With two days down and two days left in the 2009 ‘Ohana Harbor Coffee Whidbey Island Race Week, fleet positions are beginning to sort out as skippers and crews begin their final push for championships.
In the PO Fleet race Shrek, skippered by John Hoag, leads the pack with 13 points, followed closely by Greg Slyngstad’s Roxanne in second place with 16 points.
In third is Nemesis whose skipper Geoff Longnecker is starting to make his move with 18 points.
In the P1 Fleet competition last year’s winner, Tigger/Dangerous When Striped, is once again on top of the heap. After an average first day on Tuesday, skipper Chris Winnard steered the boat to three wins in Wednesday’s events to score 11 points.
In second place, Kirk Leslie’s Prowler is nipping at Tigger’s heels with 12 points.
Holding down third place is Firecracker, skippered by John Anicker that has scored 19 points so far.
Shifting to P2 Fleet, Absolutely, steered by Charlie Maccauly, and Stewart Burnell’s Tantivy, are tied for first place with 17 points each.
In third place, trailing by 10 points, is The Boss with Wayne Berge at the helm.
Shoot the Moon with Don and Andrew Wills sharing the skipper’s duties, is leading in P3 with 10 points.
Second is Gary Morgan and Chris Yob’s What? A Tripp with 17.50 points, followed in third by Corvo, steered by Tom Kerr, with 23 points.
Money Shot, with Mike Schiltz at the helm has the top spot in the P4 Fleet with 13 points.
Second and third place in the fleet is real close with John Peterson’s Last Tango narrowly leading Jubilee with Erik Kirsten at the helm by a single point, 20 to 21.
Dan Kaseler’s pTeron is sailing away from the field in P5 Fleet with 8 points. Heading into the third day of competition pTeron has a 15-point lead over the Bula Bula boat skippered by Bill Checkley that is in second place with 23 points. Rod Buck, steering Myst, is ready to move up from his third-place position with 25 points.
Racing is also tight in the P6 Fleet and Fokus 3, skippered by Jim Metteer, is leading the second-place boat Here&Now with Pat Denny at the helm, by one-half point, 16 to 16.50. Mike Mechaelis has the South Lake Union Trolly in third place with 20 points.
Ken Chin’s Kowloon is in first place in the P7 Fleet with 15 points but after that, competition is fierce.
Jasmania, skippered by Frank Rogers is second with 20 points and Symbosis and Rubicon, skippered by Lance Slaughton, and Mel Marshel and Dan Olson, respectively, are tied in third with 22 points.
The top spot in the P8 Fleet belongs to Steve Trunkey’s Egress with 9 points. Mick Corcoran’s is 10 points behind with 19 and Team MUD, led by Ben Braden is third with 30 points.
Bill Stange at the helm of Columbia has a comfortable lead in the P9 Fleet, having won every race to date to score 6 points. Shannon Buys has the Magic Juan in second place with 14 points and Jim McAlpine’s Lucky Jim is third with 17.50 points.
Racing continues at noon today and the final races for the 2009 event will begin at noon Friday, July 17.
