Full-throttle for Admirals Cup opener

The Admiral’s Cup got underway July 19 for the 15 2-boat international teams with a light start for the 160 nm Channel Race but by the next morning the two fleets – AC1 and AC2 – returned with all of the crews soaking wet and bleary eyed, having gone through the wringer in the English Channel.

The building breeze topped out at 25 knots with a big and confused sea state for a full-throttle downwind leg back across the Channel, topped off with a screeching reach to the finish.

In AC1, Niklas Zennström’s Carkeek 52 Rán (KSSS) took race line honors for the Admiral’s Cup fleet but after IRC time correction, Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s Wally Rocket 51 Django scored the best corrected time. Karl Kwok’s TP52 Beau Geste (RHKYC) corrected out in second by less than six minutes with Rán taking third. – Full report