Eight Metre World Cup at Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club - Overall
by Emily Smith 24 Aug 18:48 UTC
17-24 August 2024
The fleet headed out for our final day's racing. Once again some stormy showers came through but the fleet were greeted in the morning by many rainbows all pointing to our piper piping away.
The first race was a lovely 15 kts of breeze with sunshine (at times) and surrounded by rainbows. The Neptune class had all to play for with the top 3 boats on tied points and 2 races to get in today. The first race began with a spicy pin end of the line, pushing a couple of boats over. With Saskia being OCS Vision powered up to the top mark rounding in 2nd closely following Spirit who extended their bullet down the run.
The battle of the moderns began as Yequem tried to catch Spirit on the 2nd lap to add another bullet to their record but but couldn't quite get there taking the 2nd with Vision taking the 3rd. A lovely squall came powering through for the finish which caused the back of the fleet to have a pretty spicy end to their race.
At the start of the second race today it was still very close in the results and it showed with how hard the fleet were pushing the boats. You know it's been a good worlds competition when the results still come down to the final race, especially the Neptune fleet! The start was clear but the gusts and quick course change for the 2nd beat, to avoid the Submarine in the channel, caused the tacticians a bit of a headache! The first windward mark had a bit of a pile up with 5 boats sitting themselves at the mark, 2 missing the rounding, one taking penalty turns and a bit of a protest battle!
The bowman on Severn, one of the German boats who was not used to wearing thick welly boots for cold sailing lost his grip on the downwind and took a quick dunk in the Clyde before managing to drag himself back onto the boat for a slightly damp 2nd lap! Some big shifts and frustrating gusts saw a speedy Neptune fleet with Vision taking a first and Carron II followed by the modern Spirit in 3rd.
With some protests in books we all are waiting in anticipation to see the results! What we have seen already are plenty of teams donning their team kilts in preparation for tonight's dinner and ceilidh! The trophies are ready, the pipes are here and the haggis is waiting to be served!
Find out more at www.8mr.org/world-cup-24/home