Jelik sails to smooth lead off Boracay, Carabao islands

MANILA, Philippines - Frank Pong’s Reichel/Pugh 76 Jelik put on another superb outing and dominated the field from start to finish, completing the 28m 8-course in two hours and 44 minutes to firm up the Racing Class lead in the overall race of the Boracay Cup around the Carabao and Boracay Islands here yesterday.

Ray Ordoveza’s Excel 53 Karakoa came from behind again to finish second and remain Jelik’s closest rival for the overall title. Geoff Hill’s Antipodes came in third in front of Troy Yaw’s TP52 Ulumulu and Ernesto Echauz’s TP52 Standard Insurance Centennial.

Meanwhile, Martin Tanco’s Sydney 46Centennial II gave away 100 meters to leeward at the start line to Jun Avecilla’s Beneteau First 36.7 Selma Star at the favored committee boat end in heavier conditions.

Although Tanco’s Centennial II finished a little over 16 minutes in front of Avecilla’s Selma Star, when the IRC ratings were applied, the smaller Selma Star comes out in front by a little under three minutes.

This gives Avecilla’s Selma Star four straight wins, virtually wrapping up the Cruiser-Racer Class with one more race day. Simon Carpenter’s Elan 310 Giant Cod retired again but remained at third in the three-boat class.

Chui Shing Kin’s Beneteau Oceanis 45 Liannet is proving to be unbeatable in the PY Class by claiming the daily double for the third straight day.

Despite being outclassed at the top end, Danny Batac’s Beneteau 12.7 Serenity 1 continues to get the better of Juergen Kirstein’s Caroff 40 Pongolana to maintain the respective overall order.

Meanwhile, the participants left off yesterday with the crew on Ray Ordoveza’s Karakoa looking to replace their broken backstay. In a gracious act of sportsmanship, Pong offered up a spare 12mm spectra halyard carried on board his mother ship and the technicians among the crew worked late into the night to get them back on the water today.

One successful repair was followed by another casualty. As Sam Chan’s TP52 Freefire was warming up before the start of the race, its backstay broke, forcing them to retire before the race got under way.

Jerry Rollin chose individual passage races based on performance for the three classes, which would have them finishing roughly about the same time.