DEN 405 Out of Bounce, helmed by the current European Champion Jens Christensen, crewed by Kim Andersen and Andreas Bagger took the overall lead yesterday by winning the only race sailed as the wind played tricks and changed direction all day. The day started well with steady Easterly wind of around 8 kts and not a cloud in the sky…. After a clean start half the 24 boat fleet headed left for the Estoril shore, whilst half tacked right searching for more breeze. Although the lead boats on the left soon got headed and began to look good, a right hand breeze filled in and the leaders at the top mark all came from the right. After the leaders rounded the spreader mark with the breeze still in a “right faze”, a gybe set was the prefered option. DEN 405 and GBR 720 led the pack whilst the wind then shifted to the left, this meant that the boats towards the back of the fleet simply hoisted spinnakers on a bear away set and continued to sail towards the leeward gate with pressure from the shore.
Jens Christensen and Stefan Winberg SWE 356 held strong throughout the first downwind leg, whilst POR 50 Pedro Medes Leal and GBR 751 Stewart Coltart were two of the boats to gain huge amounts from the left-hand shift. On the second beat both POR 50 and GBR 751 pushed even further left and made even more gains on the leaders… By the time of the second and final downwind leg, GBR 751 Stewart Coltart helming “Finito” crewed by his Wife Catriona and Martin Payne, had sailed into 3rd place which they were able to mantain to the finish. Just ahead of Stewart SWE 356 Stefan Winberg, managed to hold onto his 2nd place, whilst DEN 405 just increased his lead……
Try as he may, the PRO was unable to complete any more races, even though there were two other starts, the wind just kept dying away and the races had to be abandoned.. So Jens Christensen leads overall after three races on 14pts, RUS 76 Dmitry Samokhin and MON 2 Jens Rathsack closely follow on 18pts. With at least two more races planned for today and a very positive weather forecast this could all change… More to follow …
Higher, Faster, Longer…… Stavros. (GBR 751)