Sailing: Fischer king of tides: Ragamuffin proves the attraction

FOR THOSE who were finding proceedings in the Two-Ton World Championship a little tame on the Hampshire coast yesterday, a short burst of power from Syd Fischer's Ragamuffin brought a spectator fleet thinned by dismal weather to the 50- footer course for a dose of adrenalin.

Spectators watched one of the best- honed fleets hurl themselves around the turning marks in races where any mistake was mercilessly punished.

Two opening victories were posted for Australia by the owner, Fischer, and the skipper, Peter Gilmour, in Ragamuffin. The fifth and seventh were won by Graham Walker's Indulgence, late into this year's fray and still tuning for their role as the flagship of the British team for the Admiral's Cup, which starts in 10 days.

Fischer had come to this third regatta in the 50-foot calender determined to challenge the two men jointly holding the lead after racing in Barcelona and La Rochelle, Paul Cayard in Capricorno and Marc Pajot in Citroen. Cayard had to count a seventh as well as a second yesterday while Pajot managed only a fourth and a sixth.

After four inshore races, the yacht looking strongest in the Two-Ton championship is Japan's Admiral's Cup team boat, Swing, owned by Shigeyuka Suzuki and helmed by Robert Fry. Second is Italy's Larouge, skippered by Lorenzo Bortolotti and third is Neville Crichton's Shockwave, though the New Zealand yacht is already sporting the colours of the Irish team.

The fleet of seven finished their inshore races today and complete the series with two offshore races.

In the one-tonners, some optimism was generated by the British Admiral's Cup team yacht, renamed GBE International from Orient Express, and sometimes called Port Pendennis, helmed by Glyn Charles, which had the measure of Ireland's Jameson I, formerly Fram XI, helmed by the former British team skipper, selector and manager, Harold Cudmore.