Slovenia’s RC44 Team Ceeref grabs early lead on Day 1 of RC44 Sweden Cup at Marstrand: Sailing news
Slovenia’s RC44 Team Ceeref has grabbed an early lead at the end of Day 1 of 2011 RC44 Sweden Cup being held at Marstrand. The Slovenian yacht sailed tremendously on Marstrand waters to finish atop despite unfavourable conditions on Day 1. France’s Aleph
Sailing Team finished second while home favourites Artemis Racing occupied the third place.
The weather conditions were lighter at the start of the day’s races, as the wind gusted around eight knots, so the sailors had to wait for the breeze to fill in. The 16-team fleet sailed to windward leeward course under these light conditions to finish the
only race of the day.
RC44 Team Ceeref sailed to Marstrand’s southern inlet with a convincing lead and crossed the finish line with a four-boat-length lead. The team’s tactician Michele Ivaldi from Italy and the helmsman Igor Lah from Slovenia helped their crew finishing on top.
While speaking to the local media after the race, Lah said, “There was really light shifty wind today, pretty tough conditions, so it was necessary to concentrate for the whole race which was hard, but it paid off.”
The local heroes, Artemis Racing were leading in the first lap of the race and they were in control after extending their lead but a wrong choice of leeward gate nudged them down at third place in the fleet.
Team owner, Torbjorn Tornqvist explained to the reporters, “We were not well positioned at the start but we managed to gain a strong lead on the fleet. However, at the first leeward mark, we made a tactical error going left while the others went right and
by the time we realized this it was too late to recover.”
The overall standings at the end of Day 1 are given below:
1. RC44 TEAM CEEREF (SLO 11)
2. Aleph Sailing Team (FRA17)
3. Artemis Racing (SWE44)
4. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS 13)
5. Team Aqua (GBR 2041)
6. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team (GBR 1)
7. No Way Back (NED 18)
8. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP 1)
9. Team Nika (RUS 10)
10. Katusha (RUS 007)
11. ORACLE Racing (USA 19)
12. Ironbound (USA 1)
13. RUS-7 Sail Racing Team powered by AnyWayAnyDay.com (RUS7)
14. Team KSSS (SWE 11)
15. AEZ RC44 Sailing Team (AUT44)
16. MAG Racing (POL44)
Tags: