One lap for the “small” classic yachts, two for the large ones, three races for the 5.5mJI and Tofinous, two races for the Dragons: this Wednesday afternoon was more dynamic than the previous days, with some great battles on the water despite a sluggish southern breeze of about eight knots. And all of this shuffles the scores at halftime of the Régates Royales de Cannes…
The Race Committee chose an almost round-trip course with a (delayed) start in front of the beach at Cannes-La Bocca, then a long beat toward Esquillon Point before returning to La Napoule under spinnaker, passing by a buoy moored in front of Saint-Marc Point. Everything was set in this very manageable breeze and almost smooth sea, as the 15mJI Mariska renewed its “One Boat Show” from the previous day, winning this time in real-time ahead of its big brother, the 23mJI Cambria!
But it was in the other series that these light conditions further emphasized the classical yachts most at ease in light winds and the sharpest crews adept at escaping the windless zones: like magicians pulling tactics out of a hat, Angelo Mazarella (Carron II) among the Marconi under fifteen meters and Brendan Mc Carty (Rowdy) in the over fifteen meters class, accomplished a true magic trick by vastly outpacing their competitors to take the lead in the overall standings!
On the Gulf of Juan side, where the races among One-Designs (Dragons and Tofinous) and smaller classes (5.5mJI) took place, the water was even more complicated with the zephyr disturbed by the reliefs of Sainte-Marguerite Island and the Antibes Point: always an annoying chop to negotiate and sometimes obligatory tacks that required hitting upon the cannon shot.
In this game, the Russian Annatoly Loginov (Annapurna) was as formidable as ever, while the Brit Yvan Bradbury (Blue Haze) lagged slightly behind! In fact, the two crews managed during this fourth race since Monday to create a gap, with the poorest race result being dropped from the accumulated score…
But a new race was launched immediately afterward with new twists and turns… This time, the Brit limited the damage while the Russian sank into the softer middle of the forty-four Dragon fleet! An opportunity for Pow Wow to come back into contact, as well as for the Brit Gavia Wilkinson-Cox (Jerboa), who was hot on his heels…
Finally, in the 5.5mJI class, the Swiss Christian Bent Wilhemsen (Otto) once again stole the limelight with a second victory to his name, ahead of the Bahamas resident Merk Holowesko (New Moon), who took his revenge in the next two races… As for the Tofinous, Edward Fort (Pippa) maintained his dominance despite the repeated attempts of the Frenchman Patrice Riboud (Pitch)!
