Leaders emerge

Challenging conditions keep Mumm 30 title race tight

Renee Mehl's press report:

It was a very pleasant, if not challenging day on the water for the 41 boats competing at the Mumm 30 Worlds. All three races that were scheduled were completed in a light 6-11 knot shifty southeast wind. At least the bumps were gone, and the four leg windward leeward courses were sailed on flat water just beyond the entrance to the port. The wind direction started out at 145 and ended at 105 degrees, with some pretty big shifts throughout the day. Everyone was more conservative on their starts, the race committee didn’t signal any individual or general recalls. There is no discard in the series, which helped to reign in the overanxious boats after yesterday’s black flag scores.

The French charterers on Bite the Bullet were in the lead at the top mark of the first race of the day, and stretched out on the run to a position where they could not be caught. Boats were lined up five deep at the weather mark, and it was a traffic jam at the gate with up to 10 boats trying to fit in a space for five after the gate drifted too close. The sound of many languages shouting for room was heard across the water. Enfant Terrible and La Maracella di Dri Dri also stretched in front of the rest of the fleet and crossed the line in a photo finish for second and third respectively.

Race 3 of the series progressed with the wind continuing to shift to the left. The wind dropped a bit during the early afternoon as well, which mixed up the overall standings as the boats who were able to switch gears were ones that did not fare as well in the earlier conditions. Louis Brown’s Asterix got it right for the line honors, and yesterday’s race winners aboard Olympic showed their versatility by scoring second. Mummas VI liked the lighter wind as well, and posted their best score of third place.

There was a short wait under postponement while the line was reset for the last race of the day. The fleet only used half of the starting line, clustering close to the signal boat. As the sun dropped lower, the puffs got stronger on the course. The Italian team on Kismet took off like a rocket, and had a huge lead by the second windward mark.

The top three boats only have a point between them. Similar conditions are forecast for tomorrow, when racing will start at 11:00 a.m. to try and get four races completed. It is shaping up to be a tight race for the opportunity to be crowned Mumm 30 World Champion and receive the prestigious Royal Canadian Yacht Club trophy on Saturday afternoon.

Andy Nicholson reports from the race course:

It looks like the most consistent performers at this event will be Roberta, Manuela and Ivan - singing each evening in the Piano Bar on the good ship Moby Fantasy. Every performance has the enthusiasm of their debut and each song fades with some trademark feedback in the speakers.

On Ovington Boats Like our performance doesn’t quite match theirs. We did cardinal sin Number Two yesterday, scoring a penultimate place in the 41 boat fleet. Apparently we had two Italian boats going apoplectic at us during on bottom mark rounding. I was down the hole, taking the spinnaker down, only to come back up and to join in rolling the boat in a 720 turn in five knots of breeze. We managed to get one place back by the finish.

That said we have also had some big gains too at the mark rounding crush. In the final race we spun into a early gybe and simply sailed over a huge pack of near stationary Mumms. This move was to be crucial, as we beat Rainbow to the finish, taking the score between our two boats to Two-All and levelling the beer a race bet.

We feel on our boat that generally our boatspeed and height are poor, not by much but enough to cause problems. We had three good front row starts yesterday and find that we soon start to be bounced all over the race course as we get sucked back in. Once out of the top ten boats it is very hard to go the general direction you want to in clearish air. After lengthy analysis this speed issue is being put down to our three-regatta old jibs. They look fine, react well to any trim changes wee put on them, but are simply not a match with the boats with new fruit up.

In the Mumm Class you only have four buttons a year for new sails. So a new main, two jibs and a spinnaker is what you want to get. It was discussed at the owners meeting last night to implement a ‘button earning’ league table. So the boats who actually do contribute more to the class, by sailing at more class events, are not penalised by having significantly more hours on their sails. We’ll have to see if this actually becomes reality. L

For us it’s a case of keeping on trying different set ups, and to keep hiking hard. Something the crew thought I should pay more attention to! Buggar, I’ve been caught.

