Fast Lines Half Ton Classics Cup in Cowes - Races 5 & 6
by Pit de Jonge 18 Aug 2022 11:57 BST
14-19 August 2022
Exactly at the scheduled time, the RORC's race committee fired the gun, yesterday, for the fifth race of the Fast Lines Half Ton Cup in Cowes. The weather conditions remained rather undefined, with light winds and thunderstorm threats, and quite some current to deal with.
In the last minute before the start of the first leg, a group fighting at the pin end: Halfajet, Checkmate XV, Secrets, Harmony, General Tapioca and Ballerine. The group would not relinquish the lead, with a few shifts. For example, Ballerine rounded the leeward buoy almost first, but the newly assembled team lost places afterwards because of the experimental routine. However, in leg 6 they did finish 7th, thanks to another headsail that made her point 5 degrees closer to the wind.
For the second race, the course was shifted by almost thirty degrees. At the first start, Swuzzlebubble started first, by shooting under the starting boat Ocean One at the right time. But it was clearly a general recall with the current pushing the fleet over the line too much. However, they had been warned. At the second start the fleet stayed much further away, with Swuzzlebubble getting caught up in the group that wanted to stay under the starting boat and can only sail itself free after the start, clearly to the wrong side of the track.
Once again, Halfajet and Harmony moved to the lead, hot on the heels of Secrets (team Christopher Agar GBR5395) and Quokka 9 (team Peter Rutter GBR8185).
In the rear, the Half Moon of the Norwegian Martin Kamperhaug team sailed with full dedication to keep up with the pack. The small team has received some reinforcement, but is struggling with an unknown boat.
The Half Ton Class honours two winners of yesterday's races
Yesterday, in the fifth and sixth heats (W/L), both the IRL1484 Harmony (team John Swan) and the FRA8444 Halfajet (team Ronan Treussart) seemed to have found their pace. The conditions were mostly light, with little wave action. Both sailed first and second. So they share the HTCC day prize.
Harmony leads the general ranking with one point less than Halfajet. IRL809 King One (team Patrick Boardman) is third.
Results after 6 Races:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Boat Tyle | Owner | Handicap | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | IRL1484 | Harmony | Half Ton Humphreys | John Swan | 0.951 | 3 | 3 | 4.5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 13.5 |
| 2 | FRA8444 | Halfajet | Half Tonner | Ronan Treussart | 0.94 | 14 | 2 | 4.5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 14.5 |
| 3 | IRL8094 | King One | Half Tonner | Patrick Boardman | 0.951 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 18 |
| 4 | KZ3494 | Swuzzlebubble | Half Tonner | David and James Dwyer | 0.964 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 23 |
| 5 | GBR8185 | Quokka 9 | Half Tonner | Peter Rutter | 0.947 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 24 |
| 6 | IRL2016 | Checkmate XV | Mg Hs 30 | David Cullen | 0.948 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
| 7 | GBR108 | Hullabaloo XV | Hustler 32 F/r | David Evans | 0.919 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 29 |
| 8 | GBR5395 | Secrets | Mg Hs30 Mod Append | Christopher Agar | 0.947 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 29 |
| 9 | GBR5384 | Superhero | Half Ton Andrieu | Toni Stoschek/Janne Tulokas | 0.954 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 31 |
| 10 | GBR5261 | Chimp | Half Tonner | Roger Marino | 0.924 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 37 |
| 11 | BEL7548 | Général Tapioca | Half Tonner | Philippe Pilate | 0.955 | 13 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 51 |
| 12 | FRA9130 | Ballerine | Half Tonner | Bert Janssen | 0.941 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 52 |
| 13 | BEL1633 | Farther Bruin | Half Tonner | Jan‑jakob Muyls | 0.906 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 61 |
| 14 | GBR4080T | Crakajax | X 95 | Richard Hollis | 0.905 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 67 |
| 15 | BEL503 | North Sea 3 | Half Tonner | Bernard Coppens D'Eeckenbrugge | 0.949 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 67 |
| 16 | GBR5391 | Sojourner | Mg Hs30 Mod Keel | Cressida Robson | 0.932 | 11 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 71 |
| 17 | BEL 680 | Half Moon | Half Tonner | Martin Kamperhaug | 0.929 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 81 |
Find out more at halftonclassicscup.com