2000 Kenwood Cup - Day Nine
by Susan McKeag 9 Aug 2000 08:35 BST
THINGS START TO LOOK TOUGH FOR AUSSIES
Kiwis have 24-point cushion based on top two from each team
Jury Decision on Time Credits Will Be Crucial
As the last finishers in the final race of the 2000 Kenwood Cup, the
148-mile Molokai Race, loom over the horizon and fly towards Diamond Head,
things are beginning to look ominous for the series leaders Australia - and
good for the defenders, New Zealand. The accumulating - and still highly
unofficial - points tally is definitely building in New Zealand's favor.
Taking just the top two boats in each team, New Zealand appears to have
amassed 491 points to Australia's 467 - a cushion of 24 points with the
results of each team's third boat still to come in. To beat the Kiwis, the
Aussie third boat must beat the New Zealand third boat by eight places - a
possible but not very likely occurrence.
Critical is what appears to be the relatively poor performance of
Australia's big boat Yendys (Farr 49, Geoffrey Ross). The pale grey/blue
Yendys surfed across the line as third boat to finish, but hard on her
transom were the flying Kiwi pair of Sea Hawk (Farr 47, Naohiko Sera, with
Roy Davies skippering) and Air NZ High 5 ( Farr 47, Mick Cookson, with
among others David Barnes at her wheel). Sea Hawk and Air NZ High 5
quickly corrected into second and third places behind USA Red team's
Esmeralda (Farr 50, Makoto Uematsu, skippered by Ken Read) with Yendys
fourth. The smaller boats began to finish. Sea Hawk and Air NZ High 5's
places remained intact, but gradually more and more boats began to slot in
ahead of Yendys, until with just two boats to finish the Farr 49 was in 8th
place.
Results cannot be finalised until, first, all boats have finished and,
second, the International Jury has finished its deliberations over the
time credits to be given to both Big Apple III (Farr 45, Hideo Matsuda,
NZL) and Smile (Beneteau 40.7, Simon Whiston, AUS), for standing by other
competitors who were in difficulties.
While it is always dangerous to predict the outcome of a hearing before an
International Jury (once described by the famous Irish sailor Harold
Cudmore as 'rather like going for a day at the races') it would seem
unlikely that any award of time credits to Smile would move her the eight
places ahead of Big Apple necessary for the Australians still to win.
IT HAS TO BE EMPHASISED THAT ALL THIS IS STILL SPECULATION. INFORMED
SPECULATION, WE HOPE - BUT AS IS ALWAYS THE CASE IN THESE MATTERS THE
OFFICAL RESULTS CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE ANOUNCED UNTIL AFTER THE JURY
MEETING.
The International Jury, currently hearing the Request for Redress of the
New Zealand entry Big Apple III, has set the hearing time for Smile's
request for redress at 0900 Wednesday 7th August. This means that there
will be no final result until tomorrow. The situation remains that,
taking into account the results of the first two of each team's yachts and
ignoring the results of each team's third yacht, New Zealand is currently
24 points ahead of Australia. For Australia to overhaul New Zealand, their
third team yacht must finish nine places ahead of the Kiwi third yacht.
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