Wet and wild conditions swept Lawrie Smith into the overall lead on day three of the 76th Dragon Edinburgh Cup in Abersoch.
A short postponement in racing allowed for the Northerly wind to arrive in Cardigan Bay, which brought with it more rain and bigger swell.
As the Dragons lined up for the start of race four a big left shift meant that a number of boats were unable to clear the pin-end. Within the rack of boats Lawrie Smith GBR 815, Simon Barter GBR 763 and Owen Pay GBR 777 were among several boats that dipped the melee to make the line.
However Graham Bailey GBR 192 had a good start and headed left into the shore.
As the Dragons approached the windward mark near Pwllheli they were met with increasing wind with gusts exceeding 20 knots.
GBR 815, didn't have the best start but it was Lawrie Smith who was in a leading group of three Dragons along with GBR 192 and Grant Gordon's GBR 833.
Abersoch sailors James Budd GBR 808 and Mike Cope GBR 809 used their advantage of local knowledge sailing strongly in the top ten along with Pedro Andrade POR 89, and Denis Bergin IRL 161.
RACE FOUR
1. Alfie GBR 815 Lawrie Smith, Goncalo Ribeiro, Ruairidh Scott, Martin Wrigley
2. Louise GBR 833 Grant Gordon, Luke Patience, Elliot Hanson, Faye Chatterton
3. Bluebottle GBR 192 Graham Bailey, Julia Bailey, Will Bedford, Killian Boag
Corinthian - The Knucker GBR 808 James Budd, Geoff Edwards, Christopher Thorn
Skipper James Budd commented; "We're enjoying it. It was one of our better mornings. It was quite tricky for the race officer and the committee to set the course because of where the Llanbedrog headland sits. Being local, we knew that it was going to flick left. So that's what we did. We came off the startline and did what we said we were going to do."
RACE FIVE
The unrelenting rain didn't make for great visibility across the bay but by the middle of race five the waves became surfable downwind.
It was not a great start for GBR 192 as they were called over the line (OCS), while GBR 815 laid down a mark to lead from the outset.
Three upwind legs of 1.3 nautical miles delivered some match-race style sailing as every Dragon team were keen to increase their leaderboard positions.
Controlling the race from the front GBR 815 led the fleet with Jerboa GBR 813 and Louise GBR 833 trading places to make up the top three. Closely followed by Saturn POR 89, Little Fella IRL 211, Fit Chick GBR 753 and Bluebottle GBR 192.
"We had a good day today. I'm pleased about that, because we had a tricky second race, yesterday, which sort of left us a bit flat after the day, but we're pleased with today." said Gavia Wilkinson-Cox GBR 813 after the final race of the day.
"We were particularly pleased with our second race, although we lost a place on the last leg, the last beat went to Grant. But we weren't really strong enough to get into a tacking duel with him. We decided to let him go, and keep an eye on everybody else. But it was so changeable, one moment, Pedro was ahead of us then one tack later, he was miles away from us again, so it was really was tricky."
Overall
1. Alfie GBR 815 Lawrie Smith, Goncalo Ribeiro, Ruairidh Scott, Martin Wrigley
2. Louise GBR 833 Grant Gordon, Luke Patience, Elliot Hanson, Faye Chatterton
3. Jerboa GBR 831 Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, Mark Hart, Jake Hardman, Ffion Wood
Corinthian - Little Fella IRL 211 Cameron Good, Henry Kingston, Shaun Kingston
The final race of the 76th Edinburgh Cup is scheduled to start at 11:00 am (Friday 12th July).
