Campos into the lead

As ORC 670 World Cup gets going in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote

Today the Canary Islands ORC 670 World Cup started in Lanzarote. The day was splendid, with good wind from the northeast that start at 13 knots increasing to 16 for the racing held over a windward-leeward course of 8.9 nautical miles.

In the first race Pedro Campos’ Telefónica was the undisputed leader. The boat that races under the flags of the Sanxenxo and Alicante yacht clubs clearly won the race even if Iñaki Castañer’s Vindio led for the first two legs, but paid the price of spinnaker problems at the end of the first run. The real fight then took place for second. This was finally won by Nacho Campos’ Tanit 4 Medilevel, finishing 51 seconds behind Telefónica. The closeness was clearly reflected further down, with four boats separated by a mere 5 seconds.

In a typical Lanzarote style, the breeze picked up and with a nice 15-knot wind the race committee started the second race. Two boats were over early: Felipeva V and Luis Rasposo’s Cariu. The latter didn’t recross and was marked OCS. Telefónica had another good start and led the fleet from the start but Navantia passed them to move into the first, while Tenerife was a distant third. Jesus Pintos’ boat was able to maintain their leader to cross the finish line 27 seconds ahead of Telefónica on corrected time.

Although two races were scheduled for today, the race committee took advantage of the trade winds and fired the starting gun for a third. This proved a tight and close battle among the three leading boats - Telefónica, Tenerife and Navantia, but it was Iñaki Castañer’s Vindio that finally crossed the finish line ahead of the fleet. With a second place in the day’s final race, Telefónica is the overall leader at the end of day one, 6 points ahead of last year’s winner, Navantia.

A long coastal race of approximately 90 miles distance will take place tomorrow, with the start line located right in front of the Puerto Calero marina. The fleet will first head southeast to the island of Lobos. From there they will head to a first offset mark and then another one situated in front of the island’s capital, Arrecife, before returning to Puerto Calero after rounding the Roque del Este. The finish line will again be in front of the marina and the first boats are expected to cross it sometime after midnight.

Last but certainly not least, The GP42 class will carry out their practice race on Wednesday, when the eight boats will make their final preparations before the Trofeo César Manrique, last event of this year’s Quebramar GP42 Cup.

Overall Standings (3 races)
1 Telefónica, Pedro Campos, 0.75-2-2, 4.75 points
2 Navantia, Jesús Pintos, 5-0.75-5, 10.75 points
3 Tenerife, Lucio Pérez, 8-3-3, 14 points
4 Vindio, Iñaki Castañer, 9-5-0.75, 14.75 points
5 Vell Marí, Teo Matheu, 3-8-4, 15 points

More photos on the following pages