Soto 40 World Championship - Uon claims the lead in Valencia

by Soto 40 Media on 10 Jul 2014 At the Soto 40 World Championship, three more races were completed in weather conditions that created difficulties for the Race Committee and the staff of Real Club Náutico de Valencia who are helping to set the course. Today winners were Alegre, Noticia IV and Bigamist, while José Manuel Caldeira’s Uon added a 2°, 5° and 2° position and occupies top position in the Overall with 13 points.

The first race started at 1:35 pm with an eight knots wind at 140°. The first to cross the finish line was Andrés Soriano’s Alegre, which took the lead from the beginning of the race and stayed first position during the entire course, followed by Uon and Tony Buckingham’s Ngoni. Alegre’s tactician is Robert Greenhalgh, who was sailor of the Volvo Ocean Race and Extreme 40 Series winner. Once ashore, Robert explained: 'It’s very tight racing over there, it’s a very competitive fleet and there’s a lot to be set to have a good start, concentrate on the boat speed and the left side of the track which generally favored all day. Today we did better than yesterday, yesterday we were struggling with the boat speed, today we were a lot more quicker'. After Alegre arrived Uon and Ngoni.

At the end of the third race the wind started to move to the East. The next race started with a 13 knots wind at 115°. Luis Martín Cabiedes’ Noticia IV started as the leader of the fleet, followed by the Chilean Santander, property of Jorge Araneda, and Pedro Mendonça’s Bigamist, while Glen Ellen XXII, Alegre and Earlybird were OCS and had to go back to the start line to clear their penalty. These positions continued during the course and Noticia IV crossed the finish line first position, followed by Santander.

The third position changed in the third mark, when Ngoni managed to overcome Bigamist and finished third place in the fourth race. Laureano Wizner, Noticia IV’s tactician, described: 'From the beginning the day was awesome, the wind was always increasing, in the next leg we always received more wind and the last race was the best for us. We started well from the beginning and we managed to take the lead. Once ahead the speeds are so equal that if we don’t make any mistake, we end top position, and basically that’s what happened in the first race'.

Last race of the day started at 4:10 pm with an increasing wind that reached 18 knots. Santander started leading the fleet but then, due to a bad maneuver, the Portuguese boats Bigamist and Uon overcame it, finishing first and second position, respectively. The Chilean boat achieved a third position, which moved it from the seventh to the fifth position in the overall leaderboard.

With five races, Uon is top position with 13 points. 'We are going faster and putting ourselves where we have to be, in the reach in all races we are improving the run when we feel we are not that good. Generally, the results are team work. But the situation in the race area is going well. Our expectation is to keep this, keep doing what we are doing which is doing the best', points out José Manuel Caldeira, Uon’s owner. The British Ngoni adds two more points than Uon, while Bigamist completes the podium with 19 points.

The 2014 Soto 40 World CHampionship is being held at the Marina Real Juan Carlos I (Valencia, Spain) and it will last until July 12th. There are five more races planned for the next days, all scheduled at 1 pm (CEST). You’ll be able to follow races live by clicking on the links available at Soto 40 Worlds.