The PowerBar Three Peaks Yacht Race
Ready to Race
Rob Howard / 19.06.2009
The strong winds of the last couple of days have made the journey to the start slower and uncomfortable for the teams, but with a high pressure area moving in the forecast for the first few days of the race is for light winds and it looks like being a slow start. With the race start at 18.00, which is later than usual, some of the discussion today was about whether anyone could make it across Caernarfon Bar before low water. If not the lead runners may be setting off up Snowdon in daylight, instead of the usual night time run.
With so many yachts entered this year, the race is the biggest ever. Officially the limit was 25, but there are 32 taking part and the organisers were keen to get as many of the teams registered, and boats scrutineered as possible this afternoon. Most of the satellite trackers were also given out but these will not be carried by the runners on the mountains so those of you watching at home will only be able to track the progress of the yachts. By the evening the yacht club was packed with over 120 served dinner (thanks to Wendy Ponsford and her team of helpers) and the bar was doing good trade as teams swapped race stories and advice.
This year there as many teams who are new to the race as there are experienced teams, and some of those who raced last year have moved to other boats. Last year Journeymaker was the winner, skippered by Chris Jones, and this year he is a runner on Whisky Galore, while Greg Marsh from the 2009 Journeymaker team has joined Hazard Chase, who could be strong contenders this time around. Their runners, Caroline Bullard and Janet McIver will be strong on the mountains and will have a battle with the other female pairing off Helly Hansen UK.
Journeymaker is still in the race, this time skippered by Andy Hayward, who has last year’s experience to bring to the role of skipper.
SleepMonsters
