In spite of near ideal conditions off Skerries yesterday, title holder Richard Estaugh with crew Simon Potts appeared to lose control of his defence and overall lead in the Heineken-sponsored GP14 World Championship. With just two races remaining, he is trailing the new overall leader Neil Marsden by more than 12 points and is languishing in fourth as the series pauses for a rest day.
Although favourite for the title, Estaugh was left in a jarring 23rd place in race four yesterday morning followed by an even more worrying 41st on the afternoon course. The second result is ignored as the single discard has now kicked in. However, it seems unlikely that a worse result than this is possible so the remaining two races will be critical.
Estaugh seems to lack some of the consistency of his rivals. Apart from a convincing first place on Monday's second race, he currently counts a second and fourth plus the 21st from yesterday. Second placed Richard Instone with Chris Anderson have two fifth places, a sixth a tenth and a discarded 12th and would be leading but for the discard.
New leaders Neil Marsden and Derrick Hill have a 1.5 point advantage over Instone and Anderson thanks to a fine first place in the fifth race. Neil Platt and Jim Gaskin are in third place just ahead of the world champion.
The front leader group in the 143-boat fleet are now starting to open a considerable lead over the others.
Yesterday's racing was held in much improved conditions thanks to a steady sea breeze that filled in early. Principal race officer Peter Craig delayed racing by half an hour and most crews spent about six hours on the water instead of Monday's eight-hour marathon. Throughout the day, the airflow built steadily and was holding at a steady 12 knots by the end of racing.
While today's lay will allow a major re-charge of spirits and energy, forecasts for tomorrow are again suggesting rain with more wind which may affect the results. It should certainly please several top sailors that have attributed their own poorer than expected performance to being caught up in foul air as the light conditions have caused considerable congestion at the offwind marks.
Meanwhile, computer software problems mean that the overall positions have had to be calculated by hand and only the leaders' placings are known. However, it is estimated that in spite of several improved performances by Irish boats, the possibility of a top 10 result for a home crew is becoming more remote and even a top 20 ranking will be a considerable achievement.
However, after a disappointing start to the series, Hugh Gill and Stephen Boyle stormed back into form yesterday when they scored a first place and a 13th in the best performance by an Irish crew so far. The pair finished second to Estaugh at Sutton 10 days ago in the GP14 Leinster Championship and were rated highly for a top result at Skerries along with several other Irish crews.
This line-up included Ruan O'Tiarnaigh who has recovered from a shaky start to the championship after the last minute replacement for his injured crewman by Graham Elmes. After a now discarded 69th place from the opening race, O'Tiarnaigh has been sailing very consistently at the front of the main fleet and within reaching distance of the main leader group.
Paul Maguire and Stewart Boyle from Sutton also move up the points table after a great day yesterday when they scored a second and eighth placings and will certainly be hopeful of maintaining their improved form, having knocked an average of 40 boats off their result from previous races.
GP14 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (at Skerries SC) - Estimated overall placings (based on provisional results) - 1, N Marsden and D Hill (Blackpool and Fleetwood SC); 2, R Instone and C Anderson (Chase SC); 3 N Platt and J Gaskin (Bolton/West Kirby SC).
