More thrust to Pisco Sour

TP52 action continues this weekend for the Copa del Rey-Trofeo Agua Brava in Majorca

The Copa del Rey-Trofeo Agua Brava will be the fourth and penultimate event in the Breitling MedCup circuit for the Transpac 52 Class.

At present the Italian/Chilean TP52 Pisco Sour of co-owners Emilio Cousinio, Bernardo Matte and Antonio Orlyi leads the Breitling MedCup. A new feature of the leader is the new sponsorship from giant mobile telephone operators Movistar. For the regatta skipper Vasco Vascotto will have the added support of a new co-skipper in the form of Pedro Campos.

For both, Pisco Sour-Movistar and Bribón, skippered by the King of Spain, the Copa del Rey-Trofeo Agua Brava could be decisive, as the score margins remain close between the participants and victory is still wide open.

The Copa del Rey-Trofeo Agua Brava, Spain's most prestigeous regatta begins this Saturday 30 July, with two days scheduled for measurement and boat inspection. On Monday 1 August the competition begins with a program through the week of windward-leewards, coastal and long distance races, concluding on Sunday, 7 August.

From the seven TP52s which started the season in Punta Ala, so for this event there will be an eleventh TP52s with the addition of the recently launched Balearia. The new boat is a sistership to Pisco Sour-Movistar, built in the Spanish shipyard Longitud 0 to a design by Bottin & Carkeek.

Balearia is skippered by Montreal Olympic silver medallist Toño Gorostegui who is currently in Mallorca working on the fine tuning of the vessel, before its debut in this regatta.

Meanwhile Jaime Yllera's Lexus will aim to repaeat the success they saw in the Breitling Regatta, although this time the original crew return including skipper Russell Coutts, and with Mark Reynolds, Peter Isler and match-racer Jes Gram-Hansen in the afterguard. Lexus are currently in second place in the circuit with 139 points.

Winner of the first event in the Breitling MedCup TP52 circuit, Caixa Galicia, with RTW yachtsman Roberto Bermúdez de Castro at the helm, will have US tactician Dee Smith returning to the team in place of John Kostecki. Like Coutts, Smith was absent in the Breitling Regatta due to his participation in the Transpac, where he was racing on an American TP52. The Spanish boat is currently in third place on the scoreboard with 134 points.

Bribon, owned by Jose Cusi, with HM King Juan Carlos of Spain as skipper, has a tough challenge ahead. The team must try to maintain their lead in the Corinthian Class for non-professionals against USA’s Bambakou, John Cook's Cristabella from the UK and the Spanish Royal Navy TP52, Aifos. In the overall results Bribon is fourth on 112 points.

Orlanda-Olympus with America’s Cup yachtsman Tomasso Chieffi at the helm will have to fight hard to get into the top positions in the rankings. The Italian boat is in fifth place, only one point away from Bribon, while USA’s Bambakou, with owner-driver John Coumantaros is sixth overall, and second in the Corinthian category on 105 points.

The Greek TP52 Atalanti XV of George Andreadis and skippered by Paul Cayard has resolved complications experienced with a stay in last regatta. The boat was forced to abandon two of the races in the Breitling Regatta, and this has caused them to drop down to seventh place overall on 102 points. Cristabella, on 67 points, and Aifos on 49, are eighth and ninth overall.

The new addition to the fleet at the Breitling Regatta, Siemens, owned by Pedro Perelló, has the advantage of local knowledge of Mallorcan waters and could come on stream if they are able to smooth out the performance problems they experienced in the Breitling Regatta. They are currently 10th in the general rankings.