DAY 4 ON THE RACE COURSE WITH ERIC WULFF
With half the races complete in the 2005 Corum Melges 24 World Championships, many teams were anxious today to score a top 10 finish and they pushed the envelop at the start. Race 7 saw two general recalls and close to 30 Z flag penalties handed out by the race committee. After the two general recalls the fleet finally got off the line and started beating to a mark approximately 2.0 nautical miles away at a direction of 085 degrees with winds around 10 knots. Early on it looked the left might pay off, but about a third of the way up the beat, the wind clocked to the right and Sandro Montefusco and Jamie Lea from Team Barbarians were able to work out of the right and round 1 and 2 respectively at the first windward mark. Montefusco was able to extend his lead on every leg and walked away with a wire to wire bullet. Team Barbarians had to keep fighting it out with Martin Kulman and Bora Gulari for second place as those three boats passed each other numerous times on every leg. In the end, Lea crossed the line second, followed by Kulman who had to tack on a 20 point Z penalty to his third place finish. Gulari wound up forth followed Brian Porter in fifth.
Race 8 saw a start under the Z flag and while there were fewer penalties handed out, the race committee wasn’t shy still caught 10 boats as either OCS or Z flag. Race 8 was once again the James Spithill show as he had another wire to wire victory for his third bullet in 8 races. Behind him Gabriel Zandona and the Joe Fly Team took second, Brian Porter slotted into third and Ruairidh Slott finally hit the bright lights with a fourth just ahead of John Bertrand.
Spithill’s win also moved him into first place overall by one point. Gabriele Benussi continued his string of 7 top 10 finishes in a row and only trails Spithill by one point. Waiting in the wings are David Ullman, Morgan Reeser, and Brian Porter who will be looking to pounce if Benussi or Spithill make a mistake and take a deep score in the final two days or racing.