Pisco Sour adds to overall Breitling MedCup lead

by Medcup Media on 22 Sep 2005 The Chilean boat Pisco Sour took another victory, to reinforce her lead in the general overall rankings of the Breitling MedCup TP52 Circuit. The Irish boat Patches (with Ben Ainslie and Ian Walker) joined the event and finished in second place ahead of Lexus on her first day of competition.

The glorious surroundings of Sardinia, Italy were the backdrop for the first race in the Audi Cup, which is the final event in the Breitling MedCup TP52 Circuit for the Transpac 52 Class. Sailors such as Russell Coutts, Gavin Brady, Peter Isler, Ben Ainslie, Vasco Vascotto, Ian Walker or Spaniards such as Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, Toño Gorostegui and Iñaki Castañer met on the start line for the start signal given at 13:00 for this 40 nautical mile coastal race, which took the fleet as far as the island of Monaci.

The strong Mistral winds dealt harshly with crews and vessels during the training sessions during the days prior to the event, yet today’s race was held with light North winds between 8 and 12 knots.

All indications were that this would be a very exciting day, with Pisco Sour with skipper Vasco Vascotto fighting to retain her leadership, in the final stage of the event, with a three point lead over her toughest rival, Lexus, with the America’s Cup skipper Russell Coutts at the helm, and a 13 point advantage over Spain’s Caixa Galicia.

There was much excitement as the final victory on the Circuit hangs in the balance, and nerves were heightened as new vessels joined the fleet, with USA’s Sjambok, skippered by Gavin Brady, and Irish Patches with Ian Walker and Ben Ainslie at the helm.

Three boats were leading from the start line – Lexus, with Coutts, left inexplicably late, slightly ahead of Caixa Galicia, who was overtaken by Sjambok who were leading throughout the first part of the race together with Pisco Sour. In fourth place were an exceptional Aifos who were fighting to retain their fourth position against the attacks of Balearia and Caixa Galicia.

In the following legs the fleet split into two groups, on the one hand the Americans Sjambok, Ireland’s Patches and Pisco Sour were followed by a compact group made up of Balearia, Aifos, and Caixa Galicia whilst Lexus and Bribon fought for the lead of the group. The Italians Orlanda were at the back of the group.

Upon arrival at the island of Monaci as the fleet opened the spinnakers, the boats headed back towards home, and wouldn’t let any error go lightly, as the lead was taken by Pisco Sour, with skipper, Vasco Vascotto, followed by Ben Ainslie’s Patches, then Lexus with Coutts who knew better than most how to gain positions swiftly after a bad start. In fourth place was Sjambok followed by Caixa Galicia, Bribon and Aifos. The rankings were closed by Orlanda Olympus and Balearia.

Overall positions for Breitling MedCup TP52:
1 PISCO SOUR 217 pts
2 LEXUS QUANTUM 210
3 CAIXA GALICIA 200
4 ORLANDA 170
5 ATALANTI XV 167
6 BRIBON 165
7 BAMBAKOU 147
8 CRISTABELLA 115
9 AIFOS 76
10 SIEMENS 41
11 BALEARIA 18
12 PATCHES 8
13 SJAMBOK 6

Event information at:- http://www.medcup.org