RHKYC Team Agiplast on the podium in Garda
by RHKYC Team Agiplast 17 Aug 2020 03:37 PDT
Revolution 1, Lake Garda. RHKYC Team Agiplast © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi
RHKYC Team Agiplast has been preparing for their second regatta at Lake Garda. Last week’s regatta was certainly eventful, with 16 U25 teams racing in the Persico69F Revolution Cup, including three other Youth America’s Cup teams.
The racing was in a knockout format where, contrary to normal racing, the top two progressed into the next round with the following two teams moving into a repechage race for one last chance to make the final. We started off successfully winning our first two races on day one leaving us in first place. However we lost the semi final match moving us into the repechage final. We raced hard and pulled out a first place finish, taking us to the grand final.
In the final we found ourselves racing against two experienced 69F Italian teams and one Dutch YAC team. We already knew before the final that we couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. In such a short race (around 8 to 10 minutes), a minor error could be the difference between a loss and the win. After a good start to the race we ended up rounding second at the first mark. We made the decision to gybe early, which quickly paid off and put us in the lead. We held the lead until the very end of the downwind, where a small error at the lay line pushed us down to third. We stayed in this position until the finish, giving us our first podium in our first event!
While we were very happy with a spot on the podium, we also knew that we were fully capable of winning, leaving us with mixed emotions.
We are now heading into our second regatta on the Persico69F. Starting on Monday 17 August, we will face even tougher teams this time around, with no age limit and significantly more experienced teams around. The teams entered include four other YAC challengers including The Danish YAC challengers, Dutch Sail, Kingdom Team Netherlands and Young Azurra (Italy).
On the entry list is also Ruggero Tita - Nacra 17 world champion and winner of the Olympic test event in Tokyo.
On Sunday 16 August there was a practice race, giving us a training run in very light winds. We got around the course cleanly, and made good decisions, bringing us in first place. All in all, the team is excited for the next few days and qualifying heats starting Monday 17 August!