Yachting Monthly Triangle Race - Leg 2 Start
by John Roberson 17 Jun 2016 22:42 BST
12-24 June 2016
Yachting Monthly Triangle Race leg 2 start in Kinsale © Seamus McLaverty
Chris Rhodes planning rhumb line to Treguier
Chris and Corky Rhodes are planning to take Footloose II all the way down the rhumb line of the second leg to Treguier, in the Yachting Monthly Triangle Race. The father and son pair who took line honours in the first leg from Torquay to Kinsale, hope that using their new symmetrical spinnaker will make this possible.
"Hopefully the symmetrical spinnaker, which is new for this season, will work well enabling us sail the rhumb line" said Chris Rhodes who is representing Exe Sailing Club in Devon.
Meanwhile Australian father and son pair, Mark and Walter Hipgrove, sailing the same kind of boat as Rhodes, a Sunfast 3600, have opted for an asymmetric spinnaker. Father Mark Hipgrove commented, "so the big issue will be the actual true wind angle that we get and how we each manage our downwind strategies."
Gary Heward and Russell Hawkins who won the first leg on handicap, sailing their Maxi 1100 Amylou, are more concerned about their menu than their sail configuration. "Hopefully we will be able to pop up spinnaker at the start and take it down at the finish. Tactically we will be opting for chilli tonight swinging to meatballs tomorrow night," quipped the skipper.
The weather forecast for the next 48 hours is for 10 to 20 knots of breeze, initially north westerly, but swinging westerly. This would indicate a downwind slide for all of the 270 nautical mile leg across the English Channel to Treguier in Brittany.
The second leg of the race started from Kinsale, Southern Ireland, at midday Thursday in 20 knots of northerly breeze.
The final leg of the race from Treguier back to Torquay will start at 17:00 on Wednesday 22nd June.
See results at trianglerace.co.uk