SB20 Portuguese National Championship at Clube Naval de Cascais - Day 2
by SB 20 AUS Media 22 Jun 2019 02:42 PDT
20-23 June 2019
SB20 Portuguese National Championship 2019 © Anna Zykova
Reigning SB20 Portuguese National Champions (Dom Pedro Hotels/Generali), helmed by José Paulo Ramada with Fausto Briosa Neves, António Pereira and Miguel Leal Faria, consolidated their lead in the 2019 SB20 Portuguese Nationals with another fine day of sailing in Cascais.
Another three races were sailed on day two of the four-day regatta in the 28-boat fleet, in a north-westerly breeze of 12 to 16 knots, similar conditions to Day One.
Australian team and 2018 runners-up Porco Rosso (Elliott Noye, Paul McCartney and Ed Snowball), of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania (RYCT) found the going tough but managed to hold onto sixth place in the championship on 28 points.
"Today was another challenging day with very similar conditions to Day One. In the first two races we struggled to find our groove downwind and there were big position changes due to patchy pressure, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of them," said [skipper] Noye.
"In Race 3 we managed a clean start and settled into the race nicely with Ed [Snowball] picking some really good puffs downwind and we managed to get up into third place," said Noye.
The Porco Rosso crew is looking forward to a forecast of light winds on Day Three.
Current standings, including a drop after Race Six, are:
José Pauloa Ramada (Dom Pedro Hotels/Generali) on 6 points, Vasco Serpa (Animal/SailCascais) on 19 points, Ukraine's Julia Freespirit (Game Changer) on 19 points, Russia's Igor Ginzburg (Absolut) on 21 points, Russia's Vasily Grigoriev (MST) on 21 points.
Noye will be looking to pull a few places back on Day Three but knows beating Ramada is a tough ask. "Ramada has sailed here for years. He's got a sting young crew that also knows the waters well, and when you combine that with top boat speed, he's going to be hard to beat," said Noye.
Full results here