Tricky conditions

Platoon and Near Miss lead the TP52 and GP42 classes after a lighter day three of Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre

A sunny day today in the Bay of Palma, and another happy one for the Swiss team of Near Miss for the second day of racing for the Quebramar GP42 Cup, at the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre.

After nearly three hours’ delay and being forced to move the race course from area Alpha to Bravo, due to the light and shifty wind conditions, the Race Committee was finally able to fire the start signal with a breeze blowing at some 9 knots on a 1.9 miles’ long leg distance. The first race was certainly not an easy task for tacticians, who had to look for each and every shift and puff of wind.

Once again it was the Swiss team of Near Miss, led by Bertrand Pacè with Tanguy Cariou calling tactics to set the pace, while Roma GP42.2 , helmed by Paolo Cian with Sébastien Col calling tactics and Madrid, with Olympic champion José Maria Van der Ploeg as skipper and Philippe Presti as tactician, alternated in second and third place.

Yet Roma GP42.2 didn’t seem particularly at ease downwind and progressively lost ground, while her rivals Canarias Puerto Calero and Caser Quum, with José Maria Ponce and Sergio Llorca helming respectively, overtook them.

Near Miss crossed the finishing line with a healthy 20 seconds margin showing an excellent consistency no matter the breeze, both upwind and downwind, and increasing her lead in the event’s standing. Madrid finished second, followed by fellow countrymen Canarias Puerto Calero and Caser Quum. Fifth was Roma GP42.2, sixth Desafio and seventh were the Italians on board Airis.

As the breeze increased to 14 knots, the Committee decided to go for a second race a few minutes after 1700. Despite the fresher wind, Near Miss’ sailing was almost a photocopy of what they did achieved earlier. Leading from the very start, the Swiss/French team dictated the race, leaving all the competitors behind, finishing with an impressive one minute advantage over the rest of the fleet. Roberto Monti’s Airis was able to defend her second place from an inspired José Maria Van der Ploeg on Madrid, showing again a good speed downwind. Unfortunately not the same could be said of Roma GP42.2 that could only manage sixth behind the two Spanish teams of Caser Quum and Desafio. Last were the young crew on Canarias Puerto Calero.

After todays’ racing Near Miss tops the provisional scoreboards of both the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre and the Quebramar GP42 Cup with a four point lead over Desafio.

“We are gradually getting to know the boat," admitted José Maria Van der Ploeg, skipper and owner of Madrid. "We have a lot of problems upwind, especially in order to get the boat to the speeds of the other boats, mainly the non-Spanish teams. To tell the truth this is tough and we are suffering a lot. Nevertheless we have been able to analyze where the problems are and we are getting the feedback that will make us more competitive. Today, our tactician Philippe Presti, was right to the point, very conservative and the whole crew made an excellent job, especially downwind. We have slightly compensated the troubles we had upwind and we have been able to sail good races in the Copa del Rey so far.

"At moment we are sailing very well but when there is a transitional situation we can’t maintain the rhythm. I think today was the first day we really fought hard, sailed well and made the correct tactical decisions. Even if a 2nd and 3rd place are good, we still have a long way to the optimum and we hope we’ll get better in the following days”

See video from the racing here

Provisional results after 5 races:
Boat Country Points (partial scores)
1.   Near Miss – Switzerland – 10 points (6,1,1,1,1)
2.   Airis – Italy – 19 points (1,7,2,7,2)
3.   Desafio – Spain – 20 points (2,2,5,6,5)
4.   Madrid – Spain – 20 points (7,4,4,2,3)
5.   Roma GP42.2 – Italy – 23 points (4,5,3,5,6)
6.   Canarias Puerto Calero – Spain – 24 points (5,3,6,3,7)
7.   Caser Quum – Spain – 24 points (3,6,7,4,4)