Efter två avverkade omgångar av vinterns Indoor Sailing Cup levererar Jon följande rapport:
CSS Indoor Sailing Cup.
Race 1
The first race in the series kicked off with a simple ’Race Around The Cans’.
6 boats entered, Ardanza, Yesterday, Mercy, Charmaya, Windsong and ‘Stars and Stripes’ … an American owned Comfort 26!!
The main competition was in the middle of the pack, with Ardanza taking and holding a comfortable lead. The remaining boats, whilst suffering various mishaps like grounding, losing masts and sails, and one even hitting a stray whale, fought for the remaining places. Some close, tactical, and rather ‘bitchy’ sailing was had whilst Ardanza kept glancing behind them to watch the fun as they cruised to a well deserved finish line gun. Mercy and Windsong argued for 2nd and 3rd places whilst some ‘irregular’ sailing (almost cheating but that’s a bit too strong!) from the American boat saw them sneak over the line for a 4th placing.
Results for the 1st Race are as follows;
1st Ardanza – Åke och Kerstin 6points
2nd Mercy – Viveca och Bosse 5 points
3rd Windsong -Karin och Gunnar 4 points
4th ’Stars and Stripes’ -Tom och Lars E 3points
5th Yesterday -Jon och Ingela 2 points
6th Charmaya – Lars Åke 1 point
Race 2
This race was a fairly straightforward ‘Around the Islands’ race. A clear course around a group of islands with the possibility to take some inshore routes for a faster course time, rather than following the deeper water course.
Obviously, with following shallower, narrower channels, the risks of grounding and other potential accidents are a lot higher, but all competitors studied the ground and course well and made informed decisions!
‘Yesterday’ took an early lead, with good winds all the way down to the first island, with the rest of the fleet fighting for position in a very tight manner.
Having the advantage, ‘Yesterday’ sneaked through the narrows on the inside, whilst ‘Ardanza’ took the outer course around the back of the island making excellent time on the longer route.
‘Mercy’ tried to follow ‘Yesterday’s line on the inshore track, but mis-read their charts and ended up in last place for a moment, ‘Charmaya’ taking the same route through but without mishap. With ‘Ardanza’ almost be-calmed at one point, they still managed to take the lead from ‘Yesterday’ after the latter had an argument with a high speed ferry that almost ruined their chances of continuing in the race, and put them into 2nd place. As we have come to expect, ‘Ardanza’ held the lead and fought off challenges from the rest of the fleet, as they sailed down through the ‘Chicken Run’ and into open waters.
‘Ardanza’ stretched their lead by a clear 13 boat lengths as the fleet rounded the nudist island … maybe crews were distracted, maybe not, but ‘Ardanza’ held a commanding lead with Kerstin in obvious control!
‘Mercy’ pulled forward to hold 2nd place while ‘Yesterday’ was stopped by Tullen for a ships papers check, dashing their hopes for a good podium place!
Charmaya had a relatively easy time around the course, coming over the line in a comfortable 4th place.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, ‘Windsong’ and ‘Stars and Stripes’ failed to finish. (They also failed to start, but that’s another story!)
Results for Race 2.
1st Ardanza – Kerstin och Åka 6 points
2nd Mercy – Viveca och Bosse 5 points
3rd Yesterday – Jon och Ingela 4 points
4th Charmaya – Lars Åke 3 points
DNF ‘Windsong’ 1 point
DNF ‘Stars and Stripes’ 1 point
Overall Standings after 2 races.
1st Ardanza 12 points
2nd Mercy 10 points
3rd Yesterday 6 points
4th Windsong 5 points
5th Charmaya 4 points
5th Stars and Stripes 4 points
To be continued!