From my elevated position on the rail I did get a good view of the racing yesterday. My ten Euros are on Cheyenne to do well here (obviously just scraping it from Ovington Boats Like). Although not the top boat in yesterdays racing, that went to the Tomasso ‘Six Pack’ Cheiffi guided Enfant Terrible with a 2-5-2, what Cheyenne does well is stay in the leading pack, or pick her way through to get there.

Kismet sailed a brilliant final race. Picking up the first shift and sailing away from the fleet. This was no easy task as there was wind on the right, a shift on the left and a minefield up the middle. They have certainly put their marker down.

Just to cover myself completely (and not to give the kiss of death to anyone), it’s still far from over. Add 40 points to the score of the leading group and they bump down into the mid teens. Fortunately for us we have already done this to ourselves, so expect a climb up the rankings from us today…

Results

Pos.	Sail #	Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1	MON1999	BITIPI	3	12	11	5	31
2	ITA3078	ENFANT TERRIBLE	23	2	5	2	32
3	ITA13078	CHEYENNE	2	4	8	19	33
4	ITA3058	KISMET	23ZFD	7	9	1	40
5	SUI303	OLYMPIC	1	16	2	26	45
6	ITA3036	BAGUA	17	6	10	18	51
7	GBR3093	ASTERIX	10	34	1	7	52
8	ITA318	SHINING SR	4	17	31	3	55
9	FRA46	IN EXTREMIS	22	18	4	13	57
10	MON1	PARIMOR-THULE	26	13	14	8	61
11	MON2003	DANGEROUS BUT FUN	11	14	28	11	64
12	ITA3054	MUMMY TWO CAMPAGNOLA	9	20	36	4	69
13	ITA3076	LA MARACHELLA DI DRI DRI	7	3	34	27	71
14	NED6553	SCUD	33	5	26	10	74
15	ITA3017	DREAM IN ACTION	16	22	15	22	75
16	ITA3090	MUMMAS VI	21	37	3	15	76
17	SUI2500	BIENNE VOILE	BFD	9	12	14	77
18	USA316	TEAM BOLD	12	25	32	9	78
19	AUS6133	FOREIGN AFFAIR	6	38	6	29	79
20	GER4640	RAINBOW	18	8	22	31	79
21	GBR1305	OVINGTON BOATS LIKE	14	21	39	12	86
22	FRA4	BITE THE BULLET	32ZFD	1	20	38	91
23	GBR7930	PANTHER	20	19	35	17	91
24	ITA3074	FIAMMA	5	26	37	25	93
25	ITA3063	WIND-SEVEN	BFD	10	18	24	94
26	ITA3087	MAGA JOANNA	19	41	29	6	95
27	ITA3098	ARGOCLIMA ITAI DOSHIN	BFD	23	7	28	100
28	ITA3003	MUMMY ONE CAMPAGNOLA	8	33	23	36	100
29	MON200	TOROSCATENATO	BFD	29	13	20	104
30	FRA2012	REGION ILE DE FRANCE	30	11	25	39	105
31	USA32	GROOVEDERCI	27	24	38	16	105
32	ITA2121	MASCALZONE LATINO	29	28	21	30	108
33	SWE14	MAGI	32	31	17	32	112
34	ITA3064	METALLURGICA CALVI	13	27	40	33	113
35	NED6922	MAGICOLOR	31	15	30	41	117
36	GER3358	TOPAS	25	40	19	35	119
37	FRA18322	DEFI PARTAGE	BFD	35	24	21	122
38	FRA18239	CHACAL	BFD	32	27	23	124
39	NED3405	INTL.YACHTPAINT.COM	BFD	36	16	40	134
40	ITA3040	STORM SYSTEM	34	30	41	34	139
41	GBR1430	EL BUSINESS/MUMBO JUMBO	36ZFD	39	33	37	145