Clean sweep for Lilla and crew
Skipper Simon Di Pietro and his Lilla crew look like sweeping the board in this year’s Marion to Bermuda race.Their record-breaking corrected time of 71 hours 48 minutes and 26 seconds saw them beat the previous course record of 72 hours.Having already claimed line honours on Monday with an elapsed time of 68:58:45, the multi-national crew now look set to win their class as well as the overall trophy.With all the yachts safely into Bermuda, the only thing holding up Lilla’s triumph are the usual protests, penalties and appeals that come with any race.“It’s now just the tally up and the scoring people are frantically putting the finishing touches to that,” said organiser Charles Dunston. “There are some unofficial results up but it looks to me at last viewing that they’ve (Lilla) won their class, overall, everything. I didn’t see another boat that had a corrected time that came anywhere close to it to be honest.“That’s very unofficial obviously, and it’s still subject to things like protests and things like that. The compliance committee are going through their final stages of ajudication.”Lilla was followed across the line by Pescatore, a Hinckley SW 59, with Skipper George Tougas, which arrived in Bermuda with an elapsed time of 86:50:57 and corrected time of 78:20:17.In third was Margalo, a DP 48, with skipper Chip Johns, who is also the Commodore of the Beverly Yacht Club, one of the three sponsoring clubs of the Marion Bermuda Race. Margalo arrived with an elapsed time of 87:43:42 and corrected time of 78:46:48.The official results are expected to be confirmed today when the yachts involved will take part in a fun, friends and family race, which is open to locals and visitors alike. The week comes to a close tomorrow with a prize-giving and gala dinner in Dockyard.