With just over half the available points already won and lost in the 1999 Champagne Mumm Admiral¹s Cup, the patterns of individual success within the nine competing teams is beginning to emerge.

The Admiral¹s Cup itself is a team prize sailed for in three classes – there is no individual prize for the best boat of the series. There are however, prizes for the best boat in each class. Of the nine teams in the competition, six have boats in the top three of one or other of the classes, which itself is an indication of the closeness of the racing.

Ironically, Netherlands – although lying fourth in the team standings – is the only country to have a boat in the top three in every class: Innovision 7 (Judel/ Vrolijk 50, Hans Eekhof);is currently third in the Big Boat class, Trust Computer Products (Jochen Visser) is third in the Sydney 40s and Mean Machine (Michael Sanderson) is equal second in the Mumm 36s alongside the USA¹s Ciao Baby (Ed Adams).

Most successful boat in the series so far is the British Mumm 36 Barlo Plastics (Stuart Childerley) with three firsts a fourth and a fifth to her credit. Pasquale Landolfi¹s Brava Q8, flagship of the team representing Europe, has two firsts, a second, a fourth and a fifth to head the big boat fleet at this half-way stage and Thomas Friese¹s MK Cafe, the Sydney 40 world champion, continues to top the points in that class. MK Cafe, however, has won only one race against Trust Computer Products¹ two wins – but the Dutch boat is carrying a Did Not Finish from the second race in which she clashed rigs with the American Big Boat Idler and had to withdraw.

Great Britain, the series leader, has two boats in the top-three listings: Barlo Plastics and Nautica Arbitrator, Stephen Bailey’s Sydney 40 which is currently second overall in that class.

There are two more inshore races – each worth one point per place in the low-scoring system in which the better you do the fewer points you get, and the long-distance Wolf Rock race, where each place is worth three-and-a-half points. Racing resumes tomorrow with the two inshore races for the Kenwood Trophy.

Top individual boats after five races:

IMS class:

1 Brava Q8 (EUR, Farr IMS 50, Pasquale Landolfi) 16 points; 2 Quest (AUS, Nelson/Marek 46, Bob Steel) 25.5; 3 Innovision 7 (NED, Judel/ Vrolijk 50, Hans Eekhof) 27.5.

Sydney 40:

1 MK Cafe (GER, Thomas Friese) 17; 2 Nautica Arbitrator (GBR, Stephen Bailey) 20; 3 Trust Computer Products (NED, Jochen Visser) 24.6.

Mumm 36: 1 Barlo Plastics (GBR, Stuart Childerley) 13.5; 2 Mean Machine (NED, Michael Sanderson) 24; 3 Ciao Baby (USA, Ed Adams) 24.