After two races contested in a light, streaky offshore breeze peaking at 12 knots, the Thai flagged Vayu, led by the Whitcraft family, emerged as the early leaders of the Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup.
With Don Whitcraft steering and Mallorca’s Manu Weiller calling tactics, Vayu came from behind in both races, notably in the first when they had to restart after jumping the start gun, eventually finishing second behind Provezza. Their performance in the second race was less dramatic but they climbed through the fleet to secure a third place finish.
Vayu leads by three points over Ergin Imre’s Provezza, which shares an eight-point aggregate with Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon Aviation. Following the first day of racing, this marks the second time this season that Vayu has taken the lead after the opening races.
Tactician Weiller expressed caution, stating, “We have been here before and we know it is a long week. We just take the low points today and hope they are not too high at the end of the week. I think we all saw what was going on with the breeze; sometimes we were better positioned to take advantage. Every now and then we were a bit lucky.”
Weiller elaborated on their early challenges, saying, “We had a problem with the jib and couldn’t hoist it until there were two minutes to go. We were a long way from the line and could only try to get clear first on the pin, but it didn’t quite work out. However, coming from behind, we managed to catch a good left-hand shift. The silver lining of a poor start is that you can sail freely and catch the wind shifts until you’re level with the others again.”
The light offshore breeze sharply contrasts last month’s regatta at Marina Rubicon, where winds averaged over 20 knots daily. Conditions are expected to vary, with light to moderate pressure forecasted for Wednesday before a return to strong tradewinds by Friday.
Provezza executed their race plan flawlessly, building an early lead from their start near the left-hand end of the line. Navigator Nacho Postigo had noted a left-favoured track, leading them at every mark to win their first race since Puerto Portals.
Shawn and Tina Kang’s Alpha Plus made strategic moves, notably splitting to the left of the first downwind leg, which secured their victory in Race 2.
Platoon Aviation managed to claw back six points on circuit leaders Sled, who struggled in the closing stages of Race 2, ultimately finishing tenth after a fourth-place finish in the first race.
Müller-Spreer commented, “It was a really tricky place to sail today. It is like a Bavarian lake wind coming from all directions, but we had a good result with a sixth and a second, catching up six points to Sled.”
France’s Teasing Machine broke a D2 shroud before the start and missed both races but is expected to return to competition tomorrow.
Racing is scheduled to resume on Wednesday at 1330hrs local time.
Current standings after two races:
1. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 2+3 = 5
2. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 1+7 = 8
3. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 6+2 = 8
4. Crioula (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 7+4 = 11
5. Alpha + (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 11+1 = 12
6. No Way Back (NED), Pieter Heerema, 8+5 = 13
7. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 5+8 = 13
8. Sled, Takashi Okura, 4+10 = 14
9. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 3+12 = 15
10. Trinity Racing (SWE), Joakim Sundberg, 10+6 = 16
11. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 9+11 = 20
12. Alkedo Cetilar (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 12+9 = 21
13. Teasing Machine (FRA), Eric de Turckheim, 14(DNS)+14(DNS) = 28.
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