Bernard & Laurent Guoy lead the standings after a full day's racing in the Round Ireland Yacht Race on corrected time in their boat Inis Mor, which is currently second on the water behind Tonnerre de Breskens. The Race Office has issued a provisional listings at midday, with Inis More leading overall and in class 1, with Eric Lisson's Cavatina ieading IRC 3, and both the cruisers class 4 and classics class 5. The Class 40 of Daft.com leads the double-handers.
Dutch entry Tonnere de Breskens has opened up a 13-mile gap on the chasers, and that is likely to widen if they can get cleanly around the Fastnet and into freer breeze that would allow them hoist spinnaker and begin a long downwind leg up the west coast. Another boat dying for some downwind action will be the Open 60 Spirit of Rosslare Europort, which is hurting in the light airs upwind and close hauled sailing to date, which forces them to sail big angles.
Inis Mor has taken an inshore line and may well lose some ground against the leading pack if forced to tack out, which is highly likely unless there is a major swing left. Following her line are a pack of three boats, Aquelina, Pride of Wicklow and Visit Malta Puma.
Fujitsu is one of the few boats that may not have to put in any major maneoevres ahead of the Fastnet, having gone far offshore early on. It looks like they can now straight-line to the corner, which may allow them gain some good ground on the boats closer to the Cork/Kerry coast.They are currently placed eight on the water, but depending on angles, they may leapfrog ahead of Inis Mor and the three boats in pursuit of her when those boats tack out to clear the land.
We're keen to get comment and feedback on our forum thread started this morning HERE.
The race tracker is HERE, and the official site is HERE.
RESULTS:
Overall Inis Mor
IRC 1 Inis Mor
IRC 2 Lula Belle
IRC 3 Cavatina
Class 4 Cruisers Cavatina
Class 5 Classics Cavatina
Class 6 Sigma 38 Persistance
Class 7 Two Handed Daft.com