Sailing Magazine
pic by Alec Smith
by Richard Crockett
Great news is that the fleet generally has wind, although I am concerned that ‘Translated 9′ may not experience good winds for a while as she is in a lighter patch far south of the fleet. Her VMG is 6.5 knots, and for a 65-footer is nowhere near where it should be.
She looks good on the tracker in terms of line and handicap honours, but only because she is closest to the rhumb line, the shortest course from start to finish.
Ocean yacht racing is a crazy sport as it takes place in areas most people will never get close to, and one rarely sees fellow competitors. So one sails blind and has to sail hard and fast ALL the time to have even a remote chance of doing well.
‘Ray of Light’ with 189nm under her keel in the past 24 hours has sailed the furthest of the monohulls, with ‘Atalanta’ next best with 170nm.
Adrian Kuttel, the lone single-hander in the race sailing ‘Atalanta’ has sailed a very smart race so far and has sailed just more than half the course, and leads the monohulls in terms of line honours. He also wears the leaders crown on IRC handicap too. To be sailing the smallest boat in the fleet, and singlehanded too, he is putting in an exceptional performance and may well show the fully-crewed boats a clean transom into Rio!
‘Ray of Light’ is his key rival right now as they arc down from the north while setting course directly for Rio. The next few days will be telling, and with the wind looking good at the moment, this may be a tussle well worth keeping an close eye on.
Follow the YB Tracker which updates every 4 hours – 06h00, 10h00, 14h00 and so on, as the second half of this race is certainly going to be compelling to watch it unfold.
