Small sails for the 18's

All the latest from the third day of the 18ft skiffs in Sardinia

The 18ft Skiff sailors were caught out by the weather conditions here in Sardinia on Wednesday. After the previous day's light winds, full gale conditions during the night made it seem at breakfast time highly unlikely that there could be any racing on the day. By the time of the daily one o'clock briefing it was considered to still be too bad to race, even though the high wind had moderated to a significant extent, and the fairly obvious decision was made to postpone for a while to see what would happen.

An hour or so later there had been a further improvement, and it was decided the first race of the day would start at 15.30, so the entire fleet put up their number two rigs, or second suits as the Australians often call them. Some teams may have considered the possibility of the wind moderating even more, but nobody took the risk of 'going big.' As a result, the skiffs lined up in a breeze that had indeed reduced further in strength, to the extent that it was impossible for more than two of the crew to be on their trapezes.

Nobody would deny that the 18 footer is a fast and exciting boat, but there is one condition when it feels anything but lively, and that is under the small rig when it really should be under the large one. The situation is exacerbated if there are left over waves, which was the case today.

However, everybody was on equal terms and there was a race to run, so the teams just had to make the best of it. As they worked the first beat to the windward mark it was the Barron and Smithers team of Peter Barton, Martin Borrett and Ian Turnbull who made the running, but the wind was unstable in both strength and direction, and several teams had brief periods in the lead until Andy Cuddihy, Dennis Brent and Gerard Smith on Fisher & Paykel got it completely right and opened up a big margin to win from Radii sailed by Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley and Dave Richards. John Winning, Andrew Hay and Geoff Beauchop on Yandoo finished third ahead of Howie Hamlin, Mike Martin and Trent Barnabas on Pegasus Racing and Barron and Smithers.

Earlier in the race, the hefty Danish team found themselves in a position they don't enjoy, towards the back of the fleet. They decided they had had enough of that and went back to the beach, where they quickly changed to their number one rig with just enough time to reach the starting area in time for Race six.

Predictably, Flemming Clausen, Thomas Ebler and Soren Clausen led from start to finish on GP Covers, while the race for second position was won by Pegasus Racing from the Swiss team of Stephan Rueger, Ueli Marti and Kevin Fuchs on Exel. F isher & Paykel finished fourth, with Christophe Orion, Eric Caiveau and Philippe Vallee on Groupe Sefico in fifth place.

With two more days of sailing to come, Pegasus Racing now leads Fisher & Paykel and Radii by six points, and Yandoo by seven. Barron & Smithers is nine points behind the leader, but there is then a larger gap to Exel which is 18 points behind.

Results

Race 5

1-Fisher & Paykel-Andy Cuddihy, Dennis Brent and Gerard Smith-AUS
2-Radii-Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley and Dave Richards-GBR
3-Yandoo-John Winning, Andrew Hay and Geoff Beauchop-AUS
4-Pegasus Racing-Howie Hamlin, Mike Martin and Trent Barnabas-USA
5-Barron & Smithers-Peter Barton, Martin Borrett and Ian Turnbull-GBR

Race 6

1-GP Covers-Flemming Clausen, Thomas Ebler and Soren Clausen-DEN
2-Pegasus Racing-Howie Hamlin, Mike Martin and Trent Barnabas-USA
3-Exel-Stephan Rueger, Ueli Marti and Kevin Fuchs-SWI
4-Fisher & Paykel-Andy Cuddihy, Dennis Brent and Gerard Smith-AUS
6-Yandoo-John Winning, Andrew Hay and Geoff Beauchop-AUS