Melges sailors go swimming

But then it's been a wet week for these high flying sportsboats

Only three Melges 24s made it to the start line today but it was still very close racing and not without incident.

David Franks' Wild Thing has been having a blast this week. Winds averaging 25+ knots have made racing these oversized dinghies a handful. "It has been really exciting on the edge stuff," commented Franks. "These boats have been sailing up to there limit in these conditions. We have been screaming downwind at 25 knots almost out of control sometimes but it has been incredibly exhilarating".

But in Thursday's racing there was drama. "Today we were hoisting the kite and my son's foot was caught in the sheet. As the kite fill it flipped him over the side of the boat. Fortunately he managed to hang on to a guard rail and we hauled him back into the boat. He was not hurt and amazingly not very wet. Then we just carried on racing".

Wild Thing wasn't the only boat with swimmers. On the last beat in the Osbourne Bay area White Rabbit were almost neck and neck with Henri -Lloyd Rapid Breathing towards the finish line when the guard rail broke on board White Rabbit.

Paul Strzelecki of Henri Lloyd described what he saw " White Rabbit were slightly ahead of us as we were duelling for the finish when all of a sudden one of their life lines broke and as they were hiking out, two of the crew fell off the boat into the water. But they were back on the boat within seconds. When I saw the guys later they said that they were so pumped with adrenaline that they just got straight back on and focused on winning the race".

White Rabbit lost a little time during the incident so Henri Lloyd got through and took first today. Henri Lloyd had also issued a protest against White Rabbit claiming that they were over the weight limit and therefore would be in breach of the class rules. White Rabbit later retired.