Rix takes lead

Fiona Brown reports on the second day of racing at the Ocean BMW Melges 24 Europeans

The second day of the Ocean BMW Melges 24 European Championship brought three more great races and some interesting changes on the scoreboard. Racing for the fifty competitors got underway on time in 7 knots from the southwest and under cloudy skies, however, as the day wore on the sun broke through and the wind gradually picked up to 12 knots.

The shifting wind combined with a strong and turning tide were merciless and demanded 100% concentration. The fleet was constantly over eager and PRO Peter Rumbelow resorted to the black flag on two occasions. The mark roundings were equally hectic with several contact incidents for the judges to rule on afloat and plenty of protests back ashore.

Overnight leader Jamie Lea, sailing Stuart Simpson's Team Barbarians, had a mediocre day scoring 31, 29, 4 pushing him down to 9th overall. On the other hand fellow Brit Stuart Rix, helming Team Gill for Quentin Strauss, had an excellent day and their 7, 3, 1 gives them a three point lead from Italy's Andrea Racchelli who sailed consistently for an 11, 8, 3 scoreline to hold second overall.

The French teams put up a good showing led by Philip Ligot's Partner & Partners, helmed by Francoise Brenac, who moved up in to third place. This hugely successful team hasn't set foot in a Melges 24 since they won the 2004 Worlds over a year ago and they are also sailing for the first time with their new helmsman. However, Ligot explained "The Melges 24 is all about team work. We have had the same core crew for many years and everyone plays a role in preparing and sailing the boat. Even though we haven't sailed for a year and have a new driver we immediately know our routines. This is the start of a year long campaign for us culminating in the 2006 Worlds in Hyeres and our aim in Torquay is to be in the top ten so we are very happy right now."

There are four other French teams in the top ten tonight, three of them sponsored by the Cotes d'Armor region of France. Vincent Biarnes, helming Cotes d'Armor, was the most consistent today with 6, 2, 9 and moves up from 10th to 4th just ahead of Italy's Gabrio Zandona, helming Joe Fly for Giovanni Maspero. Thomas Rouxel, aboard Cotes d'Armor Sail de Mer, was less consistent and dropped from 3rd to 6th. Alba Batzill, sailing No Woman No Cry for Eddy Eich, won the fourth race comfortably and with a 9th and 17th in the other two moved up from 12th to 7th just ahead of Antoine Albarte sailing Cotes d'Armour Perros Guirec.

Tomorrow the discard comes into play and with more moderate winds forecast it will be an interesting day. The Championship is wide open with seven more races scheduled between now and the close on Friday.

			Helm	Pts	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	GBR431	Gill	Stuart Rix	25	9	5	7	3	1
2	ITA438	Altea	Andrea Racchelli	28	4	2	11	8	3
3	FRA571	Partner & Partners	Francois Brenac	39	1	11	14	7	6
4	FRA193	Cotes d'Armor	Vincent Biarnes	47	13	17	6	2	9
5	ITA550	Joe Fly	Zandona Gabrio	54	3	31	2	13	5
6	FRA470	Cotes d'Armor Sail de Mer	Thomas Rouxel	59	6	4	16	4	29
7	GER582	No Woman No Cry	Alba Bazrill	60	32	1	9	1	17
8	FRA261	Cotes d'Armour Perros Guirec	Antoine Albaret	69	8	9	1	33	18
9	GBR406	Team Barbarians	Jamie Lea	69	2	3	31	29	4
10	FRA173	Au Planning	Jerome Aubert	72	24	14	3	18	13
11	FRA387	Douarn-Mason	Vincent Sauleau	73	11	21	5	6	30
12	FRA422	Dyneema-Euros	Remy Arnaud	78	19	23	10	19	7
13	GBR546	Helmut Rises Again	Nigel Grogan	87	16	18	28	11	14
14	GBR334	Easy Tiger	Tim Collins	96	42	8	20	5	21
15	FRA423	Zig Zag 15	Henri Samuel	96	7	19	25	12	33
16	GBR535	March Hare	Mike Henning	97	43	10	4	15	25
17	GBR368	Team Turn-Turtle.com	Alan Brown	101	15	24	15	36	11
18	SUI599	PoiZon Rouge	Jean-Marc Monnard	103	10	15	37	39	2
19	MON601	Sogeti	Antoine Frickey	107	14	13	19	51	10
20	NOR341	Dolly	Erik Arthur	107	40	20	18	14	15
21	GBR269	Ali 2	Ann Ashworth	109	25	12	34	16	22
22	ITA297	Pioneer Investments	Andrea Formaro	112	18	38	12	21	23
23	GBR527	Comfortably Numb	Simon Dobson	113	20	26	21	26	20
24	FIN476	Suunto	Kennet Thelen	116	41	7	24	32	12
25	NOR349	Party Girl	Jens Wathne	126	29	32	29	17	19
26	FRA358	Dottore Jigolo	P Y Lambert	127	37	6	33	43	8
27	GBR516	Highland Heritage	Paul Brotherton	127	17	51	22	10	27
28	AUT531	EdelweiB	Michael Schineis	130	5	29	13	51	32
29	FRA383	Merck Generique	Jean-Marc Sparfel	131	22	16	26	22	45
30	GBR611	WKD Red	Joe Woods	139	21	22	27	45	24
31	FRA461	Euro-Voiles	Christophe Barrue	140	12	42	8	44	34
32	GBR573	Xcellent	John Pollard	146	34	28	17	51	16
33	FRA473	Gybe Set	Oliver Gellez	151	23	37	38	9	44
34	FRA471	Mu	Emmanuel Nebout	152	31	36	23	24	38
35	GBR403	Envy	Dean Argent	155	30	41	35	23	26
36	NOR279	Marella V	Nils Nordenstroem	172	35	35	40	31	31
37	SUI578	Music 55	Ruedi Huber	179	33	27	50	34	35
38	SUI382	Zerowo/e-brokerline.com	Michael Good	179	45	33	32	41	28
39	GBR340	White Rabbit	Simon Henning	182	50	40	30	25	37
40	GBR453	Ramshackle	Paul Owen	182	26	43	43	27	43
41	GBR432	Wolf Cub	Glyn Williams	183	28	25	39	51	40
42	GBR452	Eric's Mate	Martin Wedge	193	27	51	47	20	48
43	GBR534	Hooligan	Norman Broom	194	39	39	44	30	42
44	GBR589	Badger	Paul Lovejoy	195	49	34	36	40	36
45	GBR548	Team Panasonic	Adrian Peach	198	38	51	42	28	39
46	GBR478	www.formulacars.co.uk	Tim Jones	211	36	46	48	35	46
47	SUI270	Boorinsla	Ann-Kathrin Hoh	211	47	44	41	38	41
48	GBR377	Henri Lloyd	Tony Jaffa	219	46	30	46	46	51
49	FRA272	Speed'eau	Antoine Jeu	226	44	51	45	37	49
50	MLT435	Wild Thing	David S Franks	237	48	51	49	42	47