Yendys the speed sailing TP52 previously raced in Spain under the Royal battle flag of the Spanish King Juan Carlos continued to firm a grip on the Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week Grand Prix class championship yesterday.

The high performance international ocean racing sloop steered by New Zealand Americas Cup sailor Gavin Brady expressed her all angle sailing speed to record her third line honours and handicap win to lead the championship by a comfortable 5 point margin.

As expected the Yendys crew who are fine tuning their crew skills in preparation for the 2012 Audi Australian Ocean racing championship to be raced in conjunction with Hamilton Island Race Week from August 18-25 have raced impressively over the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses.

Before the championship began with the Double Cone/Armit Island race on Friday Yendys was listed as the class favourite but her crew had to produce the required skill and tactical strategy to outpace their high 1.379 handicap.

They handled the challenge of racing against the clock winning the important handicap by over 12 minutes in race 1 followed by a five minute win in race 2 before they were forced to fight hard to protect their score over the shorter windward-leeward course on Pioneer Bay yesterday.

The Yendys sailing team professionally answered the tactical challenge by sailing yesterday’s relatively lighter trade winds to retain their perfect score lead while the battle for the minor places continues to reveal an intense tactical dog-fight between veteran Sunshine Coast skipper Bob Robertson’s (Lunchtime Legend) and Sydney skipper Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen.

After three races Yendys holds a perfect 1-1-1 -1 score and is poised to record a runaway win while Lunchtime Legend presently stands as the next best with her 2-2-4-2  score leading third placed  Zen by 5 points with the almost identical Beneteau First  40’s Black Label 5-6-4-3  Blunderbus 3-7-6-5 and Take Flight remain poised to continue their tactical arm wrestle for fourth overall.

Ian Grant

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 12 August 2012 )