Distance race shake up

Unexpected finishing order in Rolex TP52 Global Challenge leaves all to play for in final three races

Far from being simply the strongest windward-leeward boats continuing to come out on top, so the Rolex TP52 Global Championship distance race sprang several new boats into the limelight, dramatically altering the complexion of the leaderboard with Patches knocked off the top spot and with just three points now separating the top three boats.

Leaving Miami yesterday afternoon, the 200+ mile distance race saw the boats taking an effective anti-clockwise course around a square, first across the Gulf Stream out to a turning mark off the Bahamas, then north past Bimini around a turning mark at Great Isaac Light then west, back across to the Gulf Stream to the Florida coast before heading back south to the finish just north of Miami.

The biggest shake-up took place at around 8.30pm last night, just as it was getting dark, when sailing upwind in a relatively large sea but moderate wind Eamon Conneely's Reichel-Pugh designed Patches, broke her deck at the forward end of the cockpit on the port side. Click here to read more about this.

Tactically the most significant part of the race occurred on the first side of the 'square' from Miami across to the Bahamas. With the wind from the southeast and the north-flowing Gulf Stream running at up to five knots in places, the passage across was a starboard-tack biased beat ie: at some point between Miami and the Bahamas the boats would have to put a tack in to the south - the question was when to do this? A majority of boats including early leader Patches had chosen the southerly route, short tacking down the Florida coast for around 10 miles before taking the long starboard tack around. Meanwhile Bambakou, Glory and Beau Geste chose the 'northern route' heading straight across to the Bahamas where they would then get their southing in. In fact as they approached the Bahamas this latter group were hit by a massive 40 degree header on which they tacked and we suddenly able to lay the turning mark, launching them into the lead in a matter of seconds.

At this stage Karl Kwok's Hong Kong entry Beau Geste had taken the lead followed by Bambakou and Glory, the latter two enjoying their first taste of podium life. With Patches out of the running so Michael Brennan's Sjambok was first of the southern boats to reach the mark (although in fact the Government mark was nowhere to be seen and the boats ended up rounding a GPS waypoint instead), but well behind the leaders having felt the benefit of the shift much later.

A match race for the lead took place on this next leg hugging the western side of the Bahamas Bank with Bambakou taking the lead passing Bimini only be overtaken on the inside by Beau Geste at the next mark. On the broad reach back across the Straits of Florida, so Bambakou hit 24.5 knots, as the wind piped up to more than 20, once again overtook, and from here hung on to first place until the finish, winning by six minutes 35 seconds ahead of Beau Geste.

On his arrival an exhausted but jubilant Bambakou owner, John Coumantaros, attributed their success to his team and their sticking to their game plan. Bambakou was better suited to offshore races he believed thanks to her wider transom making her better for reaching in moderate to strong conditions. Coumantaros added that they had also benefitted from using a fractional reaching chute, an A5, whereas in similar conditions Beau Geste was having to rely on a reefed main and masthead genoa.

"I am happy. We pride ourselves in the long distance courses and the boat went very well," said Coumantaros, adding that his background is in this style of racing. His father George had several maxi-boats called Boomerang on which he was brought up. "I called my dad before we set off and he said 'well the way you're going just slpit from the fleet. And as always he was right". Sailing on board Bambakou was America's Cup sailor Santiago Lange, along with his Olympic Tornado crew Carlos Espinolda and Jochen Barne, who sails with Lange at the Victory Challenge, Swedish America's Cup team.

Karl Kwok's Beau Geste, with Gavin Brady calling the shots on board, arrived close behind in second. "It was a tiring race but in the end the result pays off. And it was my first race crossing the Gulf Stream," said Kwok, praising his navigator Tom Eddis.

Third place overall was taken by Micheael Brennan's Sjambok, a Farr-designed sistership to Bambakou. On his arrival Sjambok navigator Campbell Field was kicking himself for not having gone north. "I didn't have the conviction and going north paid hugely." However they reached the Bahamas first through being furthest north of the southerly boats. Sjambok arrived just under 20 minutes after Bambakou. "It was good fun racing. We were close to boats all the time, sailing for 18 hours with the intensity of an hour and a half windward-leeward," concluded Field.

With three races left to sail, including tomorrow's coastal race, so the top three positions see championship leader Pegasus 52 (fourth today), second placed Beau Geste and Patches within three points.

Results:

Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, Total Points
1. Pegasus 52, Philippe Kahn, Honolulu, HI, USA, 6-1-1-5-4-3-6, 26 points
2. Beau Geste, Kark Kwok, Hong Kong, CHN, 4-3-6-4-2-5-3, 27
3. Patches, Eamon Conneely, Galway, IRL, 1-6-3-1-1-1-15[DNF], 28
4. Rush, Thomas Stark, Newport, RI, USA, 2-4-2-10[DNF*]-5-2-9, 34
5. Bambakou, John Coumantaros, Newport, RI, USA, 5-8-4-6-7-4-1.5, 35.5
6. Stay Calm, Stuart Robinson, Royal Thames YC, UK, 3-7-5-2-3-6-10.5, 36.5
7. Sjambok, Michael Brennan, Annapolis, MD, USA, 7-2-8-3-8-8-4.5, 40.5
8. Glory, John Buchan, Hunts Point, WA, USA, 9-5-7-8-6-7-5, 49.5
9. Braveheart, Charles Burnett, Seattle, WA, USA, 8-9-9-7-10[DNF*]-9-8, 64