THE notoriously fickle weather conditions off the Philippine coast yesterday conspired to deny both Stormvogel and Millennium an opportunity to break the 10-year-old China Sea Race record.
Stormvogel, a 73-foot ketch owned by Italian businessman Ermanno Traverso, at one stage looked like finishing as much as nine hours under maxi Nirvana's record of 79 hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds.
But when the ketch closed the Philippine coast just south of the fishing port of San Fernando yesterday, the 14-knot north, northeasterly breeze steadily petered to seven knots.
In the 10 hours between yesterday's morning and afternoon schedule, Stormvogel's progress had slowed from a flying average of 8.8 knots to around four.
The dramatic change in conditions opened the door for former Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club commodore Frank Pong to close the gap and seize a slender lead aboard his new hi-tech Whitbread 40, Millennium.
Millennium employs a revolutionary shifting water ballast system which can be completely drained from the boat in light conditions.