Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Spectacular Vice Admiral's Cup

J/109 one-design offshore cruising sailboat- sailing on Solent, England

J/109 VELVET ELVIS Puts the Velvet Hammer Down!

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Three days of outstanding Solent racing ensured that the 2010 edition of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's Vice Admiral's Cup Regatta was a roaring success.  Conditions ranged from light airs up to ten knots on Friday, through the mid range at 15 knots on Saturday and finally a heavier airs day on the Sunday building to around 20 knots. With nine races completed it was a tight series for all four classes competing.

Class 3 (the J-109 one-design class) was dominated by Adam Wright's VELVET ELVIS who were in the enviable position of discarding a second place to win the regatta by ten points.  With VELVET ELVIS placing their stamp on the regatta from the outset the big battle in this class was to be for second place.  Going into the final day David & Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM had already begun to get the upper hand and a pair of second places were more than enough to secure them the second podium position.  The fight for the final podium spot went all the way and was only decided on the finish line of the final race where Matthew Boyle in SHIVA just managed to slip into third place on the water ahead of Gill Ross and Richard Sainsbury's JAMBHALA and Richard Griffith's OUTRAJEOUS.  Once the points had been tallied SHIVA had claimed third place by just one point from OUTRAJEOUS's with JAMBHALA in fifth.  A delighted Adam Wright commented "We've had a bit of a build up to this weekend, over the last two or three weekends we've got some reasonable results and the crew have been pretty well prepped so this is a bit of a culmination for us before the J-CUP in two weeks time.  We've had a great result and we're very pleased."

At the final prize giving Louise Morton paid special tribute to the Race Management team for their excellent work and thanked the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for once again ensuring that the Vice Admiral's Cup combined top level racing with wonderful inter-fleet camaraderie and an excellent social program.  Special thanks go to Musto who provided fantastic prizes and to North Sails who distributed bottles of Mount Gay in North Sails holders to all the boats represented at the prize giving.  Both organizers and competitors very much appreciates their support, which is integral to the success of the Vice Admiral's Cup.   For more Vice Admiral Cup regatta results and sailing info     Sailing photo credits- Fiona Brown