Breeze up in Cascais

GP42 and ORC fleets racing at the Quebramar-Chrysler Cup and GP42 Owner/Driver Championship

After a delay leading to a mid-afternoon start, the GP42 and ORC fleets were finally treated to first 17-18 then 18-23 knots of Cascais’ famous northwesterly breeze in today’s two races of the Quebramar-Chrysler Cup and GP42 Owner/Driver Championship. The breeze-on conditions produced fantastic bursts of speed in the fleet, but also produced some injuries and breakdowns among the five assembled teams in the GP42 fleet.

It started in today’s first race, where breakdowns in hardware plagued the fleet. Felipe Regojo’s Quebramar Caixanova (ESP) shredded a spinnaker in the first downwind leg, and Jose Matoso’s Roma (ITA), owned by Filippo Faruffini, dropped out of racing for the day. In this race, Daniel Calero’s Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) continued his winning ways, followed by Jose Maria van der Ploeg’s Turismo Madrid (ESP), Quebramar, and Keisuke Suzuki’s Swing (JPN).

But the building breeze in the day’s second race took its toll not on hardware, but on people. It started after Swing took their first turn leading the fleet around the first windward mark, followed by Puerto Calero, Madrid, and Quebramar. But on their kite set, the normally fluid Puerto Calero team had tactician Gustavo Martinez get tangled in the sheet, causing them to drop the kite and forcing them to the back of the pack.

Then at the bottom mark rounding Madrid’s bowman Carlos Ruigomez got hit with the spinnaker pole, giving him a mild head injury. Nonetheless, Madrid and team were able to hang on to place second behind Quebramar who took their first win of the series, while Swing stayed ahead of Puerto Calero in fourth.

Ruigomez and Martinez were given medical treatment ashore and are expected to recover quickly.

Racing continues tomorrow with two races scheduled in slightly less breeze than today.

Standings, GP42 Owner/Driver Championship:

1. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) - Daniel Calero - 1 1 1 1 4 8 pts
2. Turismo Madrid (ESP) - Jose Maria van der Ploeg - 2 2 3 2 2 11
3. Quebramar Caixanova (ESP) - Felipe Regojo - 3 4 2 3 1 13
4. Swing (JPN) - Keisuke Suzuki - 4 3 4 4 3 18
5. Roma (ITA) - Jose Matoso/ Filippo Faruffini 5 5 5 6 6 27