2003
Admiral's Cup - AUSTRALIANS MAKE THE EARLY RUNNING
As the Admiral's Cup fleet set off on
the fifth heat of the series, the short offshore
race, it was the Australian team that were making
the early running when they left the Solent, through
the Hurst narrows, at the western end of the Isle
of Wight.
The
Australian boats Wild Oats and Aftershock, which
represent the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in
Sydney, had clear leads in the big and small boat
fleets respectively.
Bob
Oatley's Wild Oats led the charge down the Solent
from the start off the Royal Yacht Squadron on
the Cowes waterfront, zig-zagging her way using
a huge masthead asymmetric spinnaker, and was
out into the English Channel more than six minutes
ahead of second placed Chernikeef 2.
Aftershock
owned by Colin O'Neil, headed the small boat fleet,
about one and a half minutes ahead of Spain's
Telefonica Movistar, with the rest closely bunched
behind.
For
the third day in a row, the Solent was blessed
with a cloudless blue sky, and a lazy south easterly
breeze of between 6 and 8 knots, with temperatures
soaring, many of the crews were down to shorts
as they sweated to squeeze the best performance
from their boats.
With
a strong outgoing tide under the fleet, they made
good progress from the start to Hurst Narrows,
near the famous Needles that mark the western
end of the Isle of Wight.
The
course takes the fleet west initially, to a mark
off Poole in Dorset, before they turn and head
up the English Channel in an easterly direction,
going south of the Isle of Wight, to the Owers
Light Buoy, off Brighton.
The
course is variable, depending on the wind strength,
with the big boats initially expected to do 182
nautical miles, while the small ones have a proposed
course of 146 nautical miles.
The
Australian team took a four point lead into this
double scoring race, having leapt into the lead
after Sunday's fourth race, when the Spanish boat
Telefonica Movistar was disqualified from race
three following by protest by the British boat
Dickies Yacht Sales.
In
second place are Britain's Sailability Royal Ocean
Racing Club team, which is led by Peter Harrison,
who funded England's recent America's Cup challenge.
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