Races 4, 5 and 6 of the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championship were sailed yesterday on stunning Lake Garda under the auspices of the Race Committee at Fraglia Vela Riva. After a short postponement to allow the Ora breeze to kick in (a little late on parade) all three races were sailed in very tricky and unusually shifty conditions, with the breeze up and down anywhere between 6 and 15 knots.

Race 4 saw John Cooper and Bill Vance’s Oi! cross the finish line first having led from the off after a blistering start on port. Ruairidh Scott was second in King Quick and Mike Evans sailing with Adam Winkelmann in Yoke was third.

Scott showed his metal in Race 5 and sailed himself into first place with Anthony O’Leary in Antix taking second from Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell and Des Faherty in Aquatack keeping the Irish flag flying in third place.

Simon Blake and his talented and popular young crew in Sworded Fish won the final race of the day, Race 6 of this eleven race series. This victory is all the more impressive as this is their first year in a 1720. Charles Swingland, another newcomer to the fleet was quite rightly delighted by his second place in Dark Side and Ruairidh was clearly not too disappointed with a solid third.

So a great day at the office for Ruairidh and the King Quick team. Scott now leads the fleet going into Day 3 with local boy Robert Eckstein in second and Prof O’Connell third.

Results

1 GBR 1777 SCOTT RUAIRIDH 11,5pts

2 ITA 1720 ECKSTEIN ROBERT 29,0 pts

3 IRL 1804 O’CONNELL MAURICE 35,0 pts

4 GBR 1715 COOPER JOHN 35,8 pts

5 GBR 1741 SMITH ANDREW 37,0 pts

6 IRL 1759 CLARKE CONOR 37,8 pts

7 GBR 1767 BLAKE SIMON 43,8 pts

8 GBR 1797 SWINGLAND CHARLES 44,0 pts

9 GBR 1742 BAKER DARREN 44,0 pts

10 GBR 1785 ATKINS IAN 50,0 pts

11 IRL 1808 BYRNE MARTIN 50,0 pts

12 IRL 1773 EVANS MIKE 54,0 pts

13 GBR 1743 CARVETH GEOFF 55,8 pts

14 IRL 1807 O LEARY ANTHONY 56,0 pts

15 IRL 1843 MAGUIRE DAVID 60,0 pts

16 GBR 1712 MCIRVINE ANDREW 60,0 pts

17 GBR 1770 PETERS JAMES 61,0 pts

18 GBR 1710 LOVEJOY PAUL 62,0 pts

19 GBR 1702 SMEDLEY VAUGHAN 79,0 pts

20 GBR 1790 O’BRIEN GREG 81,0 pts

21 GBR 1701 GREENAWAY MARK 81,0 pts

22 GBR 1773 DUCKER CHRIS 95,0 pts

23 GBR 1798 MACDONALD COLIN 98,0 pts

24 GBR 1774 MCLELLAND JANE 104,0 pts

25 GBR 1721 RICKARDS JOHN 105,0 pts

26 IRL 1751 GALAVAN COLIN 106,0 pts

27 GBR 1789 LANGLEY BARRY 117,0 pts

28 IRL 1722 MACPHEE DUNCAN 119,0 pts

29 GBR 1766 ARMSTRONG NORMAN 122,0 pts

30 GBR 1704 TINN TERRY 144,0 pts