RC44 Oman Cup - Russian supremacy

by Jo Grindley on 1 Feb 2013 RC44 Oman Cup. Katusha (RUS) were on fire and dominated the day, winning the first two races in the fleet racing and finishing third in the final race to take the overall lead.

Chris Bake’s Team Aqua (GBR) was hot on Katusha’s tail, finishing second in both the opening two races and sixth in the third. But a collision in the final race resulted in a dramatic end, seeing the American team’s scoop rip away from the hull. A protest was lodged by Ironbound’s new tactician Paul Goodison and after much debate in the protest room, Team Aqua were disqualified from race three and given three additional penalty points, dropping them from second to sixth overall. Ironbound was awarded redress leaving them third in the overnight standings.

Sitting in second place overall after Aqua’s disqualification is Brian Benjamin’s Aegir Racing. The team from England and are clearly enjoying their guest tactician, Russell Coutts, valuable input this week.