2009 Newport 6mR World Cup
9/9/09 – 1745hrs

Today’s weather tested the metal (and wood) of competitors in the second day of racing of the 2009 Newport 6mR World Cup. The fresh northerly brought wind speeds averaging 18-22 knots with gusts of up to 25 knots toward the late afternoon. After a short postponement to allow the ebbing current to settle the rough sea state, a 4 x 1.5mi/leg course was set at 050 degrees just northwest of Gould Island.

In the Modern division it was Scoundrel’s (GBR-96) day, skippered by Rob Gray who said; “We had a great start, we only tacked three times and gybed twice for the entire race. Lots of extra maneuvers bring mistakes, which we wanted to avoid today.” Tuesday’s winner, Sophie II (SWE-132) helmed by Hugo Stenbeck took second with Patric Fredell’s May BE XIV (SWE-114) finishing third. After two days of racing Scoundrel and Sophie II are tied in first place with 3 points, followed by May Be XIV with 9 points and Finnegan (US-123) and Arunga (US-118) with 10 points each.

Owing to magnificent boat handling on the challenging final downwind leg with a building breeze Gallant (KC-10) skippered by Eric Jespersen won the Classic division. Postle and Pope’s Titia (GBR-22) took second place with TP Kolijonen-Astrand’s Fridolin (FIN-12) coming in third today. Today’s win places Gallant first overall in the division with 4 points; Totem (US-51), Goose (US-81) and Saskia II (KC-19) share a three-way tie for second with 9 points each.

The strong northerly breeze is forecast to continue for tomorrow’s races.

#ends#