Thursday, August 26, 2010
SWAN 44 SELENE LEADS HER CLASS IN THE SEVENSTAR ROUND BRITAIN AND IRELAND RACE

Swan 44 raced by Adrian Lower has been battling it out in IRC Class 2 of the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race 2010 to hold the lead by nine miles. The race commenced on Monday with a 14:00 start from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line towards the east enabling the fleet to have a fast running start towards the forts in the Solent.

The fleet headed east to circumnavigate the British Isles anti-clockwise, due to a last minute change of course because of bad weather approaching from the west. As the fleet headed north along the east coast of Britain, Swan 44, Selene and S&S 41, Winsome, began their battle utilizing the north-westerly head winds which came in on Tuesday evening. Winsome was first to capitalise on these winds at about 18:00 and took the lead ever so slightly, however Selene wouldn’t let go and in the early hours of Wednesday morning Selene had managed to overtake and become the class leader with a nine mile lead.

Before the race Lower commented "I have put together a great team of East Coast sailors and we look forward to the challenge racing onboard our Swan 44 Selene. Our sights are set particularly on Winsome, another Sparkman and Stephens design from the 1970s. She is extremely well sailed and their team has sailed together for a number of years. Winsome has been our benchmark in the 2009 Rolex Fastnet and North Sea Race this year."

Lowe onboard Selene now has a clear lead on the class and is coming up to the Shetland Islands which is the northern most point in the race, from there they will be heading south west around the Scottish Isles and south along the west coast of Ireland.

RORC CEO, Eddie Warden Owen explained: "Crews will face the vagaries of the tides and unpredictable weather; dodging oil rigs and container ships as well as relying on tactical and navigational decisions and great seamanship to get them round the course! Most sailors agree that this race is one of the toughest tests as it is nearly as long as an Atlantic crossing, but the changes of direction at headlands will mean constant breaks in the watch system for sail changes and sail trim."

Three yachts have so far retired from the race, including ICAP Leopard who have all had equipment failure. This year the race has had very challenging conditions which some yachts have succumb to, this race is well known to push yachts and crews to the limits whilst coping with container ships, oil rigs and other obstacles in their path.

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