Ireland's Shane McCarthy and Andy Davis are placed third two points adrift of leaders Nick Craig and Toby Lewis of Great Britain after six races of a scheduled eleven in the 105 boat GP14 World Championships in Barbados.
In a hotly contested championship McCarthy, the reigning UK and Irish Champion, has sailed a very consistent series scoring 3,3,(9),3,2,4 to tie on 15 points with second placed and current World Champions Iain Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe of Burwain Sailing Club.
30–knot winds with big swells Thursday saw some casualties amongst the leaders with Dobson and Tunnicliffe forced to retire with a broken rudder and former Fireball World Champion Matt Burge dropping from 1st to 11th in Race 4 after his rudder parted company from the boat. Race 5 was abandoned as conditions worsened.
Friday’s two races saw McCarthy & Davis scoring a solid six for the day matching Dobson & Tunniclffe as best performers on the water and leaving them within striking distance of Craig & Lewis as the championship moves into its final two days of racing on Sunday after todays scheduled lay day.
With four races left to sail and a second discard to be applied McCarthy and Davis will need to maintain their consistency and most probably post a race win if they are going to close the gap on Craig & Lewis. Dobson & Tunnicliffe, the only crew to win two races, are still very much in contention but the DNF in Race 4 leaves little margin of error for the current champions. It looks like this one may go down to wire on Monday but today will tell a tale with the top four crews in the frame at this point.
Leaders after six races:
1. Nick Craig & Toby Lewis (GBR) 13 pts
2. Iain Dobson & Andy Tunnicliffe (GBR) 15 pts
3. Shane McCarty & Andy Daviss (IRL) 15 pts
4. Mike Senior & Chris White (GBR) 17 pts
13. Keith Louden & Alan Thomson (Sligo Yacht Club)
15. John & Donal McGuiness (Moville Boat Club)
Race 1 – 6 Results here.