SAILING:Eamon Conneely's Patches ended the second event in the Breitling MedCup series as it had started - with a strong performance that belied a mid-regatta shock yet still points towards the potential of the Irish TP52 with three events to go in the season.
Yesterday saw just a single race on the final day as a dying breeze forced the cancellation of the second planned course. Patches skipper Ian Walker brought his team in to their second second place of the event to eventually place fourth overall in the 24-strong fleet.
A widely anticipated match-race-style final between the overall leaders, Spain's Caixa Gallicia with John Kostecki calling tactics and triple America's Cup winner Russell Coutts on Sweden's Artemis failed to materialise as the Spanish team secured a fourth place that delivered victory while Coutts finished seventh to take the runner-up slot.
The outcome could have been vastly different for the Irish boat however after an eventful weekend. On Friday, Patches had its worst result to date, a 22nd place and appeared to fall from contention. That was followed on Saturday by a horrible first leg of the coastal course that saw the Galway boat round the weather mark in 19th place.
But over the course of the 33-nautical mile, helmsman Tim Powell and navigator Ian Moore steadily picked up the stragglers to finish ninth and tied on points overall with the King of Spain on Bribon in seventh place.
But there was surprise ashore when two of the leaders including Peter de Ridder's overall leader Mean Machine were disqualified during the race, incurring whopping 50-point penalties for their infringements.
Conneely & Co leapfrogged Bribon into fifth overall going into the final, a position they nicely capitalised on yesterday with the second place.
Next Monday in neighbouring Palma H M Juan Carlos will stage his annual Cope del Rey, the trophy Conneely and Walker won in the old Patches a year ago.
