VO65s move ahead in IRC Super Zero
Two VO65s have moved to the top of the corrected time rankings in IRC Super Zero, relegating the USA-flagged 88-footer Lucky to third place. Pablo Arrarte’s VO65 Wind Whisper had a good run up to the Fastnet Rock to take the lead on corrected time earlier this morning while Team Jajo skippered by Clarke Murphy overtook their fellow Americans around lunchtime today.
Earlier this morning Wind Whisper’s navigator Aksel Magdahl commented:
“All is good on board, fairly fast sailing averaging 21 knots towards Scillies without rain. We’re working hard to catch Lucky on IRC, and we are gaining at the moment. We got lighter breeze than them in Celtic Sea, but they may get light airs in the English Channel.”
Magdahl was pleased with how the team had handled the first challenging 24 hours of the course.
“On the first, and windy, day we managed to sail near 100% performance without pushing the boat too hard for the conditions so that was nice. We avoided a couple of areas of overfalls in the strongest breeze but generally sailed where we wanted in regards to the tides.”
Despite being IRC-upstaged by the VO65s, it’s likely that Bryon Ehrhart’s crew on Lucky are more focused on breaking the course record for a monohull and they’re still well placed to achieve that.
Around 50 miles ahead of Wind Whisper on the water, the Juan Kouyoumdjian design is planing along nicely towards the Channel Islands at about 15 knots. The greater concern for Lucky is not so much her VO65 rivals but a foursome of pesky IMOCAs that could threaten to steal Lucky’s thunder and grab monohull line honours from the bigger boat. With around 80 nautical miles of the course remaining for Lucky, they’re expected across the Cherbourg finish line sometime this evening.
Just over halfway back from the Fastnet Rock across the Celtic Sea towards the Scilly Isles, Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro has taken the lead in IRC Zero. Reaching along at around 14 knots, Caro has covered approximately two thirds of the 698-nautical mile race course. Around 11 miles further back down the course is fellow 52-footer and fierce rival Warrior Won, lying second in class but only 20 minutes on corrected time in front of Erik de Turckheim’s NMD 54 Teasing Machine. Rounding the Fastnet Rock earlier this morning was Ino Noir, James Neville’s Carkeek 45 now sitting in fourth place in IRC Zero and acquitting herself well in her first edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race.
