Sailing: Robinson edges out the Bear

The first of the two big showdowns of Cowes Week went to Jeremy Robinson, who steered Nick Hewson's Team Tonic to victory in the Britannia Cup yesterday. The margin over the second-placed Bear of Britain was one second after nearly four hours of classic racing. There are hopes that today's New York Yacht Club Challenge cup will follow suit.

There was plenty of needle in a cut and thrust start. It needed a strong combination of boat handling and tactics, and kept the crews busy for most of the 29.4 miles.

Just after the start, Peter Harrison's Chernikeeff, a sister ship to Bear, was trapped on the inshore route and saw Bear stretch away in better breeze. Harrison was 2min 25sec adrift at the first mark and a further 73sec behind by Beaulieu. Harrison was not best pleased.

There were also some harsh words between Hobday and the man acting as tactician for Ben Ainslie on the 70ft Volvo for Life this week. Ossie Clark had been upset by Hobday saying that most professionals were no good and criticised the Bear's performance. That might have further fired the men on the Bear – who were joined by the veteran professional Chris Law as "honorary, unpaid acting coach" for the day – and they produced some very slick crew work.

The race was won and lost on the third, long, upwind leg between a buoy just off Beaulieu and a turning mark through Hurst Narrows. Bear went further inshore looking for additional advantage at Yarmouth, found none, and Tonic fizzed through. Even then it all began again as the yachts turned east for the long run back to Cowes, at first against the tide, but pushed along by a steadily freshening south-westerly breeze.