Psipsina crashes out Shock

St Peter Port to St Quay , Monday 18th July

Psipsina retired from the race to St Quay with a broken D2 rod, Paddy saved the mast by prompt action in dropping the jib and getting the main off. First signs of a problem were spotted on the AIS around 11.30  as the fleet battled through big  and confused sea south of the island. Paddy will be very dissappointed to retire having won the series outright last year and after a great result in the first leg this time.

Line honours went to  Chris Rustom in Ding Dong just 3 minutes ahead of Rob Craigie in Jbellino but not enough to save their time on Peter Olden in Solan Goose.

All the classes were very closely contested, Barry Hurley led the class 2 fleet but could not hold off Nigel in Fastrack VIII on corrected , Mike Saqui's 4 minutes margin came down to just over 2 minutes to win class 3 from Herve Dupriez in Penrod.

Today, Tuesday is a short day race out and back from St Quay , the wind is already 18 knots so this should be a nice warm up in the drizzle.

Barry Hurley reports on his race in Dinah, JOD35; We started at 0800 from St Peter Port on a white sail reach in the lee of the island but soon felt the full force of the breeze at 18 knots gusting up to 26 knots, I started under full main and my number 3 jib, outside the seas were very confused with three wave patterns conflicting, hand steering through the waves was like sitting in front of a fire hose. I had a nice battle with Paddy, never more than ten boats lengths margin until he pulled out, then I put 2 reefs in the main as a big black cloud was looming up, Nigel in Fastrack VIII gave me a race in the second half but I could not save my time on him in the end.
The welcome at St Quay was wonderful, we had the traditional Pot d'amitie on the pontoon with a jug of Agent Orange punch.

Latest from Paddy on Psipsina; En route to St Quay under engine with rope lashing in place, may follow on to Treguier under engine then return to Lymington for new rod.