The wind scarcely touched 12 knots as the starter’s gun fired, but ABN AMRO TWO went flying across the pin end of the line. Sebastien Josse thought he had the dream start but it was a nightmare and the kids were called back for jumping the gun too early.
Ericsson too was controversially recalled late on leaving them last in the fleet, much to their dismay.
Brasil 1 capitalised on their good fortune, the first to come their way for a while, and dominated the first half of the race. Torben Grael’s crew led the race in the strengthening breeze ahead of Pirates and ABN AMRO ONE until spinnaker trouble saw the blue and yellow boat surrender their lead to Mike Sanderson.
ABN AMRO ONE revelled in the 20 knot breeze at the finish to claim maximum points again, beating Paul Cayard’s Pirates to the post by a slender one and a half minutes. movistar finish third ahead of Ericsson despite some gibing issues, while Brasil 1 come home disappointed in fifth. The kids finish well ahead of Brunel, who finish last.