Palma de Mallorca, July, 29th 2008.It was a very intense fight what the Mallorcan waters hosted on the opening day of the QUEBRAMAR GP42 Cup fourth event: the Copa del Rey AUDI MAPFRE. Three races in fresh wind, quite choppy sea, some red flags flying and, most of all, a struggle to the last tack/gybe for the provisional leadership, undoubtedly boosting the morale of any crew racing in such a competitive class.
The first race, sailed on race course Bravo (as defined by the official sailing instructions the race areas rotate every day) started some minutes later than foreseen in order to let the local seabreeze, known as “Garbì” settle. Actually during the first two legs the wind was quite shifty, forcing the Committee to make some adjustments to the course.
For this reason the situation on the sailing area witnessed many changes to the provisional scoreboard, except for the Italian team on Airis, skippered by Sandro Montefusco, who showed a very clean strategy and were able to stay in the top group for the whole duration and closing first, distancing Desafio, helmed by Laureano Wizner, by only a mere two seconds. Third was Javier Goizueta’s Caser Quum with Andalusian helmsman Sergio Llorca. Fourth crossed the Italians of Roma GP42.2, led by match-racing ace Paolo Cian and Sèbastien Col calling tactics, followed by the young team from the Canary Islands, Canarias Puerto Calero, who despite an excellent start were forced to make a penalty for touching the second top mark. In sixth closed Near Miss, with America’s Cup icons Bertrand Pacè and Tom Schnackenberg, and seventh was Jose Maria Van der Ploeg’s Madrid.
The starting signal for the second race was fired by the Race Committee just after 14.40, on the usual 2 miles long windward/leeward course, and a good breeze that topped 18/20 knots. It was here that the Swiss Near Miss took its revenge, feeling at ease in stronger breeze and leading for the whole race, thus getting its first win at the Copa del Rey. Trying to fight back were Canarias Puerto Calero, Desafio, Roma GP42.2. Unfortunately provisional scoreboard leader Airis touched a mark and had to make a penalty turn, leaving hopes of a second daily win. According to the spectators on the water the last downwind leg was extremely exciting with three intense gybing duels between Desafio and Canarias, Madrid and Roma GP42.2, Caser Quum and Airis respectively, who crossed the finish line in this order.
Thanks to the wind still blowing well over 18 knots the Committee members decided to give a third start, the signal fired a few minutes after 16 hours. Again Farr designed Near Miss showed all its potential in fresh wind, leading from the start and close battling with its rivals onboard Italian Umberto Felci’s design Airis and Roma GP42.2 to play the third main actor up to the first windward mark where the Italians had a problem hoisting the spinnaker. The positions then stayed unchanged until the finish with the Swiss taking their second win in a row, the two Italian teams, followed by Spanish Madrid and Desafio, who had to leave the provisional leadership of the event. Last were Canarias Puerto Calero and Caser Quum.
Provisional results after 3 races – Protests pending:
Boat Country Points
1. Near Miss – Switzerland – 8 points
2. Desafio – Spain – 9 points
3. Airis – Italy – 10 points
4. Roma GP42.2 – Italy – 12 points
5. Canarias Puerto Calero – Spain – 14 points
6. Madird – Spain – 15 points
7. Caser Quum – Spain – 16 points
