Racing in no wind

Spanish Cup team extends their lead on final day of the GP42's Quebramar Cup regatta in Santa Margherita Ligure

Desafío, the GP42 sailed by the Spanish America's Cup team, was crowned winner of the Trofeo Pirelli, opening event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008, after yet another excruciatingly light and testing day on the waters of Santa Margherita Ligure. Just three boats managed to finish the fourth and closing race of the event

For the third consecutive day, Eolo, the Italian god of wind, was in a bad mood and put the eight GP42 crews to test. Despite a breeze of barely three knots, the race committee fired the starting gun just 15 minutes after the scheduled time. Seven of the eight yachts, as it has been the case throughout the event, rushed immediately to the right side of the course, as close as possible to the coast, in search of the slightest puff of wind.

Desafío, with Santiago López-Vazquez calling tactics, having come to a virtual stop at the starting line, opted for the left and got off almost 1:30 minutes behind the leader. Despite this, the tactical decision paid handsomely for the Spanish who managed to work their way up to the top after watching their competitors struggle a few metres from Portofino’s rocks.

The green boat rounded the top mark ahead and despite the close attacks by Paolo Cian’s Roma GP 42.2, they held on to their lead, crossing the finish line with a comfortable advantage, ahead of Roma GP 42.2 and Near Miss, helmed by Bertrand Pacé.

In the meantime the breeze had completely disappears and the remaining five boats were unable to finish on time.

in terms of the difficulty in understanding the wind, tacticians and helmsmen also had to pay very careful attention to the rest of the 130-strong fleet that was sailing in very close proximity, crowding the area around the buoys.

The final race didn’t change the series results much, but allowed Desafio to put distance on competitors increasing her lead to a full 12 points, while Canarias Puerto Calero and Airis, closed to a mere point of each other, the latter overtaking Near Miss and getting on to the podium thanks to two second places in the previous races.

“We are obviously very happy with the result," Desafio helmsman, Laureno Wizner. "It was not easy to race, but the crew is experienced and have sailed together for a long time. It’s always good to win but it’s even more special to do it at the first event and with an almost clean score, with three wins. The boat is now leaving for Valencia where we will have presentation to the media, and than we will head to St Tropez. Hopefully the conditions will be different there.”

Alicia Ageno, navigator on Canarias Puerto Calero added: "It was very difficult to race with such light winds and continuous shifts. I believe today the Race Committee shouldn’t have given us the start. The venue is very attractive, but it’s hard to sail in a big fleet, you have to keep your eyes wide open to avoid the big and the little boats coming from everywhere, it’s different than having your own race. Today luck was a factor too. We are satisfied with our boat’s performance; obviously she’s tested from last season. Yet the new designs are fast, they lack some tuning but I guess they will get better and better, and the circuit more interesting with every new event. It’s fun to sail in this class.”

The GP42 fleet will now head to France and St. Tropez for the second leg of the Quebramar Cup 2008 circuit.

Provisional Final Results of Trofeo Pirelli (4 races)

1) Desafío - 3, 1, 1, 1 – 6 points
2) Canarias Puerto Calero - 2, 3, 4, 9 – 18 points
3) Airis - 6, 2, 2, 9 – 19 points
4) Near Miss - 4, 9, 3, 3 – 19 points
5) Madrid - 1, 4, 6, 9 – 20 points
6) Roma 42.2 - 5, 9, 5, 2 – 21 points
7) MC Seawonder 007 - 7, 5, 7, 9 – 28 points
8) Roma - 8, 6, 8,9 – 31 points