Time for a chat

What the sailors think on a windless day at the Moby Mumm 30 Worlds

After a long and hopeful wait on Friday theYacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Race Committee was finally forced to postpone racing in the Moby M30 World Championship. Thirty nine boats have gathered in Porto Cervo for the event, which started on Thursday with three races and continues through Sunday 7th October.

The wind off the northeastern coast of Sardinia did just about everything except remain stable, including going completely round the compass, not once, but twice, and ranging from two to 16 knots. At around 4.30 pm the fleet began to take position for a start, encouraged by 12-15 knots of easterly wind. As the fleet lined up the wind shifted 20°, causing a bunch-up at the leeward end, then dropped down to three knots. At this point the Race Committee had no choice but to send the weary crews home.

Back on the docks the fleet’s only Australian competitor, Guy Stening, was satisfied with the performance of his Optimumm, which came in second in the Pre-Worlds races and is currently sitting in sixth place overall: “I’m very happy so far. The first race was a bit of a disaster for us; we came in 21st. We were running third in the second race until we got no room around the top mark and we touched the mark and had to do our turns; that pushed us back to eighth. We had a fantastic last race yesterday - we led all the way 'round the course ...on the finishing run, the wind got up to about 21 knots and we were smoking!”

Stening was also quietly confident about the rest of the week “We just want to keep improving and hopefully come out with a better result than we did in the Pre-Worlds! There are a lot of very, very talented sailors here, so it’s a hard competition.”

According to Terry Hutchinson, tactician aboard the USA's Barking Mad: “The first day was okay - we sailed pretty well, we started really well and our boat handling was good. We got a little tangled up in traffic in the last race which was a little disappointing and we couldn’t quite get out of the middle of the bunch. Other than that, a beautiful day on the water. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”

Topping the overall leaderboard from yesterday is Assotubi Mummyone (ITA), owned by Antonio Mingozzi and Lauro Bonora, followed by Yoann Richomme’s Ann Be (FRA) in second and Lorenzo Santini’s Uka Uka (Ita) in third.

“We came here looking to do well after coming second in the Italian Circuit,” said Bonora. “In yesterday's first race we didn’t get off to a great start but in the second we made up for it. We started well and were always in the lead from start to finish. In the third we had a good start as well but the teams are really fierce and we ended up coming in fourth; that’s the way it goes.”

Former Star Class world champion and tactician on board Enfant Terrible, Hamish Pepper, commented on the standard of the competition at this World Championship: “There are world class sailors here - fleet racers, match racers, America’s Cup and Volvo sailors and all sorts really, along with some excellent amateurs as well, so it’s a credit to the M30 class that it attracts such good sailors and we have such strong competition.”

Saturday’s weather forecast predicts more unstable conditions with light and variable winds and a strong possibility of heavy showers. Racing is scheduled to begin at 11.10 am.

For further information: http://www.mobym30worlds.com

1. ASSOTUBI MUMMYONE Mingozzi / Bonora, ITA,12,1,4,17.00
2. ANN BE Yoann Rihomme, FRA, 4, 5,10,19.00
3. UKA UKA Lorenzo Santini, ITA, 9, 9, 3, 21.00
4. NEW CALEDONIA Vincent Portugal, FRA, 7, 2,13, 22.00
5. MATRIX ARIA TX ACTIVE Melegari / Rinaldi, ITA,15, 12, 2, 29.00
6. OPTIMUMM Guy Stening, AUS, 21, 8, 1, 30.00
7. CHEYENNE Federico Strocchi, ITA, 1, 11,18, 30.00
8. BARKING MAD James B. Richardson, USA, 5, 6, 21, 32.00
9. MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC MAGIC Franchini \ Gasperoni \ Zaoli, ITA, 25, 3, 6, 34.00
10. JOE FLY Giovanni Maspero, ITA,11, 18, 9, 38.00