Marshall King and Ian Wilson’s Soak Racing was the new leader in the Corinthian class after posting 2-34-9 yesterday (Wednesday 4 September) in the Darwin Escapes 2019 J/70 World Championship, writes Louay Habib.

The Greystones-linked pair’s performance saw Doug Struth (GBR), racing DSP, drop to second in the standings. Denis Cherevatenko (RUS) racing Joyfull retains third but is under pressure from a top performance today by Charles Thompson (GBR) in Brutus.

“It is really difficult to track the boats in the Corinthian fleet because we are all out on one race course and we are racing against the pros and we can give them a really good run for their money but we do keep an eye out for our mates from Hamble, DSP, if we are in front of them, we know we are doing well,” said Ian Wilson, who is also J/70 international class president.

“It was brilliant today, blowing 20 knots, wind all over the place, a great day out with boats hooning all over the place – just great fun. We are hoping for more of the same tomorrow, big breeze and great racing in Tor Bay.”

Indeed, the breeze piping in from the north created full-on battle conditions for the 20 nation fleet on Wednesday, and for the third consecutive day both the Corinthian and Open leaders have changed.

In the Open class, Paul Ward (GBR) and Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat scored a 1-4-15 to take the overall lead, and Pichu Torcida (ESP) racing Noticia has climbed to second after scoring a 5-17-6.

Joel Ronning (USA) racing Catapult, dropped to third after scoring 14-14-10., while yesterday’s leader Alberto Rossi (ITA), racing Enfant Terrible, started the day well posting 9-8 but a 28 in the last race after broaching out drops Enfant Terrible to fourth.

Teams from nine nations occupy the top 10 places after a day that also race wins for Henry Brauer (USA) on Rascal, and Carlo Alberini (ITA) racing Calvi Network.

Provisionals results can be found HERE.

Marshall King from Greystones and Ian Wilson’s Soak Racing followed up their Corinthian UK National title win at Royal Torbay last week with a strong start in the Darwin Escapes 2019 J/70 World Championship at the same venue, writes Louay Habib.

The event kicked off yesterday (Monday 2 September) with three races in Torbay, where big wind shifts and changes in wind speed tested the 78 teams competing as well as the race management team led by Stuart Childerley.

In the Corinthian class, Patrick Liardet (GBR) racing Cosmic ended the day leading by just one point from Doug Struth (GBR) racing DSP.

Wilson & King (IRL) completed a trio of British Isles boats leading the championship for the Corinthian title. There were also race wins for Pichu Torcida (ESP) racing Noticia, Reg Lord (AUS) racing Juno, and Nelson Mettraux (SUI) racing CER Aprotec–Ville de Genève.

In the Open class, Joel Ronning (USA) racing Catapult, led the championship after three races. Second was Claudia Rossi (ITA) racing Petite Terrible, which recovered from a 28th place in Race 1 to post two podium finishes. Andrey Malygin (RUS) racing Maria was third.