18ft Skiff European Circuit at Cascais, Portugal - Day 1
by Martin Borrett/Peter Barton 21 May 2004 10:31 BST
20-23rd May
Rigging up before the first day's racing on the 2004 European 18ft Skiff circuit © Martin Borrett
Teams from 6 nations (Italy, Germany, Denmark, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands) gathered at the Portuguese yachting Mecca of Cascais this week to compete in the first round of the European 18ft Skiff Grand Prix hosted by Clube Naval de Cascais.
Day 1:
After an hours postponement to allow the breeze to build and settle Race 1 got underway in a 6knot westerly breeze with the course being set in the middle of the bay of Cascais which introduced challenges such as moored ships and unpredictable tide. Hot out of the blocks were GP Covers (Flemming Clausen, Thomas Elber and Soren Clausen) from Denmark. Who made the most of the tricky conditions and led from start to finish. During the race the wind built to around 10 knots. On the second beat Omega Smeg (Steve McLean, Andy Le Grice and Pedro Andrade) made big gains on the right hand side of the course until a failed spinnaker hoist after the top mark set them back. Henri Lloyd (Peter Barton, Martin Borrett, and Jonny Heissig) took advantage of their mistake to make places downwind and on the final beat also worked the right hand side of the course hard to move up into 4th place, a position that they were able to hold to the finish.
The 2nd race of the day was started in similar conditions with the wind dying as the race progressed. After a close 1st beat where the boats split to the left and right sides of the course again GP covers took an early lead at the top mark followed closely by Team Harken (Mario Zillani, Mauro Bettazza and Alberto Dell’Acqua), Flawes (Soldano Pablo, Sonimo Alberto and Galante Mauro) and Henri Lloyd. These 4 were able to break away from the rest of the fleet and were never challenged. On the final beat the breeze really died and Henri Lloyd was able to take advantage and overtake Flawes to move up to 3rd.
Thanks must go to Make Fast (Luis Serpa) who arranged for free transportation of the skiffs from 4 corners of Europe as well as a fantastic welcome dinner on our arrival.
Race 1:
1st GP Covers, Denmark
2nd 20, Germany
3rd Team Harken, Italy
4th Henri Lloyd, UK
Race 2:
1st GP Covers, Denmark
2nd Team Harken, Italy
3rd Henri Lloyd, UK
4th Flawles, Italy
Results after Race 2:
1st GP Covers
2nd Team Harken
3rd Henri Lloyd