RC44 Championship Tour, il giorno di No Way Back
MonotipiaRC44Vela 28 Novembre 2009 Zerogradinord 0
RC44 Championship Tour – Dubai – Il favore delle condizioni meteo hanno permesso lo svolgimento di altre tre regate di flotta valide ai fini della Sea Dubai RC44 Gold Cup, ultimo evento del circuito internazionale riservato al monotipo disegnato da Russell Coutts.
Confermando quanto di buono fatto vedere ieri, No Way Back, vincitore della costiera e, di conseguenza, del trofeo DHL, è riuscito a raccogliere altri tre piazzamenti tra i primi quattro e vanta ora un margine di undici punti su Artemis, capace di perdere dopo il titolo assoluto nel match race anche quello relativo alla serie di regate costiere, e di sedici su Team Aqua. La giornata è stata molto positiva anche per Team Ceeref, capace di cancellare i pessimi risultati di ieri con un primo e un secondo che hanno ridato fiducia agli uomini di Igor Lah, saliti al quinto posto dell’evento di flotta dietro a Team Katusha.
Le ultime regate costiere della stagione si svolgeranno domani. La classifica assoluta resta apertissima: quattro barche puntano al successo, raggruppate in quattro punti..
RC44 Championship Tour
1. No Way Back, P.Heerema, 3-3-4-1-2-4-2, pt. 19
2. Artemis, T.Sneddem, 5-2-1-3-4-5-10, pt. 30
3. Team Aqua, C.Bake, 9-7-2-2-8-3-4, pt. 35
4. Team Katusha, P.Cayard, 4-9-5-6-3-7-8, pt. 42
5. Team Ceeref, I.Lah, 8-8-7-7-1-2-12, pt. 45
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Video copyright RC44 Championship Tour.
RC44 CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR, TEAM NO WAY BACK CONQUERS THE DHL TROPHY
[RC44 Championship Tour Press Release] The sea breeze is slowly establishing itself in Dubai, allowing three good races including the coastal race DHL Trophy to take place today.
On great form, Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back managed to remain in the top four since the beginning of the event; a feat that no other team managed to achieve and that places them in a good position ahead of the last day, eleven points ahead of Artemis and sixteen over third placed Team Aqua.
The first race of the day saw the long expected come back of Ceeref, very unfortunate since the beginning of the event. More at ease in today’s stronger breeze, Igor Lah managed to overtake both No Way Back and Artemis, winning the regatta and putting an end to a long series of way below average results.
The breeze increased to ten knots during the second regatta, prompting some of the teams to switch to smaller jibs. René Mangold’s Team Austria and several others kept their genoas and they were right: the wind soon dropped back to eight knots, giving them a little edge over the rest of the fleet. Ceeref and Katusha, who were leading the race alongside the Austrians, got involved in an incident at the leeward mark that cost Paul Cayard’s team a penalty turn and helped Team Austria to sail away and conquer their second victory in two days. A fantastic achievement for this team made of amateur sailors.
Chief race Officer Peter Reggio then changed the race course and sent the ten strong RC44 fleet towards the famous Atlantis hotel, off the Dubai Palm, for the DHL long distance race.
Neville Crichton and his team BMW Oracle Racing took an excellent start at the pin end of the line and managed to tack and cross ahead of the pack. Heading towards the Palm, the team suddenly slowed down and needed a little while to realise that a plastic bag was stuck in their rudder. Both No Way Back and Team Aqua benefited from this incident and sailed past the American boat. The event then turned into a drag race, with no passing opportunities and the distance between the boats increasing throughout the day.
Fifth of the regatta, Artemis losses the season title and ends up fourth of the overall ranking behind the winner No Way Back, Team Aqua and BMW Oracle Racing. This week definitely turns out to be a horrible one for Dean Barker and his team after their disappointing result in the match race.
The fleet race event will see its conclusion tomorrow after up to four more races. The ranking is still open and everything remains possible.
RC44 Championship Tour
1. No Way Back, P.Heerema, 3-3-4-1-2-4-2, pt. 19
2. Artemis, T.Sneddem, 5-2-1-3-4-5-10, pt. 30
3. Team Aqua, C.Bake, 9-7-2-2-8-3-4, pt. 35
4. Team Katusha, P.Cayard, 4-9-5-6-3-7-8, pt. 42
5. Team Ceeref, I.Lah, 8-8-7-7-1-2-12, pt. 45
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