Nannini wins Leg 4 of Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race

At 18:32 BST on Sunday 21 June, Global Ocean Race 2011-12 entry Marco Nannini sailing with co-skipper Paul Peggs on board Class40 SunGard Front Arena took first place in Leg 4 of the double-handed Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race (SRBIR). This victory marks the third consecutive win in the Class40 division for Nannini and Peggs having taken first place in Leg 2 and Leg 3.

The 48 hour mandatory stopover in Lerwick on the east coast of the Shetland Islands at the end of Leg 3 developed into a fight against the elements as gale force northerly winds battered the fleet of boats rafted to pontoons over Thursday night causing minor damage to some yachts. However, on Friday 18th in strong winds, the Dazcat 10 multihull Paradox of British duo Will Claxton and Matt Gill were the first to restart the SRBIR at 11:43 BST, followed later in the afternoon by Nannini and Peggs: “About half an hour before our start time, a huge tug slowly approached SunGard Front Arena and two chaps at the bow threw us a line,” explains Nannini as his Class40 lay beam-to the wind and pinned to the pontoon. “Tugs normally assist container ships docking and undocking and have tremendously powerful engines,” continues the Italian skipper. “It was quite a spectacle and all bystanders rushed to their cameras to take a snap of the oddity.”

With a Force 9 gale forecast and the second place Class40 Fujifilm of Alex Bennett and Malcolm Dickinson crossing the Leg 4 start line just 31 minutes behind SunGard Front Arena, Nannini and Peggs went immediately into racing mode despite an early setback. “The bilges were full of diesel,” recalls the Italian skipper. “I had to go down on my knees and sponge out two buckets of diesel, found the cause of the leak - the bleeding nut had come loose - then washed away the bilges with water and washing up liquid.” Having completed this unpleasant task, SunGard Front Arena began the 575 mile leg south to Lowestoft on England’s East Coast.

“We have been riding the North Sea, in an unofficial watch pattern,” Nannini reported after 24 hours of racing. “We hand-steer two hours each as the autopilots cannot cope with this sea. It’s bitterly cold with the northerly wind but the progress is good.” The conditions provided truly challenging sailing for the Anglo-Italian duo. “The wind is very variable and so our speed in the lulls are a bit slow,” Nannini continues. “But then we get hit by gusts of up to 45 knots of wind and we fly off and we set a new maximum speed on the instruments of 20.2 knots,” he reports. “Surfing down the waves with a 40ft racing boat is absolutely awesome. The boat takes off and you zig-zag the waves trying to keep the boat on a surf, spray flies everywhere as you hold the tiller with a grin.” Chasing SunGard Front Arena through the North Sea, Alex Bennett also found the conditions demanding. “At one stage, I was on the helm and Fujifilm surfed down a steep wave at 26 knots into a wall of spray,” wrote Bennett on Saturday. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen conditions like that.”

Nannini and Peggs maintained the lead over Fujifilm finishing Leg 4 at 18:32 BST on Sunday, two and three-quarter hours ahead of their rivals Alex Bennett and Malcolm Dickinson. "We saw the wind gusting up to 45 knots, but the wind was not so much the issue, the sea state was horrible, very confused with very steep waves typical of the North Sea," summarised co-skipper Paul Peggs shortly after arriving in Lowestoft. For Nannini, the conditions throughout Leg 4 proved demanding. "It's been a real tough leg,” he admits. “We had to drive the boat by hand all the way and it required a lot of concentration in the heavy seas. We kept the pace through the rough and I was so pleased to see us coming in first. The pressure is now on for the last leg to Plymouth." SunGard Front Arena will lead the SRBIR fleet across the start line of Leg 5 from Lowestoft to Plymouth at 18:32 BST on Tuesday with an overall lead of two and a quarter hours over Fujifilm in second place. For Paul Peggs, the overall lead held by SunGard Front Arena is a revelation. "If you had asked me a few weeks back to bet a penny that we would be leading in Lowestoft, I wouldn't have,” he comments. “It is truly amazing!"

Overall Class40 rankings after Leg 4 at 10:00 BST

1. Sungard Front Arena (Nannini – Peggs) 8d 06:17:19
2. Fujifilm (Bennett - Dickinson) 8d 08:46:05
3. Solo (Aasberg – Schei) 8d 10:33:00
4. Phesheya Racing (Leggatt – Hutton-Squire) 8d 11:04:18
5. Orca (Tolkein – Brewer) 8d 17:26:00