Protest takes XODs to the wire

Port/starboard incident today affected the class leaders

There is an overwhelming feeling of despondency tonight within the camp of XOD leaders Stuart Jardine and crew son Mark Jardine and Christian Brewer (Hyde Sails) sailing Lone Star over a port/starboard accusation during today's racing.
Had the protest not been called the team would have won today. Mark Jardine commented, "We have decided to accept a one percent penalty. The protest decision could have gone either way and we didn't want to take any chances."

Christian Brewer who has sailed with Jardine for the last 27 years relayed the incident: "We were on port and Catherine were coming along on starboard. We tacked, and they then called 'starboard'. We had already completed the manoeuvre and were quite a distance from them when they called the protest.

"We didn't need to win our race today to win, and we certainly weren't trying to pick a fight with them. We just can't understand it. The trouble is there are no witnesses, and so the protest would have been purely chance."

Stuart Jardine is 67 and first won the XOD class at Cowes in 1956. He also won in '96, '99, and dropped rigs in '98 and 2000. Brewer commented on the week's sailing conditions: "This is the first Cowes Week I have competed in that has been consistently windy throughout the whole week. It has been really hard work but we have had some fantastic conditions.

We have had two running starts this week. It's so important to get a good start in this fleet and get clean away. Today we had a running start from the North Ryde bank and everyone came in close together - it was absolute carnage."

Depending on times, Lone Star may still be awarded first place if they finish within the top five. Either way Lone Star will be racing tomorrow to try and finish off what has been a formidable week dominating the X fleet.