Porco Rosso in charge

DESPITE a 21st place in race five of the SB20 European championships, Tasmanian boat Porco Rosso has opened up a handy overall points lead going into the third day of racing on Dublin Bay, Ireland.

Porco Rosso, with talented young Hobart sailor Elliott Noye on the helm, has used the 21st place as its discard race for a net 20 points, with the amateur crew eight points clear of the professional team from Ukraine after five races.

However, with seven more races scheduled at the Royal Irish Yacht Club this weekend, Porco Rosso cannot afford a second high-scoring result.

However, seven of the next 10 boats on the leaderboard are “in the same boat” — with all having had a race finish of 21plus and two having had a 48th place disqualification on their card for their drop race.

Apart from race five, Noye and his crew of owner Paul McCartney (mainsheet) and Edward Snowball (bow) have sailed consistently better than their rivals with placings of 4-7-3-6.

The second-placed itParfum, from Ukraine, has a net score of 28 points followed by British boat Xcellent on 32 and the first of the strong Irish contingent, Bad/Kicullen on 33.

Xcellent, skippered by John Pollard, contested the SB20 worlds on the Derwent last January, placing fifth.

The Russian boats, both called Victoria Sailing Team, which had originally sailed well on day one, have crashed to eighth and 10th places.

At Koper, Slovenia, Tasmanian Jock Calvert has climbed back to 10th overall in the International Finn under-23 Silver Cup on day four after his disappointing 21-UFD-20 score the day before. Yesterday, Calvert bounced back with a third, followed by a 17th and a 22nd.