TP52 Worlds, i frutti della regolarità
TP52Vela 23 Ottobre 2008 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=610,250,170,,left]TP52 World Championship – Puerto Calero – Trenta nodi d’aria e onde alta sino a tre metri sono le condizioni che i protagonisti del Mondiale TP52 di Lanzarote hanno dovuto affrontare quest’oggi durante la regata lunga. Una manche in salita per Mutua Madrilena. Finito in OCS, lo scafo di Vasco Vascotto è stato costretto a inseguire sin dalle battute iniziali e si è dovuto accontentare di una piazza tar i dieci. Piazzamento che nel gruppo di testa è stato superato solo da Quantum Racing, secondo dietro a El Desafio, ora più solitario che mai al comando della classifica.
A seguire Terry Hutchinson e lo scafo italo-cileno, coppia di vertice separata da otto punti, è sempre Artemis, messo alle corde da un problema tecnico e giunto sul traguardo quasi per onor di firma. Pur confermandosi terzo, il team di Russell Coutts e Torbjorn Tornqvist è stato avvicinato pericolosamente da El Desafio, portato da Paul Cayard al successo di giornata e da Platoon, a bordo del quale Jochen Schuemann si è reso arteficie di una prova da lode.
Mai così bene nel corso della stagione i russi di Synergy, guidati dal navigatore di Shosholoza Francesco Mongelli al settimo posto della generale. Nella media il rendimento di Audi TP52 Powered by Q8, sempre fermo in nona posizione.
A due giornate dalla fine – da domani si torna a regatare sulle boe – il Mondiale resta comunque aperto a ogni possibile soluzione, anche se il discorso relativo alla vittoria finale pare riservato a due soli interlocutori: Quantum Racing e Mutua Madrilena.
Per seguire le regate in diretta clicca qui.
Per consultare la classifica clicca qui.
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Il terzo giorno di regate. Video courtesy TP52 World Championship.
Desafio wins long coastal race in spectacular conditions
[singlepic=608,170,250,,left][TP52 World Championship Press Release] To say the long coastal race of the TP52 World Championship Islas Canarias Puerto Calero was exciting would be a major understatement. While the start of the week offered us light and shifty conditions, Lanzarote’s true breeze made its majestic entrance today. After yesterday’s short coastal race, the 14-strong TP52 fleet sailed the long one, approximately 53 miles long, in less that 5 hours under conditions that offered accidents, breakages, disqualifications and lots of emotion. The northern breeze blew with an intensity of 20 to 25 knots throughout the race and gusts reaching 35 knots on the western coast of the island.
The course initially took the fleet to a windward mark 1.6 miles from the starting line in front of the airport, before turning south towards Puerto Calero, where two buoys a few dozen meters from the breakwater gave the hundreds of spectators ashore the chance to watch the TP52’s “flying” in front of their eyes. They then headed south for the longest leg of the race towards the small island of Lobos. After rounding the mark just north of the island, the course headed northwest in a straight upwind leg to the westernmost tip of Lanzarote, off cape San Jacinto. That was the middle point of the race and the fleet returned back to the island of Lobos before the last upwind stretch to Puerto Calero to finish just off the marina entrance.
With 20 knots of northern breeze blowing off the race track, the race committee didn’t waste a moment and fired the gun at 11am. Similar to the trend this week, the left side of the course was clearly the favored one and Quantum, Platoon, Synergy, El Desafío and Audi TP52 Powered by Q8, opted for it and rounded the first offset mark in that order. Vasco Vascotto’s Mutua Madrileña was over the line and obviously started the race with a handicap. The rounding was eventful as Synergy was involved in port-starboard incident with Bribón and El Desafío that resulted in the Russian boat’s bow hitting the stern of Platoon. As it was expected, all four boats raised the protest flags and the jury disqualified Bribón for not giving Synergy room.
Just like yesterday, doing well in the first leg at least guaranteed a large part of the result. Quantum stayed ahead of the fleet as they headed towards the next marks in front of the Puerto Calero marina. Sailing upwind like steam-trains Quantum, Platoon and Synergy, rounded the two marks and headed south towards the island of Lobos. The reigning champion, Artemis had trouble recovering any positions, trailing the leaders in 9th place. On the other hand, the correct sail choices in the longest leg of the races, gave Platoon the leadership as they rounded the buoy north of Lobos.
The beat towards the San Jacinto buoy was to cause the first breakage in the fleet. Yachts had to head back north in order to avoid the shallow waters around the island and then tack towards the mark. It was then when Artemis hit a wave and completely broke their jib, forcing the Swedish boat to sail the rest of the leg with just their mainsail on, closer to the Lanzarote coast while trying to repair the damage. The leg saw the leaders go front to back and front again but Platoon was first, followed by Quantum and Desafío in the San Jacinto buoy. In the run back to Lobos it was Quantum’s turn to break their spinnaker, giving Desafío the opportunity to grab the lead.
Paul Cayard helmed the Spanish America’s Cup Challenger boat to victory, managing to protect their position, despite a jib a little bit too big. Terry Hutchinson’s boat was neck and neck, crossing the finish line just 12 seconds behind Desafío.
After Bribón’s disqualification and the breakage on Artemis, Quantum and Mutua Madrileña seem to be the favorites but with 4 windward/leeward races in schedule it might just be too early to cry victory.
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