Two new faces

Patches and Sjambok join the final regatta of the TP52's Breitling MedCup circuit

The final event in the Breitling MedCup TP52 starts tomorrow in Porto Rotundo, Sardinia. Among the ten boats competing will be two new additions in the form of Irishman Eamon Conneely's Patches, the Reichel-Pugh designed sistership to Russell Coutts' Lexus Quantum and bristling with British Olympic medallists - Ben Ainslie, Shirley Robertson and Ian Walker. Also joining the party is the 2004 generation Sjambok, being skippered by recently departed BMW Oracle helmsman Gavin Brady. However three existing boats won't be competing - George Andreadis' Atalanti, John Cook's Cristabella and John Coumantaros' Bambakou.

Going into this final regatta of the 2005 season, the overall leader still remains in contention between three boats - the Italian-Chilean entry Pisco Sour, skippered by Vasco Vascotto and his Mascalzone Latino America's Cup crew, Russell Coutts and his Lexus Quantum and Caixa Galicia helmed by Roberto Bermúdez de Castro and with John Kostecki as tactician (Dee Smith has moved across to Sjambok on this occasion). 13 points separate first from third.

In the Corinthian division Bribón, skippered by HM the King of Spain, is leading.

The first of the six races scheduled is the coastal race but after several days of strong winds, the wind is forecast to be light for this.

Overall results after four regattas:

Pos	Boat	Sail no	Punta Ala	Valencia	Pto Portals	Copa del Rey	Tot
1	PISCO SOUR	CHI2110	40	64	48	64	208
2	LEXUS QUANTUM	ESP7353	31	59	51	66	203
3	CAIXA GALICIA	ESP7452	47	40	49	64	195
4	ORLANDA	ITA52	29	36	48	59	168
5	ATALANTI XV	GRE52	43	39	22	65	166
6	BRIBON	ESP7552	30	44	41	51	161
7	BAMBAKOU	USA52700	32	34	41	42	146
8	CRISTABELLA	GBR5205	0	23	44	48	115
9	AIFOS	ESP7352	0	21	28	24	73
10	SIEMENS	USA52152	0	0	13	28	41
11	BALEARIA	ESP1	0	0	0	17	17