Lexus gets into gear

A report from the TP52's Breitling MedCup in Punta Ala

Day five of the Breitling MedCup started with a mass in the grounds of the Yacht Club of Punta Ala to mark the death of Pascuale Landolfi, an important figure among boat owners worldwide. This moving event was attended by all of the crews including HM King Juan Carlos of Spain.

After the mass, the TP52s set off on a 30 mile coastal race around the islands of Cervoli, Palmaiola and Sparviero, finishing at the Yacht Club Punta Ala. Yet again, light conditions dominated the racing.

Today two boats came to the fore for the first time in the form of George Andreadis' Atalanti XV with Paul Cayard at the wheel and Greek Olympic 470 Golf medallist Sofia Bekatarou in the afterguard, and the Greek TP52, Lexus, with Russell Coutts at the helm and Mark Reynolds and Peter Isler in the afterguard , finally putting in a good result after a slow start. Modifications were made to the boat last night.

Once they reached Cervoli, the first of the islands on the course, Lexus was leading followed by Atalanti XV, Bambakou, Pisco Sour, Caixa Galicia and Bribon-Movistar.

Palmaiola, the halfway point on the course, saw Lexus followed by a fast approaching Atalanti XV, Bambakou, Bribon-Movistar with HM King Juan Carlos of Spain at the helm, Pisco Sour with Mascalzone Latino's Vasco Vascotto at the wheel, followed by Orlanda-Olympus and series leader, Caixa Galicia.

The situation remained this way until the finish, with Lexus first to cross the finish line situated in front of the Port of Punta Ala, and finally demonstrated her potential.

“We sailed a bit better today and the other thing is that the boat is brand new and we are just getting it sort out, so it’s going to take some time to get it optimised," said Coutts on finishing. "I think the TP52 Class is a great one to sail, competitions are fantastic, with a lot of good sailors out there. The Breitling MedCup is a good initiative of the people who started it and I’m looking forward to competing in the other events. It’s going to be very interesting series and it could be wide open till the end regatta. Hopefully we will improve our performance in the next events.”

More photos on the following pages...

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
1	Caixa Galicia	Roberto Bermúdez de Castro	5	7	7	7	6	7	1	40
2	Atalanti XV	Paul Cayard	6	5	1	5	3	6	6	32
3	Pisco Sour	Vasco Vascotto	7	3	4	2	7	3	3	29
4	Bambakoo	Craig Healny	1	2	6	6	4	1	5	25
5	Bribón-MoviStar	Ross McDonald	2	6	3	3	2	5	4	25
6	Quantum-Lexus	Russell Coutts	3	4	5	1	1	2	7	23
7	Orlanda-Olympus	Tommaso Chieffi	4	1	2	4	5	4	2	22