Leading the OSTAR race is Jan Kees Lampe sailing the Open 40 La Promesse. Chasing him hard and catching up is Rob Craigie in Jbellino a J122 which has been revelling in the downwind conditions and has taken over the lead of IRC 1 on handicap.

IRC 2’s positions are more difficult because King of Shaves tracker is not working. From our data Fanfan is the leader with Dinah and Vijaya in second and third; but King of Shaves is leading on the water and is probably leading on handicap as well.

In IRC 3 the leading boat on the water is Dick Koopmans (Jager) but on handicap the veteran OSTAR sailor Mervyn Wheatley is leading. You don’t hear much from Mervyn during the race; but while the youngsters are dashing about all over the place in their surfing dishes., Mervyn gets Tamarind up to hull speed, sets his wind vane to sail down the shortest route to Newport and relaxes with a large sherry at 1800. He won’t be flying a kite in these downwind conditions because he deliberately left it at home; but he is clearly not loosing out. In second place on handicap is Marco Nannini on British Beagle.

In IRC 4 the flying Sigma 33 of Will Sayer (Elmarleen) is leading on both the water and on handicap. This is a remarkable achievement for what many people might consider to be a round the cans club cruiser/racer. In second place is Christian Chalandre (Olbia) and third Michael Collins (Flamingo Lady).

Overall Handicap Positions
Based on the Blogstar calculations the leader on handicap at the moment is Will Sayer (Elmarleen), in second Rob Craigie (Jbellino) and third Mervyn Wheatley (Tamarind). This is unofficial and I doubt it includes accurate information on King of Shaves. The Yachting Monthly August issue will carry a full report by Mark Fishwick.

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