For day two of the 44Cup Porto Cervo, organised between the RC44 class and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Sardinia served up very different conditions to Thursday. The wind was northeasterly ranging from 11-16 knots but the sea state was larger than it should have been for that wind strength. This made life challenging on the beats but exhilarating on the downwinds.
Three races were held today and in the conditions good helming and crew work were at a premium. Only one team seemed to have the measure of this: Vladimir Prosikhin’s 2024 44Cup-winning Team Nika posted podium finishes culminating in a come-from-behind victory in today’s third race. In this she held the lead, then lost it on the final run to Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing, but recovering it again in the race’s last gasp. Team Nika now leads the 44Cup Porto Cervo, on 14 points ahead of Torbjörn Törnqvist’s second-placed Artemis Racing on 20 with Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team a worthy third.
The Swiss team led for most of today’s first race, the finish of which was ‘classic 44Cup’. While Black Star held a small lead going on to the last run, Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing and his son Markus’ GeMera gybed early and found gold out to the right. Coming back on starboard with rights, they converged with the leaders, Artemis Racing first home but with Team Nika, Nico Poons’ Team Charisma and GeMera all crossing within four seconds, the top eight finishing within 16 seconds – after 44 minutes of racing.
“It felt like you were going to crash on the finishing line,” Torbjörn Törnqvist admitted. “We have had a couple of training days, which helped. And the boat’s going well – well set up, well prepared. And the crew work is also where it should be right now. Obviously, you need a bit of luck as well. But that race was so close…”
The most significant part of this event for Torbjörn Törnqvist is it being the first time racing against his son Markus, whom for many years has crewed on board Artemis Racing. “Obviously, I’m very happy that he’s here. And clearly, I’d like him to do well. I must say I’m impressed with the way he’s approaching it. I want to do well against him, but also I want him to do well against me. When we’re racing, he’s just one of the field.”
Markus, working with tactician Francesco Bruni, has been sailing with maturity and, far from being a back marker this week, his GeMera is currently lying sixth, just five points shy of the podium. While this is not Markus’ first 44Cup event, it is his first steering: “It’s definitely fun to be out there, amongst everyone. There are more things to make sure we do well – that we have the right lane, upwind speed, etc. Francesco is a very competitive guy, but I think we have a good chemistry. It’s unavoidable to make a few mistakes here and there. But we’re on the right track to do well in this regatta.”
In today’s second race GeMera and Black Star Sailing Team initially looked strong as they forged out to the right, but ultimately it was Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF Vaider that was first to the top mark, then proving unassailable. “We executed a good pin end start and were able to lead around all the marks,” commented tactician Adrian Stead. “It was quite a lumpy northeasterly day which made it pretty tricky to sail both upwind and downwind with the big, short waves. But we had a reasonable day.”
Aside from Team Nika and Artemis Racing, John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing also performed well posting a 5-2-3 making the Gibraltar team joint second placed scorers for the day. “Conditions were better today with some waves and some breeze,” commented tactician Vasco Vascotto. “We had three good starts and were able to play the long oscillation of the breeze. I think that the crew did a nice job and John drove the boat very well. We are not super excited today, but at least we’re going in the right direction. This class is just amazing – it gets better and better and all the crews are getting better and better. The owners now are driving the boat more than some professional sailors.”
Tomorrow conditions are expected to revert to being light and from the east. Racing will resume at 1200.
Follow live at www.44cup.org
44CUP PORTO CERVO RESULTS:
Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 PP TOTAL1 Team Nika (MON10) 4 3 3 3 1 14
2 Artemis Racing (SWE44) 2 8 1 5 4 20
3 Black Star Sailing Team (SUI27) 1 7 6 4 5 23
4 Team Ceeref Vaider (SLO11) 9 2 8 1 7 27
5 Peninsula Racing (GBR18) 8 9 5 2 3 27
6 GeMera (SWE30) 5 4 4 9 6 28
7 Aleph Racing (FRA17) 6 1 10 10 2 29
8 Team Aqua (GBR2041) 3 5 7 7 8 30
9 Team Charisma (MON69) 7 6 2 8 9 32
10 Lanzarote Calero Sailing (ESP1) 10 11 9 6 10 46
11 Wow! Sailing Team (TUR4425) 11 10 11 11 11 54
Photo Credit: Nico Martinez
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About the 44Cup:
Five-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts conceived the design of the light-displacement, high-performance one-design RC44 with naval architect Andrej Justin in 2005. Created for top level one design racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules, the concept and design features of the RC44 are aimed at the amateur helmsmen with professional crews.
