GP42 Quebramar Cup Trofeo de la Reina Rolex Cup - Day 1

AIRIS and Near Miss on top

The Valencian regatta was a Swiss-Italian affair. AIRIS and Near Miss, two newcomers to the GP42 class, share leadership on the first day of Trofeo de la Reina, after scoring a 1st and 2nd place in the 2 races that took place, under a nice southeastern but shifty sea breeze that reached 15 knots. Desafío still leads the overall QUEBRAMAR Cup standings but can clearly feel AIRIS behind their shoulders.

Valencia, 11 July 2008: When the winds start blowing, Near Miss and AIRIS are unstoppable. The Swiss-Italian duo clearly dominated the opening day of the Trofeo de la Reina, 3rd event of the QUEBRAMAR GP42 Cup, that started today Friday, under the a shifty Valencian sea breeze and choppy seas.

The starting gun of the first race was fired right on time under a nice 11 knots of sea breeze but quite choppy seas. Caser-Quum and Fermax make the right tactical decision and go to the left. Caser-Quum, another newcomer to the GP42 class, was in the lead but AIRIS, showing their superior speed, made a spectacular recovery, climbing to 2nd place in the first beat. More spectacular was Near Miss, that passed each and every boat, finishing 1st. Caser-Qumm was unable to fend off the two other boats but held on to 3rd place.

The race committee rolled on to the second race a few minutes after the last boat crossed the finish line. The breeze had considerably picked up, reaching 15 knots. The start saw the fleet separate and AIRIS with Caser-Quuum opted for the right side. The decision paid off for both, rounding the top mark ahead of the fleet. AIRIS never felt threatened and kept their leadership till the finish line. Near Miss again showed their boat speed, working their way up the fleet to 2nd place. Third position was for Roma GP42.2 that was always within the top-four group but was unable to reach AIRIS and Near Miss.

The race committee tried to start a third race but the breeze had already died down, giving them no option but send all 8 GP42 yachts back to port.

Racing will continue on Saturday and Sunday and, once again, the race committee will try to give 3 starts, weather allowing, this time at noon. Unfortunately, the initial forecast for Saturday is not very promising. A weather low is approaching Valencia and will probably bring clouds and rain, later in the afternoon.

Quotes

Sandro Montefusco, helmsman of AIRIS: It was an excellent day for us and we had the confirmation together with Near Miss we are the fastest boats of the fleet. The 1st race was very close, on the 1st beat the left paid handsomely. We undervalued the situation and rounded 5th. Still, our decisions paid off in the rest of the race, rounding the last top mark 2nd. During the second beat, the left was again the best side. Near Miss made an extreme decision and passed us. We also managed to pass Caser-Quum and crossed the finish line second.

In the second race our start was not fantastic. Our tactician, Roberto Benamati, had made a call to stay clear of the fleet in order to be the first to tack. We managed to do that but we were forced to start in a less privileged position. There was a right shift that we correctly anticipated and kept the race under control till the end.

After the races in Saint-Tropez we worked on the sails and the boat is clearly fast downwind, a very positive fact.

The left was the favored side throughout the day and the upwind legs went well for all that took that decision. Today was quite an unusual day for Valencia, with wind direction shifting from 120 to 90 degrees. Nevertheless, we had very exciting race with a fleet that is constantly getting closer.

We have only sailed two races and it’s too early too talk about a Swiss-Italian battle. You should never underestimate the Spanish that have proved to be very strong.

Tanguy Cariou, Tactician on Near Miss: A good day for us today, in both the races wind conditions were excellent. Racing was very close and fun. We got a first and a second place, which is very positive. We wish to keep improving, every day is important to progress. Since the Giraglia, we passed many hours at sea training, we raced in Castellon and we worked a lot on the sails, but the main thing is that we are constantly learning how to sail this boat. This is very important.

Everything can happen over the next days, we only raced two races today, we still have seven, and it’s a long way. Apparently the conditions will be different tomorrow so nothing is carved in stone, we will try to approach every bit of sailing as it comes, not thinking too much about the general standings.

Santi López-Vázquez, tactician on Desafío: We had quite good wind during both races, although very shifty. Still, these conditions force us to think. In the 1st race we finished 4th due to our less than from perfect decisions on the side of the race course. The 2nd race was very similar, we had a more or less good start, maybe a little bit late, but we went to the side we wanted. Unfortunately, it proved to be the wrong one, although we were later able to recover some lost space. We have to improve our tactics. It was an open day, Caser-Quum was leading at one point, Near Miss won a race even if they were doing badly during one leg.

One thing is for sure, these boats are extremely fun and for us, professional sportsmen, it is very important to have tough competition. When you win it means you did your homework, when you lose it means you committed errors.

I think these boats have reached a very similar level, although I clearly see Near Miss as the fastest boat. As I said earlier, even if they got their tactics wrong they managed to recover. The rest are really close, offering a great show, particularly in the top marks. The most important thing for us is to make sure we sail well tomorrow.

Juan Castañeda, tactician on Caser-Quum: We are very satisfied with the results of the first race, we were testing our speed and sails, and we are happy to have finished third. We had a decent start but the correctly got the shift on the first beat. We rounded the top mark in 1st place and we maintained our position in the run. In the second beat we slipped a few places by staying in the middle of the race course while AIRIS and Near Miss climbed to 2nd and 1st respectively. We finished 3rd after a tough fight with Desafío.

The general impression is quite good and we feel that with our new sails we are as fast as the rest.