SAILING OFFSHORE RACING:AS THE champagne corks were being (virtually) popped on board the Green Dragon off the coast of Brazil yesterday, there were celebrations closer to home for Irish offshore sailors as the annual Rolex Middle Sea Race drew to an end in Malta, writes David Brannigan
Such was the size of the entry that organisers split the 80-strong fleet into five starts to ensure a smooth start. Three Irish boats took part in the event that takes in a tour of the middle Mediterranean region, with a 606-mile race starting and finishing in Valetta.
Adrian Lee's Cookson 50-footer Lee Overlay Partners produced a fifth overall in the record fleet, while Mick Cotter's maxi Whisper placed sixth.
Cathal Drohan's Legally Brunette was still at sea yesterday afternoon.
"We felt we did well around most of the course and at one stage were in first place overall," Lee told The Irish Times. Yet, for an offshore race, conditions were benign for the most part. "We did better than we expected in the light winds - the boat doesn't really like light airs."
After starting last Saturday and taking four days and 16 hours to sail the course, crews were able to get plenty of rest each day as winds died until the afternoon and then gave full racing conditions until late evening, when the calm would return.
Temperatures of 300C above and below decks made a welcome change to northern Europe's autumn weather, he said.
"It's a very interesting race and we'd definitely want to do it again," the Dun Laoghaire owner/skipper said. "It's an awful long way to come, but the Maltese make you feel very welcome so I'd encourage anyone to come."
Highlights for Lee's crew included watching the lightning storm 10 miles ahead on final approach to Valletta on Wednesday night that saw two competing yachts receive direct strikes, causing extensive damage. The Aeolian island of Stromboli provided a night-time spectacle as the volcano lit the skyline halfway through the race.
Meanwhile, the storm-force winds that swept the country yesterday forced the cancellation of the second day of racing in the ISAF Nation's Cup regional final event at Kinsale. The match-racing event is deciding the final line-up of Europe's sailors to compete in the world event in Brazil next March.
Ireland is represented by John Sheehy from the Royal St George Yacht Club, who finished runner-up at the Irish match-race nationals. Winner Peter O'Leary was unable to take part as he is leading the Cork Institute of Technology team at the Student Yachting World Cup in France.
Sheehy suffered a setback in one of his matches yesterday when he was called OCS (on course side) for early starting, but an appeal to the chief umpire resulted in a ruling that the race should be resailed. The match should take place today, weather permitting.
The Irish helm has two wins and three losses with a chance to break even with the resailed match. Denmark's Mads Ebler leads overall with five wins and a single loss, while Poland's Marek Stanczyk and Finland's Joni Eriksson have three wins and two losses each.
branigan@indigo.ie
IRELAND'S GREEN Dragon Team in the Volvo Ocean Race stormed past the Leg One scoring-gate at Fernando de Noronha off Brazil in first place yesterday afternoon. After 13 days of racing, the Irish-Chinese-backed team moved into the joint overall lead.
The battle for the runner-up places at the scoring-gate saw American Ken Read's Puma Ocean Racing succumb to Brazilian Torben Grael on Ericsson 4, which gradually over-hauled him in the closing miles to the island.
Green Dragon leapt into the lead on the approach to the Doldrums by taking an extreme westerly crossing point - so far west, they couldn't actually lay the scoring gate without putting in a couple of tacks to hitch a few miles to the east.
"We're delighted on board. We've been leading for a few days now and every single position report we're watching to see if they're closing in us, but we're holding them off," said skipper Ian Walker as the boat roared through the scoring gate.
Over the 24 hours to 10am yesterday, Puma had gained 12 miles and Ericsson 4 had taken a 15-mile bite out of the lead.
More than 3,000 miles still remain in this leg from Alicante to Cape Town, but instead of taking the most direct course to South Africa, the fleet is expected to sail due south to maximise the South-East Trade Winds and avoid the St Helena high pressure system that dominates the South Atlantic.
