Ted Sawyer rolled back the years as he masterly helmed USA 310 to first place on day 1 of the 2011 Gold Cup, thus winning the coveted trophy presented by the late, but legendary Borge Borrensen. It was truly a magnificent victory for Sawyer and his crew of Jamie Lea and Martin Payne, as they only took control of the race at the final gate. Indeed it was Guus de Groot from Holland, NED 309 who got the jump on the fleet from the Pin end together with GBR 633 Ron James, after the PRO Henry Antoine got the fleet away first go on an excellently placed starting line on time at 12.00 yesterday. With the wind blowing, as forecast from south/southwest, at around 8 kts and an increasing ebb tide it was quite remarkable that the 69 boat fleet stayed obediently behind the line as the current was pushing the boats up all the time. But I think the strength of the tide was misjudged by many and so the race got away exactly on time…… GBR 633 rounded the windward mark 1st and sailed low after hoisting her yellow and white spinnaker, however NED 309 and USA 310 now in 3rd place, hoisted their kites but kept high knowing that the strong ebb tide would eventually helped them down to the leeward gate………
On the second beat Ned 309 maintained her lead but many boats from the closing pack started to work their way to the front, one such boat was GER 10 Marcus Brenneke, who actually may have been joint first on more than one occasion as the race drew to an exciting climax….. The long second run had everyone guessing the exact location of the leeward gate, the change of course signaled a 350 bearing but most of the leaders held onto a 20 degree heading, so when USA310 gybed away Sawyer and his team made a small gain which was to see them lead going into the final beat. GER 10 opted for the lefthand buoy whilst RUS 27 Anatoly Loginov follwed Sawyer around the right buoy. With last weeks winning boat GBR 744 Tim Tavinor also in the mix, it all rested on the small windhsifts as the boats made their way south towards the finish line. GER 10 did cross USA 310 halfway up the final beat but in doing so Brenneke took his boat to the lefthand side of the course, so when a 10 degree windshift came in from the right, Sawyer and his team seized their chance to win the race keeping a loose cover on RUS 27 who was now in 2nd place. GBR 744 also gained on the right side of the course to finished with the last podium spot in 3rd place much to the delight of the Tigger Team…. 🙂
At the prize giving a very happy Ted Sawyer was informed that at 78yrs young, he was the oldest winner of a Gold Cup race, to which he replied “You ain’t seen nothing yet”……………
Higher, Faster, Longer……. Younger…….. Stavros (USA 310)..
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