Toby O’Connell completed a successful title defence in the Jumeirah Regatta today to extend an impressive winning sequence in his 50-foot yacht Yo!
After winning both of Friday’s races in Division One of the cruiser class, O’Connell and his crew maintained their 100 per cent record with victory in the single race that was possible on another day highlighted by light winds off Dubai Offshore Sailing Club.
Faith, skippered by Francis Carr, finished second overall ahead of Yousef Bin Lahej at the helm of AGMC BMW, while there was more improvement from Kristian Tzanov in his newly acquired 42-foot yacht Sovereign, formerly raced by King Juan Carlos of Spain.
After failing to finish Friday’s opener and then taking third place in race two, Tzanov and his crew took second place behind Yo! in today’s final race to finish in fifth place overall and suggest that their best is yet to come.
“The competition was much tougher this year,” said O’Connell. “Faith is much improved and Sovereign appears to be a very fast boat. We were fortunate that the wind increased in the middle of the race today because they are both quicker than us in light winds.”
“It’s been a noisier regatta than usual for us. When everything is going fine the boat is silent, but when things start to go wrong and the crew is under pressure the noise level rises, and we had a few incidents this weekend.
“But we managed to resolve some of our little mistakes before they really mattered, and most races are won by minimising your mistakes.”
In Division Two John Ford skippered Irene to a narrow outright victory from Mike Jeffs in Stillpennyless, with Alawal skippered by John Atherton completing the top three.
The husband and wife team of Peter and Carol Eldridge lost their performance catamarans title to Tom Hemingway and Guy Wolfenden following a great tussle with the two teenagers.
After wins in the last two races on Friday had given the two youngsters the advantage, the Eldridges fought back to win two of today’s three races only to see Hemingway and Wolfenden claim the second race and make sure of outright success with second place in the final race. Conor and Maeve Ward landed the classic catamarans title.
Provisional results
Cruisers, Division One
1. Yo! / Tony O’Connell 3pts
2. Faith / Francis Carr 9pts
3. AGMC BMW / Yousef Bin Lahej 9pts
4. Boracic / Calum McKie 16pts
5. Sovereign / Kristian Tzanov 18pts
6. Tissaheel2 / Rob Weight 20pts
7. Switchblade / Will Ramage / Cameron Price 21pts
8. Taxo Markus Fiala 24pts
Division Two
1. Irene / John Ford 4pts
2. Stillpennyless / Mike Jeffs 5pts
3. Alawal / John Atherton 10pts
4. Rushknot / Phil Hosking 13pts
5. Tosser / Tom Coldicott 13pts
6. Blitzem / Coeram Smyth 19pts
Catamarans - Performance
1. Tom Hemingway / Guy Wolfenden 5pts
2. Peter Eldridge / Carol Eldridge 6pts
3. Jon Hemingway / Jamie Eldridge 12pts
Catamarans - Classic
1. Conor and Maeve Ward 4pts
2. Andy Perkins / Moira Freeman 8pts
Jan Van Es / Silvan Doorenspit 12pts
