Time 20:50 – by Steffan Meyric Hughes
With the sun blazing over the Firth of Clyde and just the slightest mist clinging to the surface of the water in the channel between the Isle of Bute and Great Cumbrae, getting to the start for racing at today’s Richard Mille Cup was far from a certainty. The usual 10.30am start time came and went, but at 11.30am, the AP flag went down and the fleet made its way to another start to the north of Largs SC, to the northwest of Great Cumbrae. A short, triangular course was eventually announced at 1.17pm: two rounds for Classes Three and Four, three for Classes One and Two. In the end, there was only enough wind for all classes to complete a single round, and much of that was drifting in frustration and searching for dark patches on the sea’s surface.
The lack of wind, paradoxically, made for one of the most interesting races of the regatta so far, with upsets in pretty much every class, and across the board; this was too tricky a day for classes to fall into their usual hierarchy.
In the Class One start, Atlantic on port tack approached the line with Elena on starboard, but with Elena too far back to use that to her advantage and close the door on Atlantic, Elena followed her bigger rival over the line, and the two began tacking south towards the windward mark. Atlantic tacked far out to sea to look for wind, while Elena hugged the shore of Great Cumbrae to get out of the tide. These two upwind tactics defined the day, with boats in all classes trying one or the other, with mixed success in both. Places changed all day, as one boat after another found breeze of fell into a hole.
Class Two’s orderly start saw Moonbeam IV lead Mariquita, then Moonbeam over the line. In Class Three, Saskia led Sonny over the line and into the glassy calm. The Class Four start was very close between Kismet, which has had an unbroken run of class wins all week (on elapsed as well as corrected), Thalia and Patna. These last two have been in contention all week, and this morning before the race, were separated by just a single point.
The decision to shorten course to a single lap was made at 3.02pm, with much of the fleet dead in the water and praying for dark ruffles to come their way. Not long after, Moonbeam IV crossed the line first in fleet, to the great jubilation of her crew. For the first time this regatta, Mariquita’s stranglehold on first place in class was broken. The rest of the fleet jostled in slow motion for position to cross the line, taking wide, shallow tacks across the channel between Bute and Great Cumbrae. Class was irrelevant by now: it was going to be the slim 8-M yacht Saskia or the mighty Mariquita in next. Saskia, on starboard, tacked to force Mariquita back; and it was nearly enough to be second over the finish line, but Mariquita slowly recovered and started pulling forward to beat Saskia to the punch. The difference might have been around five seconds; either way it was irrelevant, given their different start times and different classes, but it was nonetheless a strange, and very interesting, duel.
The best class battle was the one that took place between the smaller gaffers in Class Four. Kismet, which had an unbroken run of bullets all week before the racing today, led her class from the start and pulled away. This time though, she fell into a big hole near the finish and was becalmed, allowing Patna and Thalia to catch up. In the end, Kismet found enough breeze to claw her way back up to the windward finish line, but not by enough: she had to settle for line honours today, allowing Thalia the win, and Patna second place.
At the end of the seventh race, it is almost certain that the winners will be Kismet in class Four, Sonny in Class Three and Mariquita in Class Two. In Class One, Atlantic has now taken the lead over Elena, but with a single point separating them, there is everything to play for tomorrow. And with today’s uncertain conditions, there is no telling what stories might unfold on the water.