Consistent Canary Islanders

A report from the GP42 racing at the Giraglia Rolex Cup in St Tropez

The Spanish GP42 team from the Canary Islands might have the youngest tactician of the whole fleet, 24-year old Rayco Tabares, but their consistency in today’s three opening races of the Giraglia Rolex Cup paid off and with three second places they are now at the top of the score table, two points ahead of Desafío. Once again, the old adage of consistency held true. The fleet is so close that each and every error costs dearly. Second-placed Desafío can easily testify to that.

The Bay of Saint-Tropez was the perfect host for the first day of the Giraglia Rolex Cup. The first race started right on time and conditions were set to guarantee exciting and close racing. With the starting line a few hundred metres from the coast, not only was the backdrop stunning but scores of beachgoers were also able to enjoy watching the GP42 fleet.

The starting gun was fired with a nice constant breeze of around 10 knots and even if the eight-strong fleet was evenly spread over the starting line, Near Miss and Madrid were early over the line. The fleet was split with no apparent favoured side. Canarias Puerto Calero and Seawonder 007 chose the right, while Desafío and Roma GP42.2 the left. The Canary Islanders together with Seawonder 007 were leading during the first half of the race, closely followed by AIRIS and Desafío. Unfortunately, luck was not on the side of Seawonder 007 when halfway up the second beat, the Italian boat went aground after trying to get better breeze close to the coast.

The second half of the race turned into a match race between Canarias Puerto Calero and Desafío. The all-America’s Cup green team showed once again their strength and overtook the Canary Islanders a few hundred metres from the finish line, with AIRIS closely behind them.

The second race started with slightly lighter conditions after the Race Committee had shortened the leg length to one mile. All boats had a clear start at the committee boat end of the line. Desafío and Madrid led the fleet from the start, once again closely followed by Near Miss which had chosen to stay in the middle of the race area. The three leading positions hardly changed until the last leg when Canarias Puerto Calero once again anticipated the wind shifts to the right side of the course, overtaking Madrid and Near Miss.

The Race Committee had to wait for half an hour before firing the gun for the next race as the wind kept shifting. The third and last race of the day would prove to be the trickiest, but also the tripping point for Desafío that literally threw away their lead by committing an unforgivable error at the start. With the committee end being the favored one, the Spanish boat got squeezed and crossed the line well behind the rest.

Given the shifty conditions, tacticians were split over what side to choose. Near Miss, Madrid, Canarias Puerto Calero and Seawonder 007 went to the left while the rest chose the right. The Swiss boat built a big lead and rounded the top mark clearly ahead of the rest. They never felt threatened by any of the trailing boats but the real fight took place for second and third place. Roma GP42.1 , the fleet’s oldest boat, was not able to hold on to second place. Once again, Canarias Puerto Calero made an incredible recovery, sailing up through the fleet, to finish second in front of Madrid.

Later José Maria Ponce, helmsman on Canarias Puerto Calerocommented: "It was a good day for us. With three second places we showed good consistency, because it was a tricky situation with many wind shifts, but we were able to anticipate them. The crew was alright - I guess we still have margin for improvement and we can win some races. We are very satisfied, we were lucky and we sailed well and it’s a good base for the coming days. I believe that Desafio can be considered as the number one competitor, they’re experienced and trained, but we’ll do our best to keep them at bay."

Alinghi's Tom Schnackenberg, navigator on Near Miss said: "I’m very impressed with the racing, with the Race Committee - they were on time and kept us informed, set good courses in a very difficult set of conditions. We had three quite good races, the whole fleet and we’re pleased. So far this venue is good. The fleet is very close, you can see a boat winning one race and come sixth in another, so if you choose well you’ve got a good chance to win, conversely if you find yourself in the wrong place in the first or the second beat you can loose places very quickly. It’s a nice tight little fleet and we’re going to have nice racing, if this continues like today.

"As for Near Miss it’s true we’re improving, we’re learning the boat but the others are doing it too. We had a bad first race because we had to restart, a good second one and we won the third one, we were lucky. I think that being in front is a huge advantage, whoever is in front has an easy race."

Quebramar GP42 Cup - Giraglia Rolex Cup -
Provisional standings after three races

Pos	Team	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	Canarias Puerto Calero	2	2	2	6
2	Desafío	1	1	6	8
3	Near Miss	5	4	1	10
4	MADRID	6	3	3	12
5	AIRIS	3	5	8	16
6	Roma GP 42.2	4	7	7	18
7	Seawonder 007	7	6	5	18
8	Roma GP 42.1	8	8	4	20