Pindar wins Artemis Challenge

It was a grey, wet start to the 55-mile course west about the island, which started at 1000h this morning. A southerly 8-10 knot wind saw the boats through the first part of the race to the Needles, once the eight-boat fleet turned the corner they then faced up to 20-25 knot winds, which meant that they were able to test the boats to the maximum.

Brian Thompson and team including Mike Sanderson aboard Pindar have won the Artemis Challenge here at Skandia Cowes Week today. They crossed the line at 14.30.48, taking 4 hours 13 minutes and 48 seconds to complete the 50-mile course.

Having lost their rig round the back of the island last year during the inaugural event, Team Pindar are delighted with the result. They had a reasonable start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line and soon found themselves engaged in a race-long battle with BT (Seb Josse) and Ecover (Mike Golding).

According to Brian Thompson, the fastest section of the race was from the Needles to St Katharine's and when the waves settled down they were reaching 20kts of boat speed.

Thompson as he stepped ashore this afternoon commented: "This is our last proper race and our first major race win, and one year on things have changed a lot. Our plan now is to do some two-boat testing with Hugo Boss. It's great to be doing a lot more high-quality sailing with these boats, Ecover Hugo Boss, Artemis. We are very pleased with today's result."



ECOVER 3rd
Golding and the crew on ECOVER 3 had a good start off the Royal Yacht Squadron line, leading the seven boat fleet as they started the reach up towards the Needles. The approach to the Needles proved a challenge with all of the boats pushing against a strong tide. Pindar was first to round the famous land mark as BT, HUGO BOSS and ECOVER 3 hugged the shore line battling it out for the top position. Pindar's skipper Brian Thomson, sailed an impeccable race as he extended his lead, and sailed onto the finish in yet to be ratified record time. The battle for second and third was on. French skipper Seb Josse on BT made an early move on the south side of the Island establishing a small lead over ECOVER 3 and HUGO BOSS. For Golding it was to be a closely fought battle for third with fellow Brit Pack skipper Alex Thomson. Both skippers tested each other in a match race to the finish line, with just 46 seconds separating the two as they completed the race.

"We had a good start up to the Needles and Pindar passed us as we got to the Needles. At Hurst Narrows we probably should have changed the sail configuration where it was less windy, but we made the call a bit later and BT and HUGO BOSS managed to get through. Just before Bembridge we had a good gybe and over took Boss and kept our position through to the finish," commented Golding.

"I am comfortable with our boat speed and feel that we are in a good place right now from a boat performance perspective. This might only have been a 60-odd mile race, but it still poses a number of possible threats - but it is good for the boats," he added.