Bundock & Forbes maintain lead after 4 races.

by Stephen Lovegrove on 15 Feb 2001 With the breeze forecast to increase to 25 knots + the race team were intent on starting the
first race of the day on time. After a short postponement the fleet were away first time with the
current holding the fleet away from the line. The moderate breeze around 12 knots and 070
degrees had not settled into the sea breeze direction and shifts on the first beat offered many
opportunities for gains.

AUS Bundock & Forbes made the most of this, and again led a packed crowd around the first
mark with GBR 407 Rob Wilson & Will Howden close behind. The freshening breeze and rising
sea conditions made for spectacular downwind rides with many teams suffering major
nosedives. Bundock extended his lead all the way to the finish with NED 1 Booth & Derecksen
moving into second ahead of GBR 410 Styles & May in third with Wilson & Howden in fourth.

Gear failure took a major toll in race two with the Brits bearing the brunt. GBR 411 Lovegrove &
Sellars suffered a parting forestay in race one and although nursing their ship to the end of the
race opted out of race two to affect repairs and avoid loosing the rig completely. Wilson &
Howden suffered a broken mast at the hounds whilst Styles & May obliterated a set of battens
in an upwind capsize. Plenty of the fleet made an early departure from the race course deciding
to lick their wounds on the beach and come back strong for another day, these really are severe
conditions.

Back on the race track with the breeze fully settled at 085 twenty to twenty five knots a familiar
picture developed at the front of the fleet with AUS Bundock & Forbes leading NED 1 Booth in a
close race all the way to the finish. Olympic Gold medallists Roman Hagara & Hans Peter
Steinacher, although not renowned for there performance in the breeze, finished strongly in third
ahead of GER 1080 Helge Sach.

Most teams will be thankful for the lay day scheduled tomorrow offering a little time for much
needed recovery and boat mending after the first two brutal days sailing. However with the
breeze forecast to moderate on Thursday we could see some new names at the top of the
leader board to gatecrash the Bundock & Forbes, Booth & Derecksen party

Results after 4 races ( No Discard )

1 AUS Bundock & Forbes 4 points
2 NED 1 Booth & Derecksen 8 points
3 AUS 370 Hagara & Steinacher 17 points
4 GBR 410 Styles & May 18 points
5 GBR 409 McMillan & Hutchinson 25 points