John Bertrand and his crew of Ben Ainslie and Andrew Palfrey (AUS) have reclaimed the 2009 Audi Etchells World Championship lead today on Port Phillip in a thrilling Race 6 finish with Graeme Taylor/Ben Morrison-Jack/Grant Wharington (AUS), who won the race, Bertrand having to tack to lay the finish and having no alternative but to follow Taylor’s stern over the finish line.
Taylor led around every mark in big 16-24 knot winds, until just before the final leeward mark, when Bertrand gained control of the race. However, coming up the beat to the finish on the windward leeward course, Bertrand was to the left of the course, Taylor closer to the middle. It was not until the final seconds that a clear picture of who would win emerged, such was the closeness of the race. …Â Details
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A cold but sunny day saw many of our fastest sailors converge on West Kirby to do battle on the GPS speed ladder.
Fastest of the day was again Farrell Oshea on his new Moo with a maximum speed of 45 knots and a 42.2 knot 5 times 10 second average.
Closely followed by … Details
The Volvo Ocean Race, an international sailing competition, has become an exciting subject of study for seventh and eighth grade students at Lawn Middle School. Team teachers Nick Alfred, math, Kristen DeSantis and Dawn Huff, language arts and reading, Jim Kaczynski, science, Maureen McGuirl, history, and Michaela Onosko, Spanish, combined resources to present a weeklong interdisciplinary learning unit focused on the race.
The team was first approached by the director of Sail Newport, Brad Read, whose brother Ken is participating in the race as skipper of the Puma racing team. He had a race-based curriculum already being used in two private schools in Newport and Lawn school teachers agreed to a utilize a modified racebased curriculum for Jamestown’s seventh and eighth graders. According to the team teachers…Â Details