Despite an unpromising forecast, PRO Maria Torrijo and the race team from host club, the Royal Yacht Squadron, managed to stick to the schedule and complete three races on the penultimate day of the 44Cup World Championship Cowes. This followed a one-hour delay ashore. By 1300, a southwesterly breeze was developing in the Western Solent and the fleet was called out to be welcomed by a light six knot southwesterly.

While this was enough breeze for the nimble RC44 one designs to race in, conditions were complicated by three knots of ebb tide pushing the owner-driver one designs across the line. This, plus teams all jockeying for the pin - to be first left into the deep water and the fastest part of ‘the river’ - resulted in chaos, with boats desperately trying to avoid being OCS by pointing away from the line with seconds to spare. Even so Markus Törnqvist’s GeMera Racing and Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika were OCS and while Nika was quick to respond, it took GeMera Racing almost two minutes to come about and claw their way back.

After a strong pin end start Team Aqua of event host Chris Bake made the most of the left to lead Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team and John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing into the top mark. After only a few moments on starboard everyone gybed, bound for the shallower waters off the mainland shore and its accompanying relief from the powerful ebb. Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing and Murat Edin’s Wow! Sailing Team made the most of this with the Swedish RC44 pulling up to third.

From here Team Aqua extended away. Behind Artemis Racing fought valiantly, gaining on a shift, taking second when Black Star was forced to duck her, then getting the inside berth on Pietro Loro Piana’s Aleph Racing at the second top mark rounding. She crossed the line almost one minute behind Team Aqua. A disappointing sixth for Aleph Racing left them sharing first overall with Team Aqua.

In race two Team Aqua and Peninsula Racing got the strongest start from towards the committee boat end of the line with Team Aqua showing particularly good height to lead the Gibraltar team at the top mark. The two split at the leeward gate, with Team Aqua heading left and Peninsula Racing quickly tacking, but when the two converged again, Team Aqua, on port, was able to cross ahead.

Ultimately Team Aqua scored her second consecutive bullet - her third from six races - to gain a slender two point lead over Aleph Racing. Sadly a sixth place in today’s final race, to Aleph Racing’s second, caused the French team to recover the overall lead, going into the final day two points clear of Team Aqua, in turn nine points clear of GeMera Racing and Artemis Racing.

The event’s patron, Chris Bake relished today’s magnificent conditions of ‘Costa del Solent and was pleased with Team Aqua’s performance. “We had to wait for the breeze and even then there was not that much wind and there was lots of tide pushing us over. But we kept the two starts pretty clean - so a little bit of time and distance and just going for it. It was very, very hard today with the tide, but being able to hold a lane off the start was obviously key and then getting on the right side of the course.”

According Bake, in the third race they found themselves buried on the start line and had subsequently lost a jib sheet. Otherwise “this was great Solent sailing. And tomorrow we should have a more breeze.”

Throughout the afternoon the ebb was easing as the wind was building. For the third and final race the two Swedish team mates had the best starts with Artemis Racing winning the pin and GeMera Racing above them. But when Artemis Racing tacked back from the left and they came together, GeMera Racing bounced her off. This left GeMera Racing able to lead around the top mark ahead of Nico Poons’ Charisma and Aleph Racing. On the run, Aleph Racing had got up to second, which remained unchanged for the rest of the race.

“We had a great start and the left was even stronger than usual and everything easier from there,” recounted GeMera Racing’s tactician Francesco Bruni.

“I'm definitely not used to all that tide. There was up to almost three knots on that first race, slowly dropping to almost zero in the last race. It’s definitely very hard for people like me that are not used to so much current. Calculating the time on distance and the laylines was pretty hard.”

Tomorrow racing is being brought forward by one hour to 1100 in the hope of coinciding with the optimum conditions for the 44Cup World Championship Cowes’ grand finale.