44Cup star attraction of Rovinj 5-star hotel launch

Practice racing today in rainy conditions - Adris 44Cup Rovinj © Nico Martinez / MartinezStudio

For the nine teams due to set sail tomorrow in the Adris 44Cup Rovinj there have been two distractions today the torrential rain, forecast to depart the Istrian Peninsula before the start of racing tomorrow, and the ancient, densely spaced terracotta-roofed buildings and giant baroque basilica of St Euphemia of Rovinj's old town.

This view the Croatian tourist board's top image illustrating 'Istria' - will form the backdrop to this week's four days of 44Cup racing. Exploiting this magnificent view is also key to the architecture of Maistra's brand new Grand Park Hotel Rovinj, the opening of which is the reason the 44Cup is here.

Since the high performance one designs last visited Rovinj for their World Championship in 2012, Adris Group's hotel company Maistra has constructed this five star masterpiece. The Grand Park Hotel Rovinj is also located by the new ACI Marina Rovinj, which features 196 berths for regular boats and superyachts. Both hotel and marina are being formally launched with celebrations this Saturday.

Local organiser Marko Misura explains: "They have built a new hotel and a new marina here, so it seemed a natural place to organise a sailing event celebrating that, because we want to make this a sailing destination in the future."

While there are no Croatian teams, several crew who live just an hour away in Slovenia sail on board Team Nika. Owner Vladimir Prosikhin is also a Rovinj fan. "It is a good place to sail and it's beautiful - both are important. Sometimes it is a bit light, but generally it is very good, with a good marina which is close to the course." Prosikhin is reeling from a bad result in a Melges 20 event recently will that motivate him to do better now that he's back in his favourite class? "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger," he says, quoting Nietzsche.

The 44Cup fleet in front of Rovinj old town - Adris 44Cup Rovinj - photo © Nico Martinez / MartinezStudio

This week the boat to beat will be the one with the golden wheels, signifying it as the 2019 44Cup's leader - currently Igor Lah's Team CEEREF. Tactician Adrian Stead admits this is his first time racing here: "The forecast says we'll be getting 5-14 knots of sea breeze, which should be good. We will be in for another event of incredibly tough racing. This season we have one win under our belts. We'd like to feel we can put in another strong performance here to go into the Worlds feeling confident about our speed."

At the first event of the season in Montenegro, Stead says they learned that no 44Cup teams are weak, as demonstrated by Pavel Kuznetsov's Tavatuy Sailing Team. Despite starting out on its first full season on the circuit, the Russian team finished half way up the leaderboard.

There, finishing uncharacteristically at the bottom of the leaderboard, was Nico Poons' Charisma. To prevent this recurring, the team has acquired a 'big gun' tactician in America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race winner John Kostecki.

"Last year we had Ray [Davies] and we were having different thoughts about where to go. Now we are trying out this setting," explains Poons. Kostecki has sailed once previously with Charisma and Poons hopes the chemistry will be good. Kostecki arrives here fresh from winning the Menorca 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week with Platoon.

Bronenosec Sailing Team caught in the torrential rain - Adris 44Cup Rovinj - photo © Nico Martinez / MartinezStudio

So what is Kostecki's view of the 44Cup? "It has always been very competitive and the level keeps getting higher and higher. It is good to see," he says. As to whether he can continue his winning streak, he is less confident. "The RC44 is such a different boat. There are different techniques and styles to sailing it. It isn't going to be easy."

First warning signal for racing tomorrow will be at 1200. On Sunday the 44Cup fleet will have a sail-past off the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj while on Friday and Saturday the finish line of the last race will be within the harbour. Find out more about the 44Cup.org or the Maistra Collection maistra.com.

Adris 44Cup Rovinj - Crew lists

Aleph Racing (FRA17)

Hugues Lepic (FRA) - Owner / Driver
Michele Ivaldi (ITA) - Tactician
Skip Baxter (NZL) - Main trimmer
James Dagg (NZL) - Jib
Ryan Godfrey (AUS) - Pit
Matthew Barber - Grinder
Jaro Furlani (ITA) - Offside trimmer
Greg Gendell (USA) Bow
Lara Poljsak (SLO)

Artemis Racing (SWE44)

Torbjörn Törnqvist (SWE) - Owner / Driver
Andy Horton (USA) - Tactician
Iain Percy (GBR) - Main trimmer
John Gunderson (USA) - Headsail Trimmer
Anders Ekstrom (SWE) - Offside Trimmer
Stu Bettany (NZL) - Pit
Richard Percy (GBR) - Grinder
Pieter Van Nieuwenhuyzen (NED) Bow

Bronenosec Sailing Team (RUS18)

Kirill Frolov (RUS) Owner / Driver
Cameron Dunn (NZL) Tactician
Alex Kulakov (RUS) Bow
Evgenii Oeev (RUS) - Headsail Trimmer
Morgan Trubovich (NZL)
Alexander Ekimov (RUS) - Main trimmer
Pietro Mantovani Boat captain
Pavel Karachov (RUS) - Offside Trimmer

Charisma (MON69)

Nico Poons (NED) - Owner / Driver
John Kostecki (USA) - Tactician
Chris Hosking (AUS) - Main trimmer
Ross Halcrow (NZL) - Headsail Trimmer
Dimitri Simmons (NED) - Offside Trimmer
Alex Gough (AUS) - Pit
Duncan Yeabsley (GBR) - Grinder
Ivan Peute (NED) - Bow

Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team (GBR1)

John Bassadone (GBR) Owner
Ed Baird (USA) - Tactician
Aureliano Negrin(ESP) - Main trimmer
German Panei (ESP) Robin Imaz (ESP) - Headsail Trimmer
Pablo Rosano (ESP) - Pit
Mikel Pasabant Quintian (ESP) - Grinder
Gonzalo Morales (ESP) Bow
Jose Maria Lara (ESP) Floater

Tavatuy Sailing Team (RUS21)

Pavel Kuznetsov (RUS) - Owner / Driver
Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Tactician
Konstantin Besputin (RUS) - Main trimmer
Anton Sergeev (RUS) - Headsail Trimmer
Maxim Sheremetyev (RUS) - Offside Trimmer
Valeriy Zatsarinskiy (RUS) Pit
Oleg Krivov (RUS) Grinder
Egor Larionov (RUS) - Bow

Team CEEREF (SLO11)

Igor Lah (SLO) - Owner / Driver
Adrian Stead (GBR) - Tactician
Dirk de Ridder (NED) - Main trimmer
Javier De La Plaza (ESP) - Headsail Trimmer
Tine Lah (SLO) - Offside Trimmer
Silas Nolan(AUS) Boat captain
Matteo Auguardo (ITA) - Bow
Jelle Janzen (NED) Grinder

Team Nika (RUS10)

Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) - Owner / Driver
Tom Slingsby (AUS) - Tactician
Tomaz Copi (SLO) - Main trimmer
Zachary Hurst (NZL) - Headsail Trimmer
Mitja Margon (SLO) - Offside Trimmer
Nikolay Kornev (RUS) - Pit
Iztok Knafelc (SLO) - Grinder
Jeremy Lomas (NZL) Bow

Team Aqua (GBR2041)

Chris Bake (NZL) - Owner
Cameron Appleton (NZL) - Tactician
Andrew Estcourt (NZL) - Main trimmer
Christian Kamp (DEN) - Headsail Trimmer
Aaron Cooper (GBR) - Offside Trimmer
James Dodd (GBR) - Pit
Ben Graham (GBR) - Grinder
Juan Marcos (ARG) - Bow