ACO 8th MUSTO Skiff Worlds at Club Nàutic S'Arenal - Day 4
by Rick Perkins 2 Jun 2017 07:43 BST
26 May - 3 June 2017
Another great day in the Bay of Palma with brilliant sunshine 10 - 16 knots of sea breeze and 3 slick races run by the Club Nautic S'Arenal. The sailors then went to the beach bar refuelling with water, energy drinks, pasta and fruit replacing the calories burnt up on the race course today.
Thursday was scheduled as a lay day but as we lost races earlier in the championships the day has been put to good use to bring the race programme back on schedule and we now have 9 races completed which means the second discard now is applied giving a slight re-shuffle to the overall leader board.
Race 7 started on time in 12-13 knots but the over eager fleet were called back to re-start under a U flag. Event leader Frithjof Schwerdt won the pin end and headed left with a large group. However, it was Andy Tarboton (RSA) who led the fleet around the top mark and headed off downwind in glorious sunshine and near perfect conditions, followed by Bruce Keen (GBR), Roger Oswald (SUI) and Frithjof Schwerdt. The second round was shortened slightly to hit the race target time with Tarboton maintaining his lead, followed by Keen.
At the finish it was Tarboton's second win of the series with Keen in second and Schwerdt in 3rd.
The second race of the day (race 8) started with a clean start under P flag; again at the first mark it was Tarboton (RSA) who had clearly found the turbo boost for the day followed by Schwerdt, Poston (GBR), Robertson (AUS) and Martinez (ESP). With the stronger wind touching 16 knots the fleet were really stretching their legs with some great downwind speeds...
At the finish Schwerdt had overhauled Tarboton to take the win with Martinez (ESP) pulling through to take third position.
The final race of the day started in a slightly softer breeze of around 10-12 knots; the first start was general recalled and the fleet got away for the second time of asking under U flag.
At the end of the first lap, Keen who was in a strong lead who was followed by Ahlmann (GER) and Kilsby (GBR).
In the steady conditions these three extended their lead and held their positions to the finish.
So... at the end of the 4th day the top 2 are unchanged but Andy Tarboton has moved up to third. Tim Hill (AUS) leads the masters, Roger Oswald (SUI) leads the grand masters, Daniel Trotter (GBR) leads the youths, Stuard Keegan (GBR) heads up the silver fleet and Patrick Harris (ESP) lead the bronze fleet.