Win for Patches

As crews endure more light conditions on the TP52 coastal race

The light conditions off Porto Rotundo, Sardinia today made for an agonisingly slow 24 miles of coastal race for the Breitling MedCup TP52 fleet.

Yet again, the teams left the dock in tense mood with light winds forecast and just a few points separating the top teams. It was a complicated start, as Aifos was over early and Lexus risked a move to the opposite side of the racecourse to the rest of the fleet.

At the first weather mark the fleet were fairly dispersed around the course. Eamon Coneely's Patches with Ben Ainslie at the helm were first around, followed by the Italian team Orlanda-Olympus, and the US Sjambok with Gavin Brady and Dee Smith on board. Behind them were a compact group including Caixa Galicia with John Kostecki as tactian, Spain’s Balearia and Pisco Sour with Vasco Vascotto. Lexus with Russell Coutts, Mark Reynolds and Peter Isler in the afterguard were behind the rest of the fleet at this point.

Despite using the powerful code zeros, the next leg was hard work for the TP52s, as the wind fell to six knots at the windward mark to even lower speeds as they headed towards Cala di Volpe. Patches extended her lead and were a minute ahead of the rest of the fleet. Orlanda-Olympus hung on to second place followed by Sjambok while both Lexus and Pisco Sour gained a position on this leg.

At the halfway point in the Coastal race, before hoisting the gennakers to head homeward, Patches was still holding a strong lead, followed by Orlanda Olympus, Caixa Galicia and Pisco Sour who overtook Sjambok who were trailing Bribon. Lexus were back in seventh place again, followed by Aifos who were still attempting to recover from their poor start, and Spanish yacht Balearia who seemed lost on the racecourse, quite a distance away from the rest of the TP52 fleet.

Soon after the wind dropped to almost three knots, forcing the fleet to endure agonisingly slow speeds fairly uncommon to these fast vessels. The return to port was a spectacular scene with the fleet sailing against the backdrop of the beautiful rocky Sardinian coast.

At the finish line Patches had managed to hang on to their lead and their a one minute advantage over Lorenzo Bressani's Orlanda-Olympus, in second place. Caixa Galicia was third followed by Bribon with HM King Juan Carlos of Spain at the helm and Pisco Sour. In fifth place was the American team on Sjambok, followed at length behind by Lexus, Aifos and Balearia.

More photos on page 2...

Results after four races in Audi Cup

1. Pisco Sour. Vasco Vascotto. 9+9+8+5=31 points
2. Caixa Galicia. Roberto Bermudez 5+7+9+7=28
3. Patches. Ian Walker. 8+5+4+9 =26
4. Lexus. Russell Coutts 7+8++7+3=25
5. Bribón. S.M. Don Juan Carlos. 4+6+5+6=21
6. Sjambok.Gavin Brady. 6+2+6+4 =18
7. Orlanda-Olympus. Lorenzo Bressanni. 2+3+2+8 =15
8. Aifos. Iñaki Castañar. 3+4+3+2=12
9. Balearia. Antonio Gorostegui.1+1+1+1=4