2000 Kenwood Cup - Day Seven

AUSTRALIA BACK AT THE HELM

Kiwis Must Beat Aussies Boat-for-Boat To Take The Cup
Esmeralda continues her winning ways

It was champagne sailing literally and metaphorically today off Waikiki for the Kenwood Cup 2000 fleet, with two races sponsored by Champagne Mumm and a day of sparkling sport on the water. With the Trades slightly eased to between 14 and 16 knots and the sun warm on the Hawaiian seas, Australia re-gained control - though not yet ownership - of the Millennial series with a second solid performance against New Zealand to go eight points up at the end of the day's racing. With only the triple-scoring Molokai Race left to conclude the regatta, eight points is a cushion of three places: like most cushions it is comfortable - but not something you could use a collateral. The converse of the arithmetic is that the Kiwis have only to beat the Australians boat for boat in the 148-mile Molokai Race to wrest the Cup from the Aussies grasp and put it back in the cabinet at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron - alongside the other one.

Meanwhile, in the individual points table, New Zealand's Sea Hawk (Farr 47, Naohiko Sera, NZL, Ray Davis steering) is running away with the Racer division but the IMS Cruiser/Racer Division is less than settled. Simon Whiston's Beneteau 40.7 should have had things wrapped-up by now, but four firsts in a row has brought Kenny Read and his team aboard Makato Uematsu's Farr 50 Esmeralda back into the frame, just four points adrift of the title. The beach ball must stay no more than one place away from the lady through tomorrow night to make sure of the prize.

Esmeralda won again this afternoon, with Smile again second, while Philippe Kahn's Orion had her revenge on John Kilroy Jnr's Samba Pa Ti in the Farr 40 division, winning her class while finishing 10th overall (6th in Racer division). Kilroy, however, looks good in the overall table because Orion lost two races after her collision with Liberte Express. Orion can at least keep racing, but it looks like Doug Taylor's Zamboni is out of the regatta for good. As the pictures on the Kenwood Cup website show (www.kenwoodcup.com) Zamboni has a classically Vee-shape gash in her port side from deck almost to waterline, and another from deck edge across the deck almost to the cockpit, between the cabin top and the sheet winch.. Happily, owner Doug Taylor was quickly released from hospital after check-up: he has a cut on his forehead, as well as minor cuts on his legs, from when he was flown forward the length of the cockpit by the force of the crash.. Zamboni has filed for redress - the outcome would appear to be a formality - and Glama! did not finish the race. The incident, a straight forward port-and-starboard, happened half-way up the first beat.

In the J105's the only European entry in this year's regatta, Chris Brown's chartered Puff, had her best result so far with a third this morning, but slipped again to fourth in the second race. Thomas Coates' Charade is in an almost impregnable position in this class, with a 12-point lead - not quite enough to be able to sit-out the 150-miler.

Results Race 9:

Class A
1 Esmeralda        Farr 50             Makoto Uematsu,   USA
2 Sea Hawk         Farr 47             Naohiko Sera      NZL
3 Air NZ High 5    Farr 47             Mick Cookson      NZL
4 Yendys           Farr 49             Geoffrey Ross     AUS
5 Big Apple III    Farr 45             Hideo Matsuda     NZL
6 Bumblebee 5      Sydney 62           John Kahlbetzer   AUS
7 Andiamo          Davidson 55         Andrew Taylor     NZL

Class B
1 Liberte Expres   Beneteau First 47.7 Yasumasa Kawamura JPN
2 Karasu           Judel/Vrolijk 43    Yasuo Nanamori    JPN
3 G'Net            Farr ILC 40         Shizue Kanbe      JPN
4 Cha-Ching        Sydney 41           Scooter Simmons   USA
5 Tower            Lidgard 45          Daisuke Kimura    JPN
6 Maupiti          Farr 39             Hiroshi Yamagishi JPN
  Glama!           Sydney 41           Seth Radow        USA DNF

Class C
1 Orion            Farr 40 OD          Philippe Kahn     USA
2 Samba Pa Ti      Farr 40 OD          John Kilroy Jnr   USA
3 Foundation       Farr 40 OD          Masato Fujumaki   JPN
  Zamboni          Farr 40 OD          Doug Taylor       USA DNF

Class D
1 Smile            Beneteau 40.7       Simon Whiston     AUS
2 Fruit Machine    Beneteau 40.7       Neil Whiston      AUS
3 Mojo Rising      Beneteau 40.7       Clayton Craigie   AUS
4 Matador          Aerodyne 38         Jason Khoury      USA
5 Bondi Tram       Frers 41            John Haig         USA

Class E
1 Charade          J105                Thomas Coates     USA
2 Jose Cuervo      J105                Sam Hock          USA
3 Tiburon          J105                Steve Stroub      USA
4 Puff             J105                Chris Brown       GBR
5 Juxtapose        J105                Tom Thayer        USA
6 Irrational Again J105                Jaren Leet        USA

Kenwood Cup team scores after 9 races:
  1  AUS         391
  2  NZL         383
  3  USA RED     302
  4  JPN         208
  5  USA WHITE   173
  6  USA BLUE     67

More Information:

• www.kenwoodcup.com