After a spectacular first day of racing at the J Class Barcelona regatta, honours are shared equally between the three-boat fleet’s newest and oldest yachts Svea and Velsheda.
Both scored a race win apiece, whilst Rainbow finished the first race in third after suffering spinnaker tear and then had to sit out the second race with damage to their jumper spreader which they hope to have repaired overnight.
The Swedish flagged Svea won Race 1, after Rainbow snagged their spinnaker and the sail ripped right across before part of it dropped in the water. In the drama, Velsheda sailed through to take second behind Svea.
With just two boats on the start line for the second race Velsheda chose to engage Svea early. They dialled round twice each before Velsheda were able to take the start first with a small lead.
At the end of the first round Velsheda then extended further on their Swedish flagged rival which had opted for their bigger, overlapping number 2 headsail, to take the win.
As expected, the Rainbow team, on their debut at a J Class regatta, showed great potential but were unfortunate in their mishap.
Project manager Matt Sweetman explained,
“We had a mistake on the hoist, we got the dropline caught up, we ripped the spinnaker and trawled it out the back of the boat. We did a little damage to our jumper spreader, so we will hopefully get an overnight repair and be back on the water tomorrow.”
Two races are scheduled Wednesday 9 October with a first warning signal around 11:30hrs CET.
J Class Barcelona Regatta
Race 1
1st Svea 1h 13m 43s
2nd Velsheda + 1 min 51s
3rd Rainbow + 3 min 14s
Race 2
1st Velsheda 1h12:18
2nd Svea +1m 33s
DNS Rainbow
J Class Barcelona Regatta results after two races
1st Velsheda 3pts
2nd Svea 3pts
3rd Rainbow 7pts
