01:03:2019 Subic Bay, Philippines: As the sting from the North Easterly seems to have deserted us, it's very important to pick the wind shifts correctly, head for and stay in the gust lanes, to gain an advantage. The one design Far East 28R class started the fleet racing segment of the SBIR, with three windward/leeward races, while the keelboats set off on a 25nm point to point race, taking in the length and breadth of Subic Bay. To complicate things further the sea breeze arrived early and depending on the yachts position in the bay, paid dividends or took losses. Check out the action in the AY Photo Gallery.
Once clear of the start line and the windward leg to the top mark, the keelboats generally have sorted out the order, by boat size and speed. From then on it's a matter of choosing the right sails for the wind direction on each leg and powering up to the performance calculated in the IRC measurement rating. Often referred to as an elastic band between boats, that extends and reduces, so it is hard to deduce the winner until the race is over.
As the yachts were heading out towards the entrance of the bay, the sea breeze arrived, the leader Geoff Hill's Smith 72 Antipodes skippered by Richard Hudson, made the most of it. Changing from reaching spinnaker and the shortest beat to the outer mark, before coming flying back in with spinnaker, in a 8 knot, gusting to 15 knot sea breeze. It didn't end there, as they entered the port area, the sea breeze had not reached there and had to change back, to beat into the remaining North Easterly, to the finish line. All this earned them the daily double.and tied on points with Karakoa for the overall title.
Ray Ordoveza's crew on his Excel 53 Karakoa, felt as if they had sailed well all day and may have lost a bit in the transition period, to end up in 2nd place, by just over a minute. This result evens up the scoreboard, to be delicately poised for 1st overall with Antipodes and all to play fortomorrow, on the final races.
Third place for George Hackett's Mills 43 custom Misty Mountain is the best of the rest, who were significantly delayed by the transition periods.
The Far East 28R crews have learnt to spin their boats on a dime, during the match racing, which they have carried over to the fleet racing start line, in an effort to trip each other up. Making up for the shock defeat in the Match Racing final yesterday, Ridgely Balladares PSA 1 put the foot down and won two races in a row and 2nd place, to take a commanding lead.
Newly crowned Match Racing champion Emerson Villena PSA 2, responded by winning the third race but 2nd and 4th places leaves them 3 points adrift of the leader.
More comfortable with fleet racing, Maria Vidoeira Subic Sailing stayed consistent with three 3rd places and had the pleasure of leading the fleet around the top mark on the third race. An up and down day for Jerene Durana PSA 3 with score line 4, 2, 4 to slot into 4th overall but as the deltas are very close, this could all change in a blink of an eye.
It's the final day of racing tomorrow and both classes will be doing windward/leeward races and looking forward to the gala dinner and prize presentation, at the Lighthouse Resort in Subic Bay.
Results will be posted at http://www.subicsailing.com More on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/subicsailing/
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