RC44 Championship Tour, il match race è di Paul Cayard
MonotipiaRC44Vela 30 Settembre 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic id=4180 w=300 h=204 float=left]RC44 Championship Tour – Portorose – Colpo di scena a Portorose, dove Paul Cayard, leader del neonato Team Katusha, si è imposto nell’evento di match race che ha aperto la tappa slovena dell’RC44 Championship Tour. Cayard ha superato in finale, disputata al meglio delle tre manche, Kaorl Jabonski di Organika. Katusha, che corre a bordo di uno scafo nuovissimo costruito dalla Pauger, ha messo poi in fila No Way Back di Ray Davies e Pieter Heerema e Islas Canarias Puerto Calero di Jose Maria Ponce, per il quale si può parlare di una stagione davvero entusiasmente, visto il successo ottenuto nell’Audi MedCup 2009 tra i GP42.
Fuori dalla serie finale, oltre al leder del circuito Team Aqua di Chris Bake sono rimasti i vari Artemis, affidato da Torbjorn Tornqvist a Dean Barker, Ceeref, timonato da Sébastien Col, e BMW Oracle Racing di Larry Ellison e Russell Coutts.
Le regate di flotta avranno inizio domani. Lo scontro si annuncia intenso, sia per l’elevato livello dei team impegnati, sia per il loro numero, mai così alto nel corso della stagione.
Match-race, final results:
1. Team Katusha, Paul Cayard
2. Organika, Karol Jablonski
3. No Way Back, Davies-Heerema
4. Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, José Maria Ponce
5. Artemis, Dean Barker
6. Team Aqua, Cameron Appleton
7. Ceeref, Sébastien Col
8. BMW Oracle Racing, Russell Coutts
9. Team Sea Dubai, Markus Wieser
10. Modri Gaj, Gasper Vincec
11. Team Austria, Christian Binder
[flashvideo filename=video/rc44/RC4409_Portorose_day2.flv /]
Video courtesy RC44.
PAUL CAYARD AND HIS NEW TEAM KATUSHA WIN THE BANK SARASIN RC44 PORTROZ CUP MATCH RACE
[RC44 Championship Tour] Paul Cayard and his new team Katusha surprised everyone – and himself – in the Bank Sarasin RC44 Portoroz Cup match race series, dominating the event and winning the best of three final against Karol Jablonski’s Organika. Katusha is the latest RC44 (number 22), just out of the Pauger boatyard. The team is also brand new and had never sailed together under Cayard’s leadership. No Way Back (Ray Davies & Pieter Heerema) finishes third ahead of Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (Jose Maria Ponce), Artemis (Dean Barker) and Team Aqua (Cameron Appleton).
The day started with a “dead or alive” match between the local team Modri Gaj and Team Austria. At the helm of Modri Gaj, Gasper Vincec managed to close the door at the start, kicking the Austrians out and taking control of the race to win it.
The other semi-finals saw today’s most spectacular matches, including an aggressive fight between Dean Barker’s Artemis and Sébastien Col’s Ceeref. Both teams arrived together at the top mark and engaged in an endless dial up. Stuck on windward, Seb Col tried to regain control of the situation by jibing the top mark. Both teams soon after arrived together – but on opposite tacks – by the arrival line. They luffed each other until they faced the wind, their spinnakers flapping in the wind and twisting around the headstays. Artemis got a penalty and actually benefited from it, pursuing its turn, untangling its spinnaker and crossing the line a few meters ahead of a very disappointed team Ceeref.
Five groups of two teams came out of the semi-finals, with Katusha and Organika on top, followed by Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and No Way Back.
Both Katusha and No Way Back managed to win their first match but then lost the second, hence maintaining the suspense. Cayard and Jablonski started the decisive race on split tacks, with Cayard going to the right and Jablonski forced to the left of the course. The first crossing confirmed that Cayard’s choice was the right one: Katusha was comfortably leading the race and sailed to victory without being threatened.
No Way Back also had a fairly comfortable last race against the Spaniards, controlling the entire race to grab the third place of the podium.
The fleet regatta starts tomorrow. It promises to be intense: the teams that were usually in the middle of the pack are now at the top whilst the newcomers have proved how good they are. As for the favourites of the event, who haven’t obtained the results that they wanted in the match race, they know what to do in the coming days…
Match-race, final results:
1. Team Katusha, Paul Cayard
2. Organika, Karol Jablonski
3. No Way Back, Davies-Heerema
4. Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, José Maria Ponce
5. Artemis, Dean Barker
6. Team Aqua, Cameron Appleton
7. Ceeref, Sébastien Col
8. BMW Oracle Racing, Russell Coutts
9. Team Sea Dubai, Markus Wieser
10. Modri Gaj, Gasper Vincec
11. Team Austria, Christian Binder
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