It was billed as the Revenge Match of the BlueBird Cup, Sir Charles Dunstone’s opportunity to level the score with her near sister ship Skylark after she beat Blitzen convincingly in the BlueBird Cup 2016.
Due to the size and speed difference in the boats, Skylark was permitted to leave 92 seconds before Blitzen. However, on the first upwind leg, Skylark battled poor wind conditions for several minutes which allowed Blitzen to immediately catch up. By the first windward mark Blitzen had halved her lead. And then, for Skylark, it all went wrong …
As the boats headed back upwind, with Blitzen now 18 seconds in the lead, Skylark made her 2nd mistake. She headed too far into Canoubieres trying to get leverage on Blitzen to windward. However the breeze died inshore. It transpired, once the breeze returned, that Skylark, having changed down her headsail to a much smaller one, was significantly faster than the over pressed Blitzen who was still flying her largest genoa. Having lost further distance inshore, Skylark closed the gap with Blitzen quickly en route to the tower, but Blitzen sailed well and rounded ahead, maintaining her lead of around 15 seconds all the way to the finish.
Aboard Talitha, the 7 crews celebrated with 100 year old Hennessy Paradis Imperial presented to the owners by HRH King Juan Carlos of Spain and Anthony Davoigniot of Moet Hennessy. The BlueBird Cup was then presented to Sir Charles Dunstone, owner of Blitzen, the trophy winner for 2018.
In the Qualification Race, Stormy Weather owned by Christopher Spray was victorious over Griff Rhys Jones on Argyll and Hamish Easton’s larger Manitou, once sailed by American president JK Kennedy and his close friend Marilyn Monroe.
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