Greek Challenge atones for first day

1:22 AM Sat 31 Jan 2009 GMT

'Louis Vuitton Pacific Series - Greek Challenge sailing in Race 1' Richard Gladwell Click Here to view large photo

The Greek Challenge scored a good win on the second day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series sailed on the Waitemata Harbour in a moderate south westerly breeze and clear skies.

Shosholoza (RSA) picked up a penalty in the pre-start and started with a 10 metre lead opting for the right hand side of the course. The South Africans tried to push the Greek Challenge out to the left hand or City side of the course. However the Greeks were able to pick a shift and came back into the South Africans by setting up on their hip and cut the corner a little moving into a 10 metre lead.

Sailing in the Emirates Team NZ supplied boats, the Greeks picked up a shift approaching North Head and quickly built a 65 metre lead, which they stretched out to 190 metres downwind.

At the leeward mark the Greek's boat handling issues reappeared, with what appeared to be a spinnaker halyard issue slowed the dropping of a replacement spinnaker - as they had shredded their regular Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in the previous race. The issue continued with the Greeks holding up after rounding the mark as the South Africans moved closer.

The Greeks resolved most of their issues by tacking soon after the mark, covering the South Africans initially but then letting them go their own way. The move did not pay off initially and the lead diminished to just 18 metres.

However a left hand shift worked the way of the Greeks and as they moved to the top of the course their lead grew to 160 metres.

A windshift or two later and the South Africans again came into the Greeks, but skipper Gavin Brady used his local knowledge to good advantage and stretched out to a three boatlength lead which they held to the finish.

Of course, their win was safe as Shosholoza still had a penalty to perform from the prestart.

The Greek win wiped out the one point deduction awarded against them by the International Jury the previous night for hard contact and they are now on zero points on the points table.

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World

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