In complete contrast to the fresh westerly breeze as Skandia Cowes Week opened yesterday, competitors headed out to the start area this morning with barely enough wind to fill their sails. A light breeze from the south-west reaching no more than five knots is the current situation as the starting sequence gets underway. The 66-strong Laser SB3 fleet were first to kick off in the White Group at 1025 on the Royal Yacht Squadron line but over-enthusiasm in the strong ebb tide unsurprisingly led to the first general recall of the day.
After a short delay the sequence finally got back on track, with the Etchells next off, followed by the 1720 and RS K6 fleets. Sailing for the Tyrell Tray it will interesting to see if Ian Southworth's team, who won yesterday's SB3 opening race by less than a minute, will be able to hold off fleet rivals Jerry Hill and his crew aboard Team Touareg in the tricky light stuff today.
The Sonars have just started, but there has been an individual recall to which no-one seems to have responded. Steve Sleight and Sarah Coombes on board Bikini Bottom seem to have had the best start but it will be interesting to see how they fare at the top mark, or whether they were the ones over the line?
Yachting World, 31 July 2005
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