All week Will Thompson and Tim Patton battled tooth and nail for Etchells bragging rights and the Trimingham Trophy which is awarded to the winner of the class in Bacardi’s Bermuda International Invitational Race Week. Today Thompson snatched the prize with a third and a first on the day.
It looked bad for Thompson at the start of the day’s first race. He was sliding down the line near the pin and a wind shift made it impossible for him to lay the mark to start.
In the next race Thompson and his crew of Adam Barboza and Somers Kempe got away early and sailed flawlessly from Start to finish. Ever gracious veteran Patton who had a fifth and a third today said, “Thompson’s crew had an advantage over us today in the light air. We just couldn’t keep up.”
Barboza who trims the main for Thompson said, “At the start of the first race we were stalled out at the pin and had to escape. The best choice was to gybe quickly and cut our loss. Third place was good for us, and we put two points on Patton.”
Bermuda’s Malcolm Smith put a ten-point lead on Brett Wright in the 13-race Laser Class series to win the International Race Week Championship Trophy. Smith dropped his worst two scores a nine and a three and ended with 16 points. Wright dropped his seven and a four and ended at 26 points after leading from the first day to the final.
Smith commented on his win, “It is good at my age, 53, to get another Race Week title. I just try to stay in shape and sail in phase. I did what I had to do today to win.”
Rockal Evans had hoped to make this Race Week his third in a row, but it wasn’t going to happen. He had a breakdown on the first beat of the first race today and took 15 points. He dropped that score and a fifth to end the series at 31 points.
Giles Peckham of Cowes UK who won the first two races of the IOD ‘B’ series got a fifth and a first in the day’s two races. He has a six-point lead there over Bermuda’s Penny Simmons.
In the battle for the Vrengen Gold Cup, Peckham’s team and the Burnham/Rugg Fishers Island team are still in a tight battle. In the overall competition, with a full schedule of 13 races completed, the two worst scores are dropped. Burnham/Rugg lead Peckham in the overall chase by three points with two races remaining on Friday. The winner of the cup won’t be decided until the final race of the final day.
