Competitors at the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championship at Lake Garda were yesterday rewarded with the famous Ora 20 knot breeze.

The warning signal for Race 7 sounded with just 6-8 knots across the lake, but by the first leeward mark kites were dropping in a full-on 18-20 knot foam up. Ruairidh Scott in King Quick held it all together and took the bullet with Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell sailing Des Faherty’s Aquatack second and Andrew Smith’s Twister, helmed by Shaun Barber third.

A port/starboard incident on the final beat resulted in a fairly dramatic ‘coming together’ of two boats, both of which were holed, one extremely seriously. Nobody hurt, the rescue boats of Fraglia Vela Riva did an incredible job buoying the fast sinking ship and the boat was quickly recovered by the Riva’s volunteer fire department’s work boat.

Race 8 commenced as soon as the excitement was over and Anthony O’Leary in Antix lead from the off and held it all together until the finish line with the flying Scotsmen in King Quick hot on his heels. Greg O’Brien, sailing Gul Purple Marine.com, finally found some of his usual form and sailed an intelligent race, crossing the line in third.

The final race of the day, Race 9, belonged to Ruairidh Scott and his team in King Quick, Wow was second with Oi! third, and as we go into the final day of racing, with two races scheduled, this positioning reflects the overall placing at the regatta.

But that’s not the whole story: this is a one discard series but Ruairidh Scott and team don’t need to sail today. Having raced 1720s for six years, the King Quick team (helmsman Ruairidh, tactician Ben Field, trimmer (and Dad) Graeme Scott, Chris Scott (no relation), Mark Goalen and bow-chick sister Anna ‘The Bear’ Scott) has finally won the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championship.