Fast Lines Half Ton Classics Cup in Cowes

Fast Lines Half Ton Classics Cup in Cowes - Races 5 & 6

by Pit de Jonge 18 Aug 2022 11:57 BST 14-19 August 2022

Exactly at the scheduled time, the RORC's race committee fired the gun, yesterday, for the fifth race of the Fast Lines Half Ton Cup in Cowes. The weather conditions remained rather undefined, with light winds and thunderstorm threats, and quite some current to deal with.

In the last minute before the start of the first leg, a group fighting at the pin end: Halfajet, Checkmate XV, Secrets, Harmony, General Tapioca and Ballerine. The group would not relinquish the lead, with a few shifts. For example, Ballerine rounded the leeward buoy almost first, but the newly assembled team lost places afterwards because of the experimental routine. However, in leg 6 they did finish 7th, thanks to another headsail that made her point 5 degrees closer to the wind.

For the second race, the course was shifted by almost thirty degrees. At the first start, Swuzzlebubble started first, by shooting under the starting boat Ocean One at the right time. But it was clearly a general recall with the current pushing the fleet over the line too much. However, they had been warned. At the second start the fleet stayed much further away, with Swuzzlebubble getting caught up in the group that wanted to stay under the starting boat and can only sail itself free after the start, clearly to the wrong side of the track.

Fast Lines Half Ton Classics Cup 2022 in Cowes - photo © Pit De Jonge

Once again, Halfajet and Harmony moved to the lead, hot on the heels of Secrets (team Christopher Agar GBR5395) and Quokka 9 (team Peter Rutter GBR8185).

In the rear, the Half Moon of the Norwegian Martin Kamperhaug team sailed with full dedication to keep up with the pack. The small team has received some reinforcement, but is struggling with an unknown boat.

Fast Lines Half Ton Classics Cup 2022 in Cowes - photo © Pit De Jonge

The Half Ton Class honours two winners of yesterday's races

Yesterday, in the fifth and sixth heats (W/L), both the IRL1484 Harmony (team John Swan) and the FRA8444 Halfajet (team Ronan Treussart) seemed to have found their pace. The conditions were mostly light, with little wave action. Both sailed first and second. So they share the HTCC day prize.

Harmony leads the general ranking with one point less than Halfajet. IRL809 King One (team Patrick Boardman) is third.

Fast Lines Half Ton Classics Cup 2022 in Cowes - photo © Pit De Jonge

Results after 6 Races:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Boat Tyle	Owner	Handicap	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	IRL1484	Harmony	Half Ton Humphreys	John Swan	0.951	3	3	4.5	6	1	2	13.5
2	FRA8444	Halfajet	Half Tonner	Ronan Treussart	0.94	14	2	4.5	5	2	1	14.5
3	IRL8094	King One	Half Tonner	Patrick Boardman	0.951	1	4	3	2	8	11	18
4	KZ3494	Swuzzlebubble	Half Tonner	David and James Dwyer	0.964	9	1	1	4	11	8	23
5	GBR8185	Quokka 9	Half Tonner	Peter Rutter	0.947	2	11	8	7	3	4	24
6	IRL2016	Checkmate XV	Mg Hs 30	David Cullen	0.948	7	5	2	3	7	10	24
7	GBR108	Hullabaloo XV	Hustler 32 F/r	David Evans	0.919	4	9	11	1	10	5	29
8	GBR5395	Secrets	Mg Hs30 Mod Append	Christopher Agar	0.947	5	7	9	11	5	3	29
9	GBR5384	Superhero	Half Ton Andrieu	Toni Stoschek/Janne Tulokas	0.954	6	13	7	8	4	6	31
10	GBR5261	Chimp	Half Tonner	Roger Marino	0.924	8	8	6	9	6	15	37
11	BEL7548	Général Tapioca	Half Tonner	Philippe Pilate	0.955	13	6	10	13	9	16	51
12	FRA9130	Ballerine	Half Tonner	Bert Janssen	0.941	10	12	15	10	13	7	52
13	BEL1633	Farther Bruin	Half Tonner	Jan‑jakob Muyls	0.906	16	16	12	12	12	9	61
14	GBR4080T	Crakajax	X 95	Richard Hollis	0.905	15	10	13	15	16	14	67
15	BEL503	North Sea 3	Half Tonner	Bernard Coppens D'Eeckenbrugge	0.949	12	14	14	14	15	13	67
16	GBR5391	Sojourner	Mg Hs30 Mod Keel	Cressida Robson	0.932	11	17	17	18	14	12	71
17	BEL 680	Half Moon	Half Tonner	Martin Kamperhaug	0.929	17	15	16	16	17	17	81