Wanna B showed great consistency in day four of the Grant Thornton Keelboat Race Series to take third place. (Photo Tim van Dijk.)
SIMPSON BAY—Team Island Water World started out slow but picked up speed to win Grant Thornton Keelboat Race Day four.
Nine teams competed in up to 19 races on a day of very challenging sailing Sunday.
“Not only were there big wind shifts but also huge pressure differences,” said skipper of Team Island Water World Frits Bus. “It would go from 3 knots suddenly to 25-plus gusts.”
The first race was won by Andrea Scarabelli on FKG. They were just 12 seconds ahead of IGY Racing. Race two Caraibes Diesel sailed by Erwan Le Normand. They won by 29 seconds.
“It was so very important for the tactician to send the boat in the right direction,” said Bus. “We were fortunate to have Benoit Meesemaecke from St Barths on board.”
In races three and four Team Island Water World woke up and took firsts with the biggest margins of the day (1 min 10 sec and 1 min 25 sec) and thereby proceeded to emphatically and deservedly win the day.
“The races where short,” said Bus. “It was important to get good starts and sail clear of the fleet.
Second place went to FKG and third to skipper Jan van den Eynde on Wanna Be who managed greater consistency than the rest of the fleet.
“The first 2 races we struggled a bit with crew work since we had new crew joining but we where able to iron it out,” explained Bus. “The crew did good
anticipate the pressure differences.”
The skipper also had kind words for Island Water World 2, the youth team helmed by Justin Pieterse.
“Island Water World 2 youth team showed great spirit and improvement,” said Bus
Team Island Water World 2 took two fourth places.
The challenging conditions lead to some limited equipment failure.
IGY Racing had some battens in their sail damaged while Kick em Jenny had an upper spreader break.
The Nonsuch, Bunglebird skippered by Robbie Ferron end up on 8th place.
