The second day of the iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week once again provided spectators with lots of crash and burn-type action. The winds gusting up to 20kt were not extreme but still there was a fair amount of damage given the strong wind against tide situation.

The first casualty of the day happened in Race 5 (the first race of the day) early this afternoon when Oman Sail, with Chris Draper at the helm, was involved in a collision with the Dutch team Volvo Ocean Race. The damage was fairly substantial for Oman Sail with a damaged aft beam and broken tiller.

Elsewhere in the fleet, BMW Oracle Racing Spithill notched up a win in Race 5 with Alinghi in second. Alinghi then went on to take Race 6, with the British Team Origin in second.

Team Origin, showing their true colours, then beat Alinghi to the line in Race 7. The close racing continued throughout the day in the gusty, testing conditions and in the eighth race (third race of the day) Alinghi clinched another win to secure her place at the top of the scoreboard.

BMW Oracle Spithill then took Race 6 from Team Origin but Alinghi who finished that race in fifth place still retains her place atop the scoreboard with 160pts from Team Holmatro’s 93 points.
James Spithill chatting after the racing said: “We’ve shown we’ve got some speed, if we can keep things together tomorrow we have a shot to get right up there,” said helmsman James Spithill (AUS). “We just need to limit our breakdowns. There are eight races left so a lot of points are still up for grabs.”

At 1600 this afternoon racing continued off Calshot with race organisers hoping to complete Race 11 today to make up for the lost races yesterday.