TEAM AQUA ON FIRE AS CHARISMA REGAINS LEAD GOING INTO 44 CUP NANNY CAY FINALE
After a slow start to the regatta, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua came out all guns blazing on Saturday, day three of the 44 Cup Nanny Cay, to win the first two of the three races laid on by PRO Maria Torrijo and the race team from the Royal BVI Yacht Club.
Weather-wise, this was the trickiest day of the regatta so far, that required a 40 minute delay to allow a squall to pass by. The opening beat saw the wind drop to sub-five knots with great variation over the race track, but this was still enough for the nimble RC 44s to make good progress.
Out of the start Team Aqua won the pin with Black Star and Aleph to weather and returning on port, was adequately lifted that she squeaked in on the starboard layline in first, ahead of Nico Poons’ Charisma and Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star. She extended down the run, but on the second beat was nearly caught by Pietro Loro Piana’s crew on Aleph Racing, which picked up a fabulous right shift. Nonetheless, Team Aqua went on to score her first bullet of the regatta.
Clearly with the bit between her teeth, Team Aqua started mid-line in the second race and was first to tack away. Up the first beat she played the shifts masterfully to lead at the top mark, by a comfortable margin over Black Star and John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing. Despite Peninsula and Artemis Racing gybing back on to starboard into a left shift, Aqua eventually picked up the same shift to lead into the gate. She then did enough on the second lap to pick up her second bullet of the regatta.
In the third race, Team Aqua again was in good shape coming into the top mark as several in the fleet were overstood on the starboard layline. A much tighter top mark rounded saw her overlapped with Aleph Racing and Team Nika. Ultimately Aleph Racing nosed ahead onto the run and went on to win the final race of the day for a third consecutive time. With the best scoreline of the day – 2-4-1 – the Aleph Racing team was led by Pietro Loro Piana to the famous Willy T floating bar on Norman Island for some team debriefing.
“The beauty of these boats is that they can still race in 5-6 knots,” commented Aleph Racing tactician Michele Ivaldi. “We have sailed in worse conditions than today. Maria [PRO] did the right thing to postpone because the cloud would have made a big impact on the race track.”
Of the race the French team won, Ivaldi continued: “Initially we thought about starting in the upper part of line and trying to go straight, but then we switched to the pin. It was still complicated but it is a bit easier when you can stretch.” During the third race they saw the most wind of the entire race – 10-11 knots.
While they were bouncing around the bottom of the leaderboard for the first half of the regatta, Chris Bake was unsure of the reasons for his Team Aqua’s sudden change of fortune. “Today it was bloody difficult, but we got a good results, whereas yesterday it was bloody difficult but we didn’t get a good result. It is so fine and so tweaky that if you get in the right place and get some clean air off the start and don’t sail into any holes and you can join the dots, it works. If you don’t, it doesn’t.”
The 44Cup’s newbie Turkish team, Mehmet Taki’s Wow! enjoyed a brief moment of glory in today’s opening race in which they finished a worthy third. “It’s been tough,” mused Taki. “Basically the fleet is ruthless so they don’t allow any mistakes, so we are trying our best. It is really very difficult. There are a lot of situations which we can’t handle yet and which we have to work on, but I am enjoying it. Hopefully we may get some trade winds tomorrow.”
Going into the final day, still any of the top seven teams can win, while the top four teams are separted by just five points, led by Nico Poons’ Charisma with Aleph Racing now just two points adrift and with Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing third.
“It was shiftier than a bag of weasels,” commented Charisma’s Australian main sheet trimmer Chris Hosking. “It is tough sailing and not what we were expecting coming down to the BVI for this week. It was way lighter and fluffier and shiftier than what we were expecting it to be – not the usual trade winds. I am glad I am not a tactician out there, because it is not straightforward.”
Tomorrow the 44Cup fleet is looking forward to racing in more pressure, not the much hoped-for Trade Winds but still a solid 13-18 knots. “It is as usual,” predicted Aleph Racing’s Michele Ivaldi, “everything will come down to the last race.”
Racing will again start an hour earlier tomorrow with a warning signal at 1100 Atlantic Standard Time (UTC -4).
