Challenger and defender decided

Conditions still light for the final day of the selection series for the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy

Finally the wind made a brief show on day three of the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy. This was probably due to the high temperature, which at around 30°C forced the thermal wind to materialise. The best wind was between 12.30 and 1400 during the third and final Defenders' Round Robin, when it blew at 8 to 10 knots, allowing the boats to fly a hull upwind with the crew double trapezing.

Today the Challengers had the worse conditions, first in the morning, when they completed their second and final Round Robin and then in the afternoon when the best fought in the semifinal and final flights.

At the end of the Elimination series the results are:

Defenders
J. Lovell/C. Ogletree 6 wins and 0 losses
M. Murray/ A. Efre-Perez 3-3
M. Batcchelor/ R. Batchelor 0-6
with the first two qualified for the Defenders' Final

Challengers
D. Saragoni/ T. Di Battista 10-0
M. Monti/ F. Raffaelli 5-5
P. Gori /L. Filippi 5-5
M. Morelli/ A. Brolli 5-5
G. Mughetti / G. Casadei 4-6
M. Giannini/ J. Cooper 1-9
with the first four qualified for the Semifinal.

Saragoni chose Gori as opponent in the Semifinal and therefore Monti had to compete with Morelli. In the seminals Sargoni prevailed easily over Gori 2-0 while Monti was able to defeat Morelli having lost the first match.

Then in the Final match Saragoni/Di Battista won their right to compete with the perfect score line of (12-0), versus Monti/Raffaelli (7-6). These were also the two best placed teams also in the International 18HT Championship recently.

At the time of the first start of the Final, to be raced at the best of five matches, the wind had dropped to 4 to 6 knots, making any prestart manouvering difficult.

In the first two races Saragoni was able to win the start and keep the lead easily until the end by maintaining a loose cover over Monti. However in the prestart of the third and possibly decisive race, Monti starting at the pin and succeeded to give a penalty to Saragoni. He started on starboard tack and didn't cover Saragoni, who saw better pressure on the right and went there. When both boats reached their opposite laylines Saragoni had already estabilished a so clear lead that he decided to do his 270° and absolve the penalty.

At the end of the first upwind leg Saragoni was leading by five boat lengths. The game was over. Saragoni and Di Battista won the Final and the right to compete for the second time for the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy.

So the ICCT match will feature the same line-up as in 2003. On that occasion Saragoni and Di Battista were defeated 4-3 by Lovell and Ogletree