Victoire Russe et seconde place pour le "Team PhP"

Dernière régate de l’année 2009 à Lanzarote (Canary Island).
Nous avions vraiment à cœur de finir la saison de match racing en beauté. Nous n’avons concédé que 2 défaites sur ce round robin, battant notamment Paolo Cian sur le dernier match. Malheureusement la compétition fût marquée par le manque de vent des premiers jours amputant le classement final des finales.
Nous sommes resté au résultat du Round Robin avec une égalité à 3 entre Cian (Ita), Neugo (Rus) et notre Team. Au petit jeu des égalités nous nous retrouvons 2nd.
Bravo à toute l’équipe Christian Ponthieu à la tactique Julien Falxa aux réglages et Olivier Cardin à l’avant.

Fini 2009 vive 2010 !

Puerto Calero (Lanzarote).- Today the V Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race came to a close in Lanzarote with a nail-biting final that didn’t produce a winner until the very last match of the Round Robin. The Russian Eugeny Nevgodnikov was announced winner despite his two other competitors having also won 9 matches. His victory was decided based on having beaten both the French and Italian sailors in their respective matches.

The last day of the V Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race proved to be marathon due to having lost two days due to no wind and with nine flights still to complete.

Spaniard Manu Weiller and Italian Paolo Cian sailed out with an unblemished record but both suffered during the day with Weiller losing against Paolo Cian and Rayco Tabares, which almost threw him out of a chance at a podium finish: whilst Cian lost to Nevgodnikov and Presti, with this key match against the Frenchman making all the difference to his final positioning.

Finally Manu Weiller was left to watch the three winners take their trophies. After having achieved such good results over the first three days, he lost his hold during this last day and with 8 wins, took fourth place. In the meantime, last year’s winner, the Frenchman Pierre Antoine Morvan placed fifth with 7 wins to his name. Alvaro Marinho from Portugal took sixth place with an irregular performance throughout.

Further on found a group tying with 4 wins, with the Slovenian Jude Orel, Spaniard José María Ponce and Michelle Perris from Monaco; but the Slovenian claimed seventh place having beaten the others, with Ponce and Perris slotting in respectively underneath.

At the lower end of the table, the Italian Simone Ferrarese came in tenth place, the Spaniard Rayco Tabares, for whom this was the first foray into top level match-racing came away having won two of his races and claimed eleventh place with Axel Rodger from Argentina closing with one win.

The wind finally returned to end the V Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race in style, blowing between 15 & 20 knots.

FINAL RESULTS

1 Eugeny Nevgodnikov, 9 wins

2 Philippe Presti (FRA), 9 wins

3 Paolo Cian (ITA), 9 wins

4 Manu Weiller (ESP), 8 wins

5 Pierre Antoine Morvan (FRA), 7 wins

6 Alvaro Marinho (POR), 6 wins

7 Jude Orel (SLO), 4 wins

8 José María Ponce (ESP), 4 wins

9 Michelle Perris (MON), 4 wins

10 Simone Ferrarese (ITA), 3 wins

11 Rayco Tabares (ESP), 2 wins

12 Axel Rodger (ESP), 1 win

Weiller, Presti & Morvan undefeated in the start of the TROFEO PUERTO CALERO Match Race

Winds were light but made room for two flights

Cian & Orel still to raceIn the third flight

Ponce beat Tabares after three penalties

Puerto Calero (Lanzarote).- The wind finally returned to Lanzarote and despite being light and shifty allowed for the start of the Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race after Thursday’s quiet day. Of the 17 flights in the programme, two went ahead with the Round Robin set to be completed during the weekend.

In this second day of the Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race the favourites were out giving a demonstration of their prowess, amongst them Manu Weiller from Mallorca and the French sailors Phillipe Presti and Pierre Antoine Morvan all deserving their rankings by winning both their races.

Originally a race between Paolo Cian and local champion Rayco Tabares had been set to take place but a problem with the boats meant that the first pair up was Pierre Antoine Morvan and Portuguese Alvaro Marinho.

The Frenchman took charge early in his race and from the start took the lead from the Portuguese, finally winning with ease. The same happened to the Italian Simone Ferrarese who beat the Russian Evgeny Nevgodnikov by a wide margin. This flight also saw the debut of two of the three Spaniards with a duel between the finest Spanish match racers Manu Weiller and José María Ponce with the former first from the start and not giving any quarter to his countryman. The fourth battle took place between Presti and the Argentinian Axel Rodger with their respective rankings Presti (7 th) and Rodger (400 th) making themselves clear.

Presti and Ponce opened the next flight, already rivals this year in the GP42 class, the former in Madrid and the latter with Islas Canarias Puerto Calero although on this occasion it was the Frenchman who saw victory. The other was between the Spaniards where Weiller beat Rodger. The most exciting race however featured Simone Ferrarese against Pierre Antoine Morvan; a well-matched pair with two penalties each meaning that they were visibly fighting for a win right up until the very end where Morvan pipped his rival to the post. The fourth race in this flight was between Michelle Perris from Monaco who has on board world number 1 Adam Minoprio, and Alvaro Marinho. Perris won the race and his first point.

Conditions allowed for the third flight to begin where José María Ponce scored against beginner Rayco Tabares after the latter was awarded three penalties disqualifying the Lanzarote contestant. The second match with Manu Weiller against Philippe Presti, had to be suspended due to lightening winds and an increase in shift.

Paolo Cian and Jude Orel ended the day without be able to race.

The wind blew gently between 3 and 8 knots, shifting frequently between 80-150º, accompanied by a strong current.

