RC44 News-Feed

Ironic after a day blown off as severe gale force winds battered the nearby rock of Gibraltar, day two of the 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina started with barely a breath of wind. Fortunately, right on queue just before the appointed midday start time, the wind on the Bay of Gibraltar suddenly and forcefully kicked in with an offshore breeze stabilising at 13 knots from 280°.

At the start the new Spanish team Noticias of Luis Martín Cabiedes with his World Champion-laden crew (they have 23 such titles between them) won the pin while Black Star Sailing Team started at the race committee boat and tacked to claim the right, followed by John Bassadone and his local heroes on Peninsula Racing. Up the first beat the right paid and it was a confident-looking Black Star that was first around the top mark. Sadly some spinnaker issues coming into the leeward gate dropped the Swiss team to second behind Aleph Racing, which had picked up places on the run. The French team rounded the port gate mark, tacked to the right and consolidated their position over Black Star as the wind speed jumped up to 20+ knots in the gusts. “There was pressure, some right hand in the breeze and a bit of current relief too on the right once you got close in,” explained Aleph Racing’s Italian tactician Michele Ivaldi of their tactics. 

Race two was by far the most dramatic of the day. Firstly a shift on the start line enabled the increasingly plucky Black Star Sailing Team to tack on the line, crossing ahead of the fleet which were otherwise bunched up by the race committee boat ‘port tacking the fleet’.  The Swiss team once again led up the beat, keen to right their loss in the first race. Sadly in a matter of seconds the darkness to windward turned into into a violent rain squall engulfing the fleet as they were approaching the top mark, reducing visibility to metres in a deluge of driving rain. Crews later reports having seen wind speeds of almost 40 knots. The squall was so violent that it tore the wand (anemometer) from Aleph Racing’s masthead. The race was abandoned. 

Finally on the resailed second race it came good for the Swiss team. After trailing Artemis Racing around the top mark, Black Star gybed early to take the lead at the leeward gate and then held on to the finish. This was Black Star Sailing Team’s first ever bullet on their eighth event on the 44Cup showing the considerable journey they have made to this morning. 

Through the day the Swiss team with Christian Zuerrer driving and Cameron Dunn called tactics looked fast and confident. “We felt really comfortable,” admitted Zuerrer. “We had a good practice race day with two seconds and a third and we’ve found the best balance for trimming and steering the boat though the choppy stuff. It was a good first day – I am definitely pleased. It is a great venue here.” Of their brave port tack start, he said: “It is not often that you can start like that in such as a strong fleet.”

This season, Nico Poons’ Charisma has been the stand-out team, including their victory in August’s RC44 World Championship in Cowes. After two lacklustre races, including an OCS in race two, the Dutchman’s team finally bounced back to win the third decisively. After rounding the top mark in third, Charisma was first to gybe and edged into the lead. “We ended up being above the bottom