#ifds – Today the wind was up and the sun was shining and from early on there was certainly no sign of competitors and officials relaxing with coffee around the Kinsale Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman. Every one had gone to sea fully ready for action and determined to get the most out of the day. They were not to be disappointed.
The weather forecasters had got it spot on and a nice south westerly wind of about ten knots filled in and the Race Officers were anxious to get up and running.
Your intrepid photographer and scribe had been slightly delayed getting to Kinsale this am and as a result were in fact last leaving the marina . However, we managed to arrive bang on time and went first to the Sonar fleet who were in sequence. Here all praise must be given to the Race Officers and mark laying boats for all the fleets and they should certainly sleep well tonight. The slickness and timing of the entire operation had to be seen to be believed. In fact the two Race Officers were starting their races exactly on their scheduled times.
It was good to see Irish IFDS President, John Twomey getting off to an excellent start and rounding the first windward mark in third place. The Sonar Class have now completed six races and it is the French team of Bruno Lourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas Vimont-Vicary who are current leaders on seven points after one discard. They are followed by NED 1 helmed by Udo Hessels and crewed by Mischa Rossen and Marc el van de Veen on eighteen points. In third place is AUS 1 helmed by Colin Harrison, crewed by Jonathon Harris and Russell Boaden on twenty points. The top Irish score in the class is IFDS President John Twomey crewed by Ian Costelloe and Anthony Hegarty on thirty points. .
In the SKUD Class The battle is between Alexandra Rickham and crew Niki Birrell from the UK , the Italian team led by Marco Gualandrias and John Mcroberts of Canada in first, second and third places respectively. The British team are now counting four first places with the Italians counting a first and three seconds and Canada counting two seconds and two thirds.
Meanwhile in the 2.4mR class Heiko Kroger of Germany had two wins today and results are showing him in second place with Bijilard Guus NED in first place However, the other NED competitor Barend Kol is third place on equal points with Heiko Kroger while in the latter two races today Helena Lucas of Britain, Gold Medalist London 2012 was getting into her stride with a second and a first and it would be a foolish person that would write her off at this stage.
So, it is all to play for tomorrow and will make for a very interesting and nail biting day indeed.
