Another blustery day

Pete Cummings' Oman Sail Masirah team hang in there at the iShares Cup' Kiel event

Saturday August 29th 2009, Author: Jocelyn Bleriot, Location: United Kingdom
The second day of racing at the iShares Cup in Kiel and six races were staged, each delivering a different winner: BT, Groupama, Oman Sail Masirah, Luna, Oman Sail Renaissance and Holmatro. No one team dominated in the tricky conditions, although Pete Cumming's crew on Oman Sail Masirah did enough to stay at the top of the leaderboard with a 17-point lead going into the final day of racing, but they are certainly not invincible and round 4 of the iShares Cup remains wide open.

A grand battle developed for second place today between three of the French skippers - Yann Guichard's team Gitana Extreme raced a great final race which put them in second place overall, whereas Groupama's 7th place relegated this seasoned multihull racing team to third place overall while Loick Peyron on Oman Sail Renaissance is waiting in the wings in fourth with only one point separating these three teams.

The none boat Extreme 40 fleet, minus Mike Golding’s Ecover that was dismasted in a capsize yesterday, went out on the Kiel Fjord today expecting 30 knots and instead had to deal with light, shifty conditions and torrential downpours with occasional gusts, thunder and lightning that turned today’s racing into a game of snakes and ladders for many.

Oman Sail Renaissance skipper, Loick Peyron commented: “It was a mixed day - some good, some really bad! Not easy at all - it was supposed to be really windy but when its not windy, the wind is moving from one side to the other so you have to play - anything can happen. We did a really bad one today, a really bad one yesterday so it could be good to finish the last day with no really bad races! Tomorrow’s going to be the day!”

Pete Cumming’s Masirah crew, so dominate in Cowes, did enough today finishing in the top five in every race bar one, but they will go into the final day feeling under threat as round 4 is really still wide open.

Team iShares skipper, Shirley Robertson commented: “We have our moments, if we have a good start, we can get ahead but I still feel like a bit of a novice multihull sailor against the likes of Loick Peyron and Franck Cammas! Everyone was good and bad, and going up and down. It was tricky racing the wind was coming and going with the rain clouds and very shifty. We all went out dressed for 30 knots and torrential rain so I think everyone is pretty happy.”

The Dutch team of Holmatro who have a new man at the helm for the rest of the season, were delighted to score a win in the final race today, although just before the race started, they struck a rock performing a fly-by for the crowds. Skipper Mitch Booth explains: “We were just killing time between the races and thought we’d just do a little sail by the dock and, sure enough, there was a rock right in our way and we hit our daggerboard and crashed it pretty bad. We had to get a guy under the boat to get it out that way and we just got a replacement board out in time for the final race. It was good though in the end because we had a good last race [they won!]. We’re a brand new team here and it takes time to sort out all the team work but we’re pretty happy, we’ve had a couple of bad ones and some good ones too! It was that sort of condition today and that sort of course – the winner got away and then it was very difficult for anyone to pass. But it was a scramble in the middle, I can tell you, but good fun and looking forward to tomorrow.”

The local German team, Wirsol Team Kiel Sailing Ciy enjoying the racing and the support of the thousands of home supporters. A third-place in the penultimate race of today was there best result so far in the event, but in the final race skipper Roland Gäbler, fell overboard. He managed to scramble back on by himself to finish the race to the obvious appreciation of the crowd.

The forecast for the final day of the iShares Cup Kiel is similar to today’s forecast – SW 10-15 knots with strong gusts. In reality, the Extreme 40 fleet might end up with the same tricky conditions they had today. The Ecover team still has work to do preparing the spare mast and repair the mainsail damage, as well as find replacement crew following the injury to Bruno Dubois.

See the video from today's racing today - here (NB: this in .mov format)

Results:
 
Team Skipper
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
R8
R9
R10
R11
R12
R13
Tot
Masirah Pete Cumming
3
2
4
1
2
2
1
5
5
1
2
6
5
104
Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild Yann Guichard
2
3
2
6
4
9
5
4
2
8
5
4
2
87
Groupama Franck Cammas
4
1
6
4
6
3
2
9
1
9
3
2
7
86
Renaissance Loick Peyron
5
4
1
3
1
5
DSQ
3
4
3
DNF
1
6
85
LUNA Eric Maris
6
10
5
2
3
8
7
8
3
4
1
8
3
75
iShares Shirley Robertson
10
5
7
5
5
4
4
2
7
5
DNF
5
8
65
BT Nick Moloney
7
9
3
9
7
1
3
1
9
6
DNF
9
4
64
Holmatro Mitch Booth
1
7
8
8
9
6
6
7
8
2
DNF
7
1
62
Wirsol Team Germany Kiel Sailing City Roland Gäbler
9
6
10
7
8
7
8
6
6
7
4
3
9
50
Ecover Mike Golding
8
8
9
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
DNS
8
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