Mini Transat

The first leg of this trans Atlantic race for 21 foot racing machines has been a rough one.  One indication of the degree of difficulty is the fact that only 14 of the 70 boats have not stopped in port.  

One of the latest to have to head to shore is Australian Nick Maloney.  By the time he reached shore he had no power and no spreaders on his rig.  Also, he had a broken arm.  Also headed to port is fellow Aussie Andrew Cape.  

Still leading is defending champion Sebastian Magnen.  2nd is British sailor Alex Bennett.  At last report Bennett had a speed advantage on Magnen.  3rd is the Frenchman Rohuy.

The leaders are making the most of the 15-20 knot down wind  conditions.  They are expected to begin finishing tomorrow.

Women's International Match Racing

Marblehead MA was the sight with the boats being Sonars.  Friday saw the start of round robin racing with British sailor Shirley Robertson suffering no defeats on Friday.

By the end of Round Robin 1 it was local sailor Dru Slattery that was on top.  Light air caused officials to cancel the 2nd Round Robin and go directly to the semi finals.

In the semifinals Paula Lewin of Bermuda beat Shirley Robertson and France's Christine Briand took care of Dru Slattery.

In the finals Lewin posted her 3rd straight victory in Marblehead beating Briand 2-0.

For complete results see: http://easternyc.org/99reedbarton/results.html

Melges 24 Worlds

The Melges 24 fleet has completed a 5 race Pre Worlds series.  Sailed off Long Beach CA the breeze was on in the 18-20 knot range.

Showing evidence of being race ready was Brian Porter's team with 3 wins in 5 races.  2nd was Dave Ulman, with defending champion Vince Brun 3rd.

The fleet will pause and spend the next several days preparing and measuring in the actual off of the worlds scheduled for Wednesday.