Murphy & Nye 1720 Europeans at Lake Garda - Day 3

Close to sinking after a port-starboard incident during the Murphy & Nye 1720 Europeans © Steve Arkley / www.sailshots.co.uk

A good thing happened on the race track yesterday at the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships; having waited for Lake Garda’s famous Ora breeze to work it’s renowned 20 knot magic for two days, on Thursday it finally did: Grazie!

The warning signal for Race 7 sounded with just 6 to 8 knots across the lake, but by the first leeward mark kites were dropping in a full-on 18 to 20 knot foam up. Ruairidh Scott in King Quick held it all together and took the bullet with Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell sailing Des Faherty’s Aquatack second and Andrew Smith’s Twister, helmed by Shaun Barber third.

A port / starboard incident on the final beat resulted in a fairly dramatic ‘coming together’ of two boats, both of which were holed, one extremely seriously. Nobody hurt, the rescue boats of Fraglia Vela Riva did an incredible job buoying the fast sinking ship and the boat was quickly recovered by the Riva’s volunteer fire department’s work boat.

Race 8 commenced as soon as the excitement was over and Anthony O’Leary in Antix lead from the off and held it all together until the finish line with the flying Scotsmen in King Quick hot on his heels. Greg O’Brien, sailing Gul Purple Marine.com, finally found some of his usual form and sailed an intelligent race, crossing the line in third.

The final race of the day, Race 9, belonged to Ruairidh Scott and his team in King Quick, Wow was second with Oi! third, and as we go into the final day of racing, with two races scheduled, this positioning reflects the overall placing at the regatta.

But that’s not the whole story: this is a one discard series but Ruairidh Scott and team don’t need to sail today. Having raced 1720s for six years, the King Quick team has finally won the Murphy & Nye 1720European Championship: pretty convincingly by all accounts. Well done to helmsman Ruairidh, tactician Ben Field, trimmer (and Dad) Graeme Scott, Chris Scott (no relation), Mark Goalen and bow-chick sister Anna ‘The Bear’ Scott. We are impressed and we are delighted to sail against you.

More news on the rest of the results to follow later.

Results after Day 3:

 No      Sailno  Name                                         Scores   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1 GBR    1777  SCOTT RUAIRIDH                    KING QUICK   15,0   5   1   5   2   1   3   1   2   1
  2 IRL    1759  CLARKE CONOR                             WOW   51,8   1   3  12  13   9  19   8   4   2
  3 GBR    1715  COOPER JOHN                             OI !   55,8   8   9  13   1  15   5   4  13   3
  4 GBR    1741  SMITH ANDREW                         TWISTER   62,0   2  14   4  16   8   9   3   6 ocs
  5 IRL    1807  O'LEARY ANTHONY                        ANTIX   66,8  16   6 dsq  24   2   8   6   1   4
  6 IRL    1804  DES FAHERTY                         AQUATACK   67,0  21  11   3   7   3  11   2 dsq   9
  7 GBR    1743  CARVETH GEOFF                       TACKTICK   75,8  18   4   1  26  10  23   7   7   6
  8 GBR    1767  BLAKE SIMON                     SWORDED FISH   77,8  20   8  14  17   4   1  11  12  11
  9 GBR    1797  SWINGLAND CHARLES                  DARK SIDE   83,0  10  16  11  21   5   2   9   9 ocs
 10 GBR    1785  ATKINS IAN                         BOATS.COM   85,0   9  12  10   4  17  15  15   8  12
 11 GBR    1742  BAKER DARREN                         MAD COW   86,0   3   7   6  14  14  14  13  17  15
 12 ITA    1720  ECKSTEIN ROBERT                  DRUID MAGIC   95,0   4   2   2  15   6  29  19 dsq  18
 13 IRL    1773  EVANS MIKE                              YOKE   95,0  15  17  15   3  27   4  23   5  13
 14 IRL    1843  MAGUIRE DAVID           MARTIN REILLY MOTORS   99,0   6   5  16  20  16  17 dsq  14   5
 15 IRL    1808  BYRNE MARTIN                      KEY EVENTS   99,0  11  20   8   9  12  10  22  19  10
 16 GBR    1770  PETERS JAMES                     LUVLY JUBLY  107,0  26  10  22   5  18   6  18  20   8
 17 GBR    1790  O'BRIEN GREG           GUL/PURPLE MARINE.COM  111,0   7  29  18  25  13  18  10   3  17
 18 GBR    1710  LOVEJOY PAUL                           G & T  112,0  14  24  17   8   7  16  16  10 ocs
 19 GBR    1701  GREENAWAY MARK, .             .   LA LICORNE  131,0  22  18  20  12  19  12  17  11 ocs
 20 IRL    1751  GALAVAN COLIN                          LEMON  134,0  23  19  25  19  28  20   5  16   7
 21 GBR    1773  DUCKER CHRIS              THE FLYING DUCKMAN  143,0 dsq  21  19  10  24  21  14  15  19
 22 GBR    1702  SMEDLEY VAUGHAN                      O'FIVER  150,0  13  15  24   6  23  22  26  25  22
 23 GBR    1712  MCIRVINE ANDREW                    GO FERRET  150,0  28  13   9  11  20   7 dnf dnf dnf
 24 GBR    1774  MCLELLAND JANE            SPLASH TEST HONEYS  159,0  24  28   7  23  26  24  20  21  14
 25 GBR    1721  RICKARDS JOHN                 BABBALAAS BACH  162,0  19  23  28  30  22  13  12  24  21
 26 GBR    1766  ARMSTRONG NORMAN                       STORM  185,0  25  27  27  18  25  28  25  22  16
 27 GBR    1789  LANGLEY BARRY                 KICK 'EM JENNY  185,0  17  25  23  27  29  25  21  18 ocs
 28 IRL    1722  MACPHEE DUNCAN                  IT WASN'T ME  186,0  27  26  26  29  11  30  24  23  20
 29 GBR    1798  MACDONALD COLIN                    INCOGNITO  186,0  12  22  21  22  21  26 dnf dnf dnf
 30 GBR    1704  TINN TERRY                 CELTIC CHALLENGER  228,0  29  30 ocs  28  30  27  27  26 ocs