Italy lead the way in Cannes.

Yesterday in Cannes, the sun shone brightly in the deep blue Mediterranean sky whilst 52 Dragon’s had to wait patiently for the gentle sea breeze to settle in the west bay…  At around 2.30pm Race Officer, John Coveny, managed to get the 2nd race of the Coupe de Armistice, cleanly away. With a 1.3 mile beat the smart sailors headed towards the left hand  side of the course, which took them towards the Island’s where the wind seemed a little stronger. The boats who ventured out into the bay on the right  of the course lost what little breeze they had and struggled to get back into the windward mark. MON 9 crewed by Michael Kurts and Andreas Eigen, made an excellent start at the PIN end and sensibly stayed left after crossing the fleet off the line. ITA 56 helmed by Giseppe Duca sailed a sensible race from the left and followed MON 9 around the top mark, and set their spinnakers for the long and challenging downwind leg…   ITA 54 Paolo Manzoni also had a good first beat and sailed well to chase down the leaders, who gybed away from the Island to keep their momentum towards the leeward gate.

As boats struggled to set their spinnakers in this dying breeze, Race Officer John Coveny, sensibly shortened the course, thus requiring the fleet to just sail through the leeward gate. MON 9 held onto her lead to finish ahead of ITA 54 and ITA 56 but due to having to count an OCS from the first race, MON 9 slipped down the fleet overall, But with two excellent races so far ITA 56 leads the 52 boat fleet by a commanding 12pts. ITA 54 is in second place with RUS 90 close behind in 3rd overall.  Today will see the conclusion of the regatta with hopefully two more races, which will then allow for a discard….

Higher, Faster, Longer…………   Stavros.