British IC45 leads Palma Regatta

by Sue Warden-Owen on 18 Feb 2001 Barlo Plastics IC 45 remain the boat to beat following the second day of the
second regatta in the Clean Marine IC 45 Winter Series 2001, organized by
the Club de Mar Mallorca. Another four races today, Saturday 17th February,
took place in fresh sunny conditions with 12-20 knots of breeze to the North
East.

SEB triumphed in today's first race whilst Babbalaas outsmarted Barlo
Plastics on the last run to take second place ahead of Adrian Stead and the
crew aboard Barlo Plastics IC 45, the big boat selected for the Barlo
Plastics British Admiral's Cup Team 2001. A convincing win in race 2 saw
Barlo Plastics finish ten boat-lengths ahead of the Spanish boat La Casera
and the young Nicolas Charbonnier on Faster K-Yote II finished third.

Race 2's finishing line-up was repeated in today's race 3 (7 of the Series)
as Barlo Plastics managed to just sneak ahead when the fleet all overlapped
going round the leeward mark, through the leeward gate at the end of lap
one. Barlo Plastics secured a cracking start to today's final race at the
left-hand end, but Babbalaas got a good right shift and both yachts rounded
the top mark overlapped. Barlo Plastics then sat in a hole, to round the
next top mark in 5th place, however with four boats at the finishing line
Barlo Plastics took third place behind first placed British entry Babbalaas
and Faster K-Yote II in second.

Commenting on the day's performance, skipper Stead said, 'We secured some
good starts again today and showed some excellent boat speed, with everyone
working well. We also made a few adjustments to the rig today, which we
think are better, and overall we're in very good shape. Depending on how
many races take place tomorrow, I think we are in a position to have already
secured victory - or at least we are very close to winning the second
regatta of this Series.'

Barlo Plastics have maintained their 1st place overall after today's 4 races
and will be looking to claim regatta victory when racing resumes tomorrow,
Sunday 18th February. The final regatta of the Clean Marine Winter Series
2001 is scheduled in Palma on 9th - 11th March 2001.

Results after 8 races (1 discard):

1st Barlo Plastics (Stead/Condon) 11 pts
2nd Faster K-Yote II (Charbonnier/Fedensieu) 21 pts
3rd SEB (Krantz/Van Triest) 22 pts
4th Babbalaas (Barker/McLean) 22 pts
5th La Casera (Smith/Jaudenes) 23 pts
6th Aifos (Amaldo)