Boat Team Points

1. RMW Marine – Alister Richardson/ Dan Johnson 4
2. Hyde Sails - Mike Lennon/ John McKenna 8
3. Gill Marine - Martin Jones/ Andy Rice 11
4. Pinnell & Bax – Ian Pinnell/ Tim Hancock 17
5. RWO – Tim Robinson/ Zeb Elliott 20
6. 1512 – Jarrod Simpson/ Tim Paull 24