Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship - Day Four
by Kate Maudslay 6 Jul 2001 19:14 BST
CHAMPIONSHIP FAVOURITE PULLS OUT WITH MAINSAIL TROUBLE
Cam, the favourite to win Class A of the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship 2001, was forced to pull out of the windy fourth race after her mainsail halyard snapped.
The Spanish yacht skippered by Olympic gold medallist Fernando Leon was
leading the competitive pack of 50-footers around the windward mark near
the Valencian coast, when the halyard gave way and the mainsail started
slipping down the mast.
The crew tried to continue racing downwind with just the spinnaker but
eventually decided to retire. Racing was very tight in the rest of the
fleet as they battled their way round three laps of a windward/leeward
course in picture perfect conditions - 20 knots with blue skies and flat
water.
Just five seconds separated the first three Class A boats on corrected
time. Laureano Wizner's Botin & Carkeek 46 Banco Espirito Santo pipped the
two 50-footers owned by Vicente Tirado, Caixa Galicia and Castellon Costa
Azahar. Vincenzo Onorato's brand new 50-footer Mascalzone Latino continues
to iron out her teething troubles, scoring a respectable fifth place, 21
seconds behind Jose Cusi Ferret's Bribon.
With Cam suffering a bad day, the fight for Class A looks increasingly like
a showdown between Pasquale Landolfi's 50-footer Brava and Pedro Campos
IMX-40 Telefonica Movistar, who now lie in joint first place overall.
Brava's tactician Eddie Warden-Owen commented: "It's good to be first equal
overall, but it was frustrating not to have been a couple of places higher
today. We picked the wrong side of a couple of shifts that we could have
handled differently."
The German IMX-40 Salty Dog had another solid day in Class B, and with a
commanding lead after her victory in the offshore race on Thursday, she is
going to be tough to catch. Hans Hout's team finished in second place
today, 12 seconds behind Telepizza-Pepsi on corrected time.
Two races are scheduled for Saturday, with the Rolex IMS Offshore World
Championship 2001 concluding with a final race on Sunday 8th July.
Overall Results after four races:
| Pos | Boat Name | Boat Type | Skipper | Owner | Country | Pts |
|---|
| Class A |
|---|
| 1st | Telefonica Movistar | IMX-40 | Pedro Campos | Pedro Campos | Spain | 19 |
| 2nd | Brava Q8 | Farr 49 | Flavio Favini | Pasquale Landolfi | Italy | 19 |
| 3rd | Banco Espirito Santo | B&C 46 | Laureano Wizner | Gonzalo Fernandez | Spain | 24.75 |
| Class B |
|---|
| 1st | Salty Dog | IMX-40 | Albert Kodijman | Hans Hout | Germany | 15.5 |
| 2nd | Wind-Exploit | IMX-40 | Lorenzo Bressani | Sandro Pantaleo | Italy | 25 |
| 3rd | Ono | Nautatec 42 | Inaki Castaner | Inaki Castaner | Spain | 26 |
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