* J sailors continue to be tough competitors in the Volvo Ocean Race. Winning the proverbial "Hat Trick" so far is
Iker Martinez sailing TELEFONICA-- his J/80 friends and family in Spain were certainly jumping for joy! Helping him along as Navigator/Tactician is
Andrew Cape, a J sailor himself having competed on many of them on the Solent in England. Plus, Andrew was a
Southampton YC "Island Double Race" winner on the J/44 J-HAWK sailing
with Stu Johnstone back in 1991! The Island Double is a famous
short-handed race in England that starts/ finishes off the notorious
Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes, Isle of Wight-- it's the 65 nm dash
around the Isle of Wight, the infamous original America's Cup course.
Andrew and Stu won the Island Double sailing the "classic" clockwise
course, leaving all the buoys and the island to the right all the way
around.
Ken Read and the boys on PUMA Mar Mastro do seem to have
a bit of a "black cat hex" on them-- they just can't seem to "buy a
break or a wind shift" to "save their bacon" and keep them out of
trouble. This last leg was literally a "minefield" of ships, fishing
boats, fishing nets and all sorts of shoals and other islands obstacles,
forgetting the fact they also had to deal with capricious winds and
weather. Kenny and crew took a flyer off to the right on the last
segment from the Straits of Malacca, up the Vietnam coast to Sanya,
China-- unfortunately, the gambit didn't pay off. We wish both Iker and
Kenny "fair winds and fair sailing" on their next leg from Sanya to
Auckland, New Zealand.
