Positions on the leaderboard at the 44 Cup World Championship in Scheveningen are ebbing and flowing much like the tide off The Hague. Unlike yesterday, today there was no torrential downpour or squall that caused multiple wipe-outs and man overboards. Instead, the penultimate day’s racing was held in 13 knots building to 20 from the more civilised southwest. Despite this, it was a high-scoring day for everyone.
Going into today, the two Swedish teams were leading: Marcus Törnqvist’s GeMera just a point ahead of his father Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing. In today’s first race, Artemis Racing won the pin, surged ahead out to the left and, when she tacked onto port, successfully crossed the fleet. She led from there, with GeMera second, evening the score with her, and Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika third.
“I think we’re locking in, we’re moding well, and we’re getting our pre-start routine together,” commented Sarah Gundersen, Artemis Racing’s Team Manager, helming the boat today in place of Torbjörn Törnqvist. “It’s shifty, it’s wavy, it’s tricky to steer, but the guys are really getting the boat working well around the course. There were some big waves out there. It was not too bad, but it was definitely challenging at times. The downwinds were fun.”
In today’s second race, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua started at the boat end, immediately tacking off. Initially, this tactic seemed to be paying, but once the port tack outsiders flipped back onto starboard, they were crossed by those that had gone right later out of the start. Leading this group were Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika and Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref Vaider, who managed to get the inside berth going into the top mark while pulling out a small lead over Nico Poons’ third-placed Team Charisma. Team Nika had a terrible downwind, as tactician Nic Asher later explained: “We got a little out of rhythm and then, unfortunately, we got pinned by the third boat and then were overlaid. It just snowballed from there…” Team Nika ended up ninth, leaving Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing and Team Charisma in contention. Despite some close calls on the next upwind, Team Ceeref Vaider clung on to win comfortably from Aleph Racing and Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team.
Team Nika bounced back for the third race, which was held in magnificent conditions with the sun finally out and wind peaking at 20 knots. Again, the right looked good early on, but eventually when Team Nika returned from the left, her nose was in front, rounding the top mark ahead of Black Star Sailing Team and Charisma, extending on the next three legs. “It all came together,” explained Asher. “We had really good speed upwind and there wasn’t a lot happening. So we got off the start line and a few boats were over which helped (Team Ceeref Vaider, Team Aqua and GeMera). Then we never looked back.”
“Today it was really tricky to keep the boat going with the waves and the current. Downwind was really hard as well, with the rhythm of the waves.”
At the end of the day, Team Ceeref Vaider was the top-scoring boat with a 5-1-5, which was enough to propel them to the top of the leaderboard, leading GeMera by just a point, with Team Nika just another point behind in third.
An experienced RC44 campaigner, Team Ceeref Vaider’s Igor Lah was not reading much into his lead. “It’s a nice feeling, but we have one more day, so of course everything is still open. Today we were just fighting for each point, and if we were behind, we tried to pass some other guys. Everything worked well. It’s evening out and there are four boats quite close still.”
In terms of today’s points, Aleph Racing’s 6-2-4 was only one more than Team Ceeref Vaider. “This one is super exciting – I love the racing, it’s very interesting,” commented Hugues Lepic. “The course is not one way. There’s lots of shifts, current and obviously a great fleet. So it’s been very exciting and I’m really enjoying it.”
The white-hulled Lanzarote Calero Sailing was showing moments of promise today, often in the front half of the fleet at the top mark, second even in today’s first race. However, they have been unable to hold on to this for the rest of the races. “In general, we are happy. The results are not there yet, but I’m sure if we continue working as we are, they’ll come,” commented Daniel Calero. “We are in the fight with the rest of the teams, which is something for us. Our motivation level is very high because we want to improve in each event. This time it’s a world championship, but we are not yet seeing the results.”
Going into the final day, there are already many ‘what ifs’. For example, if Team Nika hadn’t lost seven places in the second race today, she would now be leading by five points. But each boat has a similar story, the race that got away. “Losing seven points in this fleet is very costly. But everyone’s having their moment,” concluded Asher.
Tomorrow racing will again begin an hour ahead of schedule, at 1100.
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Photo credit MartinezStudio.es
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.
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