NYYC Invitational Cup - Argentina sparkles, while Canada leads

by Louay Habib on 14 Sep 2013 2013 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup presented by Rolex - Racing today took place on the wide-open water of Rhode Island Sound and there were some surprising results. The breeze on Day four may not have given a full on foam up, but there was some red-hot racing on the fourth day of the regatta.

With two races remaining, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and Larchmont (N.Y.) YC look set for a final showdown on Saturday. But the star performer of the Day 4 was the Yacht Club Argentino, which scored three podium finishes today, including a bullet in the last race, propelling the team into the top 10. Royal Thames Yacht Club scored consistently to consolidate third position. With an impressive comeback in Race 10, the Canadian squad has opened up a six-point lead over Larchmont YC for the title, which will be decided tomorrow.

The Yacht Club Argentino [in photo above] is the oldest yacht club in Latin America and is lead by Soling sailor Paulo Cosentino.

'Today we really enjoyed the race area because it is very similar to our home sailing grounds near Buenos Aires in Argentina,' said Cosentino. 'We also invested in a very good weather forecast and although all the signs were to go to the right of the course to hook into the potential lift, the forecast had said that the left would pay and we trusted it. We felt far more confident today and that really helped a lot and once we could see how well we were doing, the confidence just grew and grew. We made a few mistakes in the first two races of the day but we sailed very well in the last race and to finish with a win was just fantastic, we are absolutely delighted.'

Larchmont YC started the day well scoring a second and a first, but a 14th in the last race has put the team from New York six points behind Royal Canadian.

'We started at the pin because that was where the Canadians were,' said Larchmont YC skipper Danny Pletsch of the second race of the day. 'They started to engage us yesterday because it looks like the winner is between the two of us. They started to come at us yesterday, so we kind of returned that today.

'We started to windward of them, but they bailed out early and because we had reached over the top we actually lost our lane, We tacked onto Port and found a hole to get across in the middle. The Canadians got rolled out, but it didn't hurt them too much, so we tacked on them again and we went boat-for-boat around the top mark, it's hard to put points on them, they are fast real fast.

'We got stuck behind Yacht Club Argentino at the first top mark, when they had a bad hoist, so we jibed off. To avoid soaking really low and getting rolled by the Canadians, we sent it really high. We could sail in our own mode and we got into clear air and it worked out for us.

'It is great to finally win one because we have been second four times and in all those races, we were leading at one point.

'We hurt ourselves in our last race, giving up seven points and we definitely need to beat those guys tomorrow and put some points on them. They are the fastest boat in the fleet, but we will see how it goes.'

For more information on the 2013 Invitational Cup presented by Rolex click here.