Despite mid-November, the first day of the final stage of RC44 championship tour in the Portuguese Cascais , participants could enjoy the warm weather and light wind. However, relaxing this day was only at first glance.
Tactics teams had something to smash his head: the wind changed its direction from East to Southeast, and swell were blowing across the boat from all sides.
The ebb and flow of the biggest rivers of the Pyrenees , the Tagusthat meets the ocean only intensified the confusion in the waves.
In the first race the Russian Team Nika were able to spend a good start on starboard tack to the pivot point and thus to control opponents during the return to port. In a similar situation and was running second to the Slovenian team Ceeref, but tacking it managed to overtake the British Team Aqua. The Russians had to be doubly careful not to make mistakes, to not give up the lead, while Team Ceeref and remained until the end of the race in third place.
The second race, the course for which was laid with the new South-East breeze, was not so successful for the Russians. Team Monaco, Nika and Charisma have made mistakes at the start and was at the tail end of the fleet. However, tactician Dean Barker somehow found a way to get closer to the leaders and Team Nika finished third. First place went to Team Aqua, second to the French team Aleph Racing.
The captain of the Russian team Vladimir Prosikhin congratulated his tactics: “Dean found a very nice course, we got clean wind. We are happy: we have surpassed our own expectations from day one. We struggled to keep our position, but the future is unpredictable: it can happen anything. One bad decision when choosing the course or failed during a gybe can change everything. But in this — the excitement of competition in this fleet.”
Despite the excellent performance in the overall Team Nika lost the lead of the British Team Aqua. Another Russian team Bronenosec Sailing, was held this day at the races fifth and seventh places and was sixth in the overall standings.
“Second and first place on a day like today? I’m happy! We started well and several times managed to earn a margin. Everything was going really well,” said beaming Team Aqua tactician Cameron Appleton (Cameron Appleton).
Never participated in races in RC44 class, the Portuguese Paulo Mirpuri (Paulo Mirpuri) also enjoyed the event.
“It was really cool. The wind was very weak, but we can still overclock the boat. This is the advantage of this class,” he shared his impressions.
During the first race, Mirpuri and his Spanish team failed to finish due to problems with the steering wheel, but the second took an honorable fifth place.
“We had a good downwind a second time. We were in the middle of the fleet, but this is a good result, considering that I’m still getting used to the boat. Overall experience very good,” said the sailor.
Forecast on the second day again promises low wind and swell, but this weekend will come the big waves and strong winds.
“It will not be easy, the waves will only increase. Looking at these surfers, who flock here from all over the world, think seriously about what we will be!” — worried Cameron Appleton.
