As regular as the evening’s steel drums, the trade winds produced 15-20 knots again making for some lively starts in the Atlantic swell. The action soon began.

One incident saw two charter boats on a port and starboard situation under the cliffs west of English Harbour. Increasingly desperate cries of ‘Starboard!’ were heard but as the boats approached each other, neither seemed to realise the obligation to avoid collision. A classic T-bone ensued.

Another incident involved three charter boats and resulted in a broken mast but I have no details of that. One thing is certain, whoever chartered the boats for next week is in for a disappointment.

In the Big Boat class, Hasso Plattner’s 80ft sled Morning Glory took another step ahead of her arch rival, Jim Dolan’s 78ft Sagamore, with the Swan 68 Defiance once again taking third.

One of the big battles of the day was in Class 2, between the two identical Swan 56s, Frank Savage’s Lolita and Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy’s Noonmark VI, both in with a shout of class victory. Lolita had the upper hand early on in the race but Noonmark stayed in touch and managed to get ahead.

After that, helmsman Dave Bedford covered Lolita’s every tack all the way to the finish. This win was critical for us as both boats rate identically and both share an equal points total in joint first with one race left. There’s everything to play for in today’s deciding 20-mile windward-leeward race.

More later?