RC44 Championship Tour heads to Sweden

by RC44 Class Association on 24 Jun 2013 The RC44 heavy weights Team Aqua fleet has returned for the third consecutive year to the sailing mecca of Marstrand, Sweden for round three of the 2013 RC44 Championship Tour,after a tantalizingly close finish to the RC44 Trapani Cup last month. The fleet of 11 teams will be joined by the Bronenosec Sailing Team owned by Russian Vladimir Liubomirov ready for the first day of racing on Tuesday 25th May.

The Championship is still wide open after racing went down to the wire, in the final metres, of the final race, of the RC44 Trapani Cup, Sicily back in May. RC44 heavy weights Team Aqua eventually snatched the lead from Slovenian Team CEEREF to secure the event win and their place at the top of the overall fleet racing leaderboard.

Team Aqua’s tactician Cameron Appleton explained, 'The class is in a fantastic place right now, its some of the best sailing on offer in an international circuit. The last event in Trapani was really tough, we were victorious in the end but we really had to fight for it, it was close racing all week and for us it all finally came together in the last race when it really counted. The skill level in the fleet is really deep, we’ve seen the new teams put in some really good events.'

After dominating the start of the season Russian team Katusha slip from the top of the fleet racing leaderboard going into the Sweden Cup, pushed aside by Team Aqua with just one point separating first and second place. However with tactician Andy Horton (USA) calling the shots, Katusha still holds a strong three-point lead at the top of the match racing leaderboard with Team Aqua in second and match racing experts, Aleph Racing in third.

Racing on home waters will be Torbjorn Tornqvist, Artemis Racing, who are currently sitting in third place in the fleet race ranking. Tornqvist will be joined by tactician Morgan Larson and will be looking for a win in Sweden to be in with a shot of this years championship title having finished on the podium for the past four seasons.

It is the third year the class has been hosted in Marstrand, Sweden. Attracted by the reliable and regularly strong afternoon sea breeze with open sea to the west, the sailors should be greeted with some great sailing conditions along with a large audience of mid summer holiday makers watching from Marstrand Island.

Not competing in the RC44 Sweden Cup due to prior commitments are RC44 Team CEEREF and MAG Racing who will be back for the fourth event of the Tour in Cascais, Portugal.

Follow the racing live with tracking and the live blog here from 25th -29th June.