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ONO WINS BUT SIEMENS STILL LEAD THE COPA DEL REY |
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While Inaki Castaner’s ONO escaped to their first win of the XXV Copa del Rey for the Agua Brava Camper Trophy, leading the 20 boat Breitling MedCup TP52 fleet from the first turning mark to the finish, an eighth place was enough to keep Ian Walker and the crew of Siemens 11pts ahead of the chasing pack going into Sunday’s final races.
There was another long wait for the sea-breeze to arrive and it was late afternoon and after one failed start that the fleet got away in nine knots of southerly breeze. Once again there were differences in wind strength across the course and an ample supply of shifts and bends in the wind direction to take advantage of.
Source: www.medcup.org
ONO, the first generation Botin & Carkeek design which won the
circuit last year as Pisco Sour, took up their regular position on the
pin end of the long start line. This time they took the best of the
shifts on the left and were round the first windward mark with a lead
of nine seconds over Alessandro Pirera’s Orlanda, with Gonzalez
Araujo’s Balearia in third. All three started on or near the pin end of
the start line and worked left earliest.
While ONO won by 36 seconds, Orlanda faded to seventh after they hung
on too long to the right of the first run, losing five places
immediately. Balearia made their early showing stick, finishing second
while Tom Stark’s Rush Valle Romano took places on each leg to finish
third.
Siemens had a conservative start, not prepared to go to the extremes of
the course. Rounding ninth at the first windward buoy they sagged low
on the run and lost wind pressure dropping a place, but a good final
beat when the wind swung again ensured they rose to eighth.
“For us the most important bit is the start because we are an older
boat so we have to one extreme of the line otherwise we get stuck and
as the rest of the boats know this they try to box us in as much as
they can. But we were lucky this time to be able to break away so
cleanly. We were fortunate tactically to be able tack on the windshifts
and we read them well and were able to keep ahead.” Explained ONO’s
Inaki Castaner of their second win this season, after a win in
Castellon. As for the pressure of the chasing pack he said: “The secret
is not to look behind. If you do you just put yourself under more
pressure.”
Third for the Farr designed Rush Vallee Romano sets up what will be a
fascinating duel with John Cook’s Vrolijk designed Cristabella which
finished sixth.
While the British boat holds the upper hand, second on tie break, they
share the same points tally. Cristabella’s tactician Dee Smith again
proved his consistent ability to work back up the fleet.
From 14th at
the first mark they took three boats on the run, five on the next beat
and nailed fourth when they passed Anonimo and Caixa Galicia on the
final leg.
So the final day will see Team Shoshloloza’s tactician Smith up against
his America’s Cup team’s helmsman and match racing Tomasso Chieffi,
calling the shots for Tom Stark.
“That was good.” Asserted Siemens’ skipper Walker, “The place to be was
the pin but we were right in the middle of the fleet at the top mark.
We chose the wrong jib, going with the superlight, which was not ideal
when it was 12 knots on the first beat. We struggled for pace.
Fortunately we took three boats on the last beat which turned it from a
bad race to a perfectly acceptable result.”
“I guess the bets thing tomorrow would be one race and I guess we need to be in the top 12.”
“This has been an excellent regatta for us, we are very excited.”
Smiled owner-driver Tom Stark, who leads the Corinthian standings as
well, “We have made some crew changes and we have some continuity and
we have learned from our previous events. And our boat is designed for
a little lower windspeed and a little more chop and that seems to be
paying off. So we have felt fast all week.”
“Our trimmers have changed. Being a half amateur half professional crew
not everyone can make all the events, so rather than anyone getting
‘the flick’ it is simply scheduling and here, and in fact for the next
three events, we have the best guys in the pool. And when the trimming
is better and Tomasso gets better at each event as he gets more
comfortable with our team and me and my limitations. If I have to line
up against Coutts and Cayard he doesn’t push us too tight. This is the
first time we have sailed together this season and now the days just go
a little easier.”
Dee Smith reported: “We got fouled at the start by Mean Machine and
were forced to the right. We were playing the right, which was not too
bad because we were flat off the line and went round 13th or something
at the windward mark and then just sailed fast and smooth. We passed
boats on every leg and chipped away and chipped away and all of a
sudden we are back in the race.”
And of Cristabella’s ability to make such regular comebacks:
“Today
there were a lot of opportunities there haven’t been before. There were
good shifts to take. There were boats ahead of us which were more
worried about the boats around them than us that kind of let us use the
shifts a little bit more than them. So, for example if you get a clear
lane at the leeward mark and go round the right mark then you are gone.”
Breitling MedCup – Copa del Rey Agua Brava Camper
Race 6
1 ONO (Inaki Castaner/ONO)
2 BALEÀRIA (Gonzalo Araujo/Balearia)
3 RUSH VALLE ROMANO (C) (Thomas Stark/Thomas Stark)
4 CRISTABELLA (John Cook/John Cook)
5 CAIXA GALICIA (Roberto Bermudez/Vicente Tirado)
General Standings Breitiling MedCup – Copa del Rey Agua Brava Camper
1 ISIEMENS 1 6 1 4 1 8 0 0 21
2 CRISTABELLA 2 12 10 2 2 4 0 0 32
3 RUSH VALLE ROMANO (C) 8 3 3 3 12 3 0 0 32
4 PINTA (C) 11 8 2 5 4 11 0 0 41
5 WARPATH 10 16 4 1 3 10 0 0 44 |
