Tied for the top

A report from the opening day of the Quebramar GP42 Cup at Trofeo de la Reina

When the winds start blowing, Near Miss and Airis are unstoppable. The Swiss-Italian duo clearly dominated the opening day of the Trofeo de la Reina, 3rd event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup, that started today Friday, under the a shifty Valencian sea breeze and in choppy seas.

The starting gun of the first race was fired right on time under a nice 11 knots of sea breeze but quite choppy seas. Caser-Quum and Fermax made the right tactical decision and go to the left. Caser-Quum, another newcomer to the GP42 class, was in the lead but Airis, showing their superior speed, made a spectacular recovery, climbing to second place in the first beat. More spectacular was Near Miss, that passed each and every boat, finishing first. Caser-Qumm was unable to fend off the two other boats but held on to third place.

The race committee rolled on to the second race a few minutes after the last boat crossed the finish line. The breeze had considerably picked up, reaching 15 knots. The start saw the fleet separate and Airis with Caser-Quuum opted for the right side. The decision paid off for both, rounding the top mark ahead of the fleet. Airis never felt threatened and kept their leadership till the finish line. Near Miss again showed their boat speed, working their way up the fleet to second place. Third position was for Roma GP42.2 that was always within the top-four group but was unable to reach Airis and Near Miss.

The race committee tried to start a third race but the breeze had already died down, giving them no option but send all eight GP42 yachts back to port.

Racing will continue on Saturday and Sunday and, once again, the race committee will try to give three starts, weather allowing, this time at noon. Unfortunately, the initial forecast for Saturday is not very promising. A weather low is approaching Valencia and will probably bring clouds and rain, later in the afternoon.

Sandro Montefusco, helmsman of Airis commented: "It was an excellent day for us and we had the confirmation together with Near Miss we are the fastest boats of the fleet. The first race was very close, on the first beat the left paid handsomely. We undervalued the situation and rounded fifth. Still, our decisions paid off in the rest of the race, rounding the last top mark second. During the second beat, the left was again the best side. Near Miss made an extreme decision and passed us. We also managed to pass Caser-Quum and crossed the finish line second.

"In the second race our start was not fantastic. Our tactician, Roberto Benamati, had made a call to stay clear of the fleet in order to be the first to tack. We managed to do that but we were forced to start in a less privileged position. There was a right shift that we correctly anticipated and kept the race under control till the end.

"After the races in Saint-Tropez we worked on the sails and the boat is clearly fast downwind, a very positive fact.

"The left was the favored side throughout the day and the upwind legs went well for all that took that decision. Today was quite an unusual day for Valencia, with wind direction shifting from 120 to 90 degrees. Nevertheless, we had very exciting race with a fleet that is constantly getting closer.

"We have only sailed two races and it’s too early too talk about a Swiss-Italian battle. You should never underestimate the Spanish that have proved to be very strong.
Tanguy Cariou, Tactician on Near Miss: A good day for us today, in both the races wind conditions were excellent. Racing was very close and fun. We got a first and a second place, which is very positive. We wish to keep improving, every day is important to progress. Since the Giraglia, we passed many hours at sea training, we raced in Castellon and we worked a lot on the sails, but the main thing is that we are constantly learning how to sail this boat. This is very important.

"Everything can happen over the next days, we only raced two races today, we still have seven, and it’s a long way. Apparently the conditions will be different tomorrow so nothing is carved in stone, we will try to approach every bit of sailing as it comes, not thinking too much about the general standings."

Results:

	Team	Races									Points
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1.	AIRIS	2	1								3
2.	Near Miss	1	2								3
3.	Desafío	4	4								8
4.	Caser-Quum	3	6								9
5.	Canarias Puerto Calero	5	5								10
6.	Roma GP42.2	8	3								11
7.	MADRID	6	7								13
8.	FERMAX	7	8								15

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