Tomorrow is set for continuing the Round Robin with the semi-finals and final on Sunday.

Round Robin

Flight 1

Morvan 1-Marinho 0

Ferrarese 1-Nevgodnikov 0

Ponce 0-Weiller 1

Presti 1-Rodger 0

Flight 2

Presti 1-Ponce 0

Rodger 0-Weiller 1

Ferrarese 0-Morvan 1

Perris 1-Marinho 0

Flight 3

Tabares 0-Ponce 1

Results after 2 flights

1 Manu Weiller (ESP), 2 wins / 2 races

Philippe Presti (FRA), 2 wins /2 races

Pierre Antoine Morvan (FRA), 2 wins /2 races

4 Michelle Perris (MON), 1 win /1 race

5 Simone Ferrarese (ITA), 1 win /2 races

6 José María Ponce (ESP), 1 win / 3 races

7 Rayco Tabares (ESP), 0 wins /1 race

Eugeny Nevgodnikov (RUS), 0 wins /1 race

9 Axel Rodger (ARG), 0 wins /2 races

V Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race

Race training has taken place today.

The welcome ceremony took place last night. Manuel Acosta on behalf of Promotur congratulated the competitors and he invited them to enjoy the exceptional sailing conditions in the Canary Islands. The weather forecast does not predict much wind for the first day.

The V Trofeo Puerto Calero Match Race has officially started after the welcome ceremony celebration and the skippers meeting.

These ceremonies took place in the Salón de Estribor in Amura Restaurant and 12 skippers and their respective crew took part in these ceremonies.

José Juan Calero as host of the event and on behalf of Puerto Calero said some kind words to those present and he thanked Adan Minoprio for coming to Puerto Calero Match Race, as the number one of the international ranking and the recent winner of the Match Race World Championship. Also he encouraged the competitors to visit the Pitstop, a new area where the competitors will have a rest each day after the races, as well as to read the newspaper, netsurf and above all enjoy breakfast each morning.

Also present were Manuel Acosta, on behalf of Promotur del Gobierno de Canarias, who gave the teams a gift, Manuel Torres of the Real Federación Española de Vela and Luís Jordán of the Federación Canaria de Vela.

Although the weather forecast is not very attractive for these days, it is hoped that the wind will blow to create good conditions for racing, since this is the first ISAF grade 1 event to take place in the Canary Islands.

Azzurra vainqueur du premier Louis Vuitton Trophy

Dimanche, en finale du Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice-Côte d’Azur, l’équipe italienne de Francesco Bruni a vaincu celle d’Emirates Team New Zealand sur le score sans appel de 2-0. Dans le petit temps de la baie des Anges, la squadra Azzurra était visiblement imbattable…

A la cérémonie de remise des prix, les Italiens, encore euphoriques de leur exploit, ont reçu la coupe de ce premier Louis Vuitton Trophy des mains d’Yves Carcelle, président de Louis Vuitton, et en présence des candidates à la toute prochaine élection de Miss France 2010.

Ils ont quitté le port dès 7h00 du matin, de nuit, dans une ambiance inhabituelle et un peu surréaliste pour des marins qui régatent à la journée entre trois bouées ! Côté kiwi, un équipage concentré et silencieux. Une machine froide d’efficacité quitte le ponton. Côté italien, ça rigole et parle fort. Une décontraction presque déconcertante. Mais sur l’eau, associée au talent, l’exubérance italienne a grippé les rouages de la machine kiwi.

Deux matchs, deux victoires.
Francesco Bruni et sa squadra ont franchi toutes les bouées en tête. Parfois même de façon acrobatique, comme cette dernière marque de la seconde rencontre. Dans la manœuvre autour de la bouée, l’équipier d’avant Pietro Mantovani tombe à l’eau, et ressurgit à bord 15 mètres plus loin, repêché par les gros bras du wincheur Piero Romeo ! Passionnés et démonstratifs, les Italiens n’attendent même pas le passage de la ligne pour sauter de joie et se féliciter… Ils viennent de réaliser l’exploit de battre les redoutables Kiwis.

« C’est une sensation incroyable, s’est réjoui à son retour à terre Francesco Bruni, le barreur. Je ne trouve pas les mots pour décrire ce que je ressens. On savait qu’on pouvait bien faire. Nous nous étions bien entraînés. Mais nous n’aurions jamais imaginé battre Team New Zealand 2-0 en final ! Nous étions très détendus avant le départ, je pense que c’est une des clés de notre victoire. Le fait d’être une équipe 100% italienne est également une motivation supplémentaire pour nous. »

En face, la déception est à la hauteur de la déconvenue. « Je pense que nous avons bien navigué aujourd’hui, mais Azzurra était clairement meilleur que nous, a reconnu Dean Barker. Ils ont tout bien fait. Ils ont très, très bien navigué. C’est dur de terminer une année couronnée de succès sur ces deux défaites en finale. Mais cela nous motive à progresser pour le prochain événement. »

Le prochain événement se déroulera justement chez les Kiwis, à Auckland en mars, avant de faire escale au mois de mai en Sardaigne, dans les eaux italiennes du mythique Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, le club d’Azzurra. Un programme qui s’annonce déjà alléchant…

Résultats du jour
Azzurra bat Emirates Team New Zealand par 25’’
Azzurra bat Emirates Team New Zealand par 17’’

Classement final du Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice-Côte d’Azur
1) Azzurra
2) Emirates Team New Zealand
3) Synergy Russian Sailing Team
4) Team Origin
5) All4One
6) BMW Oracle Racing
7) Artemis
8) TFS-PagesJaunes

http://www.adonnante.com