YV&C International Yacht Vacations & Charters Magazine reports:

On day two of racing at the Swan 45 Gold Cup 2006, Goombay Smash (William Douglass, USA) is emerging as the Swan 45 to beat. After taking first and second place respectively in the day’s two windward-leeward races, Douglass stands at the top of the leaderboard, with DSK Comifin (Danilo Salsi, ITA) in second and Bellicosa (Massimo Ferragamo, USA) in third place. After just four of the nine races that comprise this World Championship, Douglass is already being hotly tipped to take the Gold Cup from Stefano Polti’s Mintaka.

As forecast, bright sunshine and stable south-easterly winds lasted throughout the day, with gusts of 25 knots in the morning making for some fast racing and hair-raising conditions on the water. After a steady start to race one, Goombay Smash crept up through the fleet from sixth position round the first windward mark, to first place at the second, and retained her 30 second lead over second-placed Bandit (Andrew Fisher, USA), right up until the finish line. Vim (Craig Speck, USA) struggled with the rolling two-metre-high waves, starting well, but dropping back to finish ninth in race one.

Speck commented: "Our first race of the day was really good until the spinnaker blew up – we were second before it happened, and then we had to sail the last half of the leg basically bare-headed, which really hurt us, so we didn’t hang in there too well. But, that’s the way it goes! There was a big chop in the water, which was just brutal, so it was pretty ugly out there."

The wind dropped to around 20 knots for race two, and the fleet kept tightly packed right up until the last leg. Bellicosa, who saw mixed results in yesterday’s two races, coming first then fourteenth, enjoyed a return to form today, wining the second race of the day and snatching the lead from closely matched Goombay Smash and Vim, who took second and third place respectively. Bellicosa lived up to her name and, with fighting spirit, lead for the majority of the race. Despite this, Douglass put up a good fight, with the two Swan 45s gybing back and forth against each other down the last leg.

Massimo Ferragamo commented on the day’s racing: "Fantastic! We had a great day of sailing. Our crew work was steady, we had good handling. I am very happy with where we are at this point. We are beginning to find our consistency." Of Goombay Smash’s performance, he commented: "They are not leading by chance. Douglass is a good helmsman and he has a very strong crew. It's a good boat. However, there are still several more days of sailing and a lot can happen."

Goombay Smash, lead by tactician and Match Racing champion Chris Law will certainly be playing it safe for the rest of week: "Our tactics are just to keep out of trouble, avoid protest situations, sail the boat well and keep out of the corners. We’re going fast, we have a good crew and we’re just going to try and build on our points lead."

Further down the leaderboard, sailing pro Gabriele Benussi on Jeroboam (Vittorio Codecasa, ITA) was pleased with his crew’s performance today: "We had some bad starts, and on the second race we were over the line so had to go back, but I am pleased with the results and the way the team has sailed. The waves and wind were very strong today; very different from what we are used to in the Mediterranean, but the conditions were good for sailing. After starting badly, we picked up really good speed and used good tactics to finish sixth in both races – a good improvement on yesterday’s results."

Tomorrow’s forecast warns of an increased chance of showers or squalls, with strong winds and sudden gusts early on. William Douglass will no doubt be pleased: "We love it when it’s blowing, when it’s heavy out there." Reiterating Law, he added: "Our tactics are just to sail clean, sail fast, and keep consistent." Judging by their performance over the last two days, the Goombay Smash crew probably will.

For full results visit www.nautorswan.com

PROVISIONAL RESULTS – before protests

1. GOOMBAY SMASH – William DOUGLAS (USA) 4,3,1,2 – 10 points
2. DSK COMIFIN – Danilo SALSI (ITA) 8,1,3,5 – 17
3. BELLICOSA – Massimo FERRAGAMO (USA) 1,14,4,1 – 20
4. CUOR DI LEONE – Leonardo FERRAGAMO (ITA) 9,5,7,4 - 25
5. VIM – Craig SPECK (USA) 2,15,9,3 - 29