Etchells – Day 3

With 9 of 12 scheduled races done the Etchells go into their last day of racing with very close scores. Leading by a slim margin is CEO of Argo Group, Mark Watson III – provisionally he stands on 22 points with Bermuda’s Will Thompson close behind on 27 points and Tim Patton on 30 points and GBR’s Jason Owen on 31 points. Tuesday’s 3 scheduled races are critical for all skippers as race drops will take effect when scoring final results – drops can drastically alter the final standings with boats sailing so close together.

J105s – Day 3

The J105 fleet has also concluded 9 of 12 races and the competition between current provisional leaders Trevor Boyce/Michael Nash of

The prestigious Bermuda International Invitational Race Week included racing for Optimists for the first time in its history. The Optimist racing was sponsored by Alternative Energy Systems (Bermuda) Ltd. The regatta had 34 BER sailors entered, but with the expatriate and international make-up of the Bermuda Optimist fleet, the organisers added a bit of fun to the sailor’s entries indicating 10 Nationalities were represented.

Winds were light on the first day of racing. This provided for an excellent introduction to racing for some of the younger sailors competing in the Silver Fleet for the first time. RBYC Sailing Academy Coach Tom Herbert-Evans was thrilled to see so many sailors taking to the water, “Our focus for junior sailing is always

Bermuda International Invitational Race Week starts on April 27th with registration and will continue until the evening of May 3rd with prize giving. For the IOD’s racing will consist of 13 races in the Great Sound. This year there will be 13 participants, 11 from overseas and 2 from Bermuda. Geographically, the participants are from the United States, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden and Bermuda.

The Regatta will be hotly contested as usual, as two – time past IOD world champions and defending Bermuda Race Week winners John Burnham and co-skipper Peter Rugg from Fisher’s Island headline the list of competitors. Not to be taken lightly, the field will have four other past Bermuda Race Week winners in addition to the Burnham-Rugg

Saturday April 27 5:30 – 7pm Opening Reception (Invite Only)

Tuesday April 20 6:00 pm – until Rock de Dock at RBYC (Participants free, $35 everyone else)

Friday May 3, 6:30 – 8:00pm Prize Giving, RBYC (Invite only)

Hamilton BERMUDA, April 27, 1012 – Six-time IOD World Champion Penny Simmons won the last two races in Bacardi’s Bermuda International Race Week, but it wasn’t quite enough to pop him into the lead in either the IOD ‘B’ series or the overall 13-race test for the IOD Vrengen Gold Cup. Giles Peckham of Cowes UK scored an 8-2 today and won the six race ‘B’ series while Simmons came second.

The Vrengen Gold Cup for first overall in the series finally went to the John Burham-Peter Rugg co-skippered Fishers Island NY team. Victory, however, was in doubt until late in the afternoon following a collision in the twelfth race. Burnham had to retire from that race with a

Hamilton BERMUDA, April 26, 2012 – All week Will Thompson and Tim Patton battled tooth and nail for Etchells bragging rights and the Trimingham Trophy awarded to the winner of the class in Bacardi’s Bermuda International Invitational Race Week. Today Thompson snatched the prize with a third and a first on the day.

It looked bad for Thompson at the start of the day’s first race. He was sliding down the line near the pin and a wind shift made it impossible for him to lay the mark to start. He had to make a 270º gybe to escape the crowd of boats coming down above him. Then he had to take their sterns on port tack. Will was able to

Hamilton BERMUDA April 24, 2012 -- Peter Rugg took the helm for the Fishers Island team today and steered his IOD of the day, #10 named Bounty, to a 2-1 performance. Adding that to John Burnham’s top performance on Sunday, the team now leads the IOD ‘A’ series by 8 points over Giles Peckham of Cowes UK. With one throw out race, Fisher’s Island should be assured of winning the seven-race ‘A’ series.

Provisional Results were delayed by a complicated protest in a mark rounding. It involved three boats and Rugg’s  Bounty  was one. Peter McCausland from Nantucket was eventually disqualified for not giving room to Bermuda’s Craig Davis in  Peppercorn  and Rugg in  Bounty , the inside boat which was force