Spinlock win Marine Industry Regatta
by Roger Cerrato 22 Apr 2004 17:59 BST
The Spinlock team: (left to right) Roger Cerrato, Nigel Smith, Robin Minchin, Jeremy Rowles, Nanda Nengerman, Chris Hill, Dave Burton & Dan Hills © Spinlock
The 2004 Marine Industry Regatta was convincingly won by Spinlock. 21 teams participated in the event which was held aboard Sunsail’s matched fleet of Sunfast 37s from their Port Solent base.
Things started badly for the Spinlock team as they were called OCS in the first race and after returning to start correctly they where well behind the leaders. Some smart sailing and good upwind speed however had them back into 10th by the windward mark. On the run team picked up another three places and finished a close 7th behind Henri Lloyd in 6th.
For Race 2 Spinlock lined up half way down the start line and sailed a solid first beat to round the first mark a close 3rd behind Lewmar and Henri Lloyd. A great spinnaker set was rewarded by Spinlock gaining the inside track down the run and the team arrived at the leeward mark with a 6 length lead after a well timed gybe. Spinlock extended away on the short beat to finish to take the gun.
Another good start in Race 3 was rewarded with a 2nd at the windward mark, close behind Raymarine. Once again conservative sailing was the name of the game as the breeze built to well over 25 knots. Downwind many boats struggled under spinnaker with numerous broaches and bad gybes but the Spinlock team remained in control and maintained their second place to the finish.
When the overall results were calculated Spinlock were 1st from Henri Lloyd in 2nd and Raymarine in 3rd.