Cowes, Isle of Wight: 11th June 2022. Russell Peters and his crew of James Grant and Greg Wells snatched a narrow lead at the end of the third day of the Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix.
Northern Ireland Dragon ace Simon Brien from Belfast Lough is lying fifth having won a race on the opening day of the event.
Peters who is representing the host club, the Royal Yacht Squadron, was finally able to discard his second black flag disqualification from his scoreline, and is now a slender two points ahead of Hayling Island’s Ossie Stewart.
The second discard came into force when the fleet had completed nine out of the ten race series. Russell Peters sailing Riff Raff has scored five first places, a third and then a ninth in the ninth race, discarding two black flags. With the wind forecast to go light and shifty on Sunday for the last race of the regatta, anything could happen.
The Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix fleet race downwind in Cowes Photo: Paul Wyeth
Commenting on the coming showdown he said, “it could be a bit tense tomorrow, I think the conditions will be better than predicted.” Talking about his string of wins he said, “we seem to have good speed, if we can get off the line cleanly and go the right way the boat is quick.”
Olympic medallist Ossie Stewart, crewed by his son Tom and Geoff Carveth, has been a consistent performance throughout the regatta, with a string of top four places until the ninth race when he slumped to 14th. Currently in third place overall is Tom Hewitson also from Hayling Island, twenty points behind Stewart.
With just the one race scheduled for Sunday, the final day of the regatta, there is likely to be some very tactical match racing between Peters and Stewart with all to play for.
The Solent laid on its sparkling best today, with sunshine and a good breeze in the 15 to 20 knot range, Russell Peters describing it as “fabulous conditions, it was so good to be out there.
Results:
- Russell Peters Royal Yacht Squadron 17pts
- Ossie Stewart Hayling Island S.C. 13pts
- Tom Hewitson Hayling Island S.C. 29pts
- Martin Jones Royal Yacht Squadron 41pts
- Simon Brien Royal North of Ireland Y.C. 43pts
- Paul Fisk Emsworth S.C. 53pts
