Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour: Cowes Cup - Day 3
by Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour 26 Jun 2015 14:44 PDT
24-27 June 2015
Westerly breeze pumping in at 20 knots and a lively sea on the Western Solent brought racing alive for the final day of competition at the Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour's Cowes Cup.
In the conditions, the five GC32s were able to foil not only on the downwind legs, but occasionally upwind too. Blasting off down the reaching leg after the starts and on to the runs, boat speeds on the one design flying machines at times reached the high 30s.
Most teams had hair-raising moments, the boats either launching or burying if they unintentionally came off their foils. However the Martin Fischer-designed catamarans looked after their crews and, despite the lively conditions, there were no un-toward incidents.
While the racing was close over the first two days of competition, today ARMIN STROM Sailing Team was the form boat. Swiss Olympic Star sailor Flavio Marazzi and his crew relished the big conditions, winning four of today's five races, causing ARMIN STROM Sailing Team to win the Bullitt GC32 Cowes Cup by nine points.
"It was very nice - much more fun than sailing in under five knots!" observed Marazzi, who has also won windy GC32 regattas in Marseille and Key West.
In his role as GC32 Class President, Marazzi was pleased with the Cowes Cup, the second stage of the inaugural Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour. "The owners had fun on the water in perfect conditions and the hospitality boat was always full of guests." The event was the first time corporate guests in the UK, including those from the GC32 circuit's Reading-based sponsor Bullitt Group, were able to experience first hand what it is like to race on a state of the art catamaran, similar to those used in the America's Cup, that foil and can sail at nearly 40 knots.
Sultanate of Oman relinquished its grip on the regatta's lead today partly due to skipper Leigh McMillan breaking his hand in yesterday's final race. Taking his place today was another two time Extreme Sailing Series winner, Paul Campbell-James, currently with the Ben Ainslie Racing America's Cup challenge.
'C-J' approached the GC32 as if it were an AC45 and attempted to sail the smaller one design foiling catamaran in the big conditions without a gennaker. "It was a bit frustrating for us," admitted mainsheet trimmer Peter Greenhalgh. "To make that work you had to go really quick, which is fairly brutal on the crew...and it is not as stable without the kite." Sultanate of Oman at one point hit 36 knots.
For the third race the gennaker was being used again, but it wasn't properly set up and in the third race Sultanate of Oman had been comfortably leading when, as Greenhalgh put it, they were "annihilated' after they furled the large downwind sail prematurely, dropping them to fourth. By the last race, they had lost touch with ARMIN STROM Sailing Team and a problem with a winch forced them to retire.
Going into the final race all that was left to be decided was the final spot on the podium with Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi and Seb Rogues' ENGIE tied on points. Ultimately the two time America's Cup winner prevailed, Bertarelli stepping ashore still pumped from a vigorous day on the water.
Nonetheless Rogues was pleased with his team's performance. "It was really good fun. The conditions were strong and it was the first time for me to do a race in that sort of wind. I was happy because we didn't capsize!" The Frenchman only transferring to the GC32 class from the shorthanded offshore Class40 monohull in September and he still considers himself a multihull newbie. "These aren't cruising catamarans - it is a crazy horse!" he declared of the GC32s.
Conditions took their toll on ENGIE today with some minor breakages such as the outhaul on the mainsail that caused them to be slow out of the start on one race. "And when something like that happens in this class – you lose! But I am happy because the team progressed well and quickly," Rogues concluded.
As the GC32's class 'offshore' specialist, Rogues is looking forward to tomorrow's JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race in which the GC32s will be racing alongside almost 1600 other yachts. He has sailed near the Isle of Wight in Class40 events, but never around it. "We would like to do it because it is an amazing race, but first we have to be careful with the boat. Next month is Kiel and we don't want to break the boat before then: Championship first – fun afterwards!"
In theory the GC32s are more than capable of sailing faster than the 17.41 knot average for the record Ben Ainslie Racing set in the 2013 Round the Island Race with time of 2 hour 52 minutes and 15 seconds, but they will be up against two trimarans, one French, one English, both around twice the GC32's size. As Rogues puts it – it will be a fascinating clash of the titans.
Overall Results: (not including RTI Race)
| Pos | Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | Tot |
|---|
| 1 | Armin Strom Sailing Team | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 35 |
| 2 | Sultanate of Oman | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | DNS | 44 |
| 3 | Alinghi | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 49 |
| 4 | Team ENGIE | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 50 |
| 5 | Team Argo 32 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 78 |
Update from Oman Sail
The injury to skipper Leigh McMillan during Thursday's last race turned out to be more serious than first thought and he was ruled out of the remaining races in Cowes with a broken hand.
Paul Campbell-James, who skippered Oman Sail's The Wave, Muscat to victory in the 2010 Extreme Sailing Series, stepped in to replace McMillan as Sultanate of Oman helmsman both today and for the JP Morgan Round the Island Race on Saturday.
Campbell-James is no stranger to foiling on a GC32 and over the past few weeks has been training in the Solent on an AC45 as a member of Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team.
The crew had an 'up and down' day with a superb win in the second race and a further podium place in the mix. A broken winch ruled them out of the last race, but they were happy to have secured second overall, runners up to Cowes Cup winners Armin Strom.
"It was a really fun day," said Campbell-James, who was accompanied by regular crewmembers Pete Greenhalgh, Nasser Al Mashari, Ed Smyth and Alister Richardson.
"This was my first time racing GC32s in a decent breeze and obviously my first time racing the boat with these guys. We got a penalty in the first race, won the second and made a mistake in the third but we were always in there fighting and finished second so were pretty pleased with that. Smiles all round."
"We are getting there and hopefully we can get a jump on everyone tomorrow when we go round the Isle of Wight."
Sultanate of Oman's performances over the first two days safeguarded their position as 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour leaders with a three point lead over Armin Strom and according to trimmer Pete Greenhalgh, their steady improvement was the most exciting aspect of their Cowes Cup participation.
"These boats are serious bits of kit and we are still beginners, finding our way around the boat in the different conditions," he said.
"Today, we had around 15 knots of breeze and saw 36 knots of speed but most of the day, we were doing more than 30 which was a lot of fun. As a crew, we feel there is a lot more to come."
Between them, Oman Sail's professional Sultanate of Oman crew have dozens of Round the Island Races under their belt and for Omani Nasser Al Mashari, the 2015 edition will be his second, having previously competed on an Extreme 40.
"We will be looking closely at the forecast tonight but could find anything from 10 to 20 knots to contend with but it will be fun going round on foils and I am really looking forward to it," he said.
Leigh McMillan who was born on the Isle of Wight and has competed in a succession of Round the Island Races since he was a child will be watching from the sidelines but is confident the Sultanate of Oman will finish fairly early.
"I am very disappointed not to be taking part but am concentrating on my recovery and getting back into action as soon as possible," he said.
"The boat is in good hands and I shall look forward to seeing them fly across the finish line well ahead of everyone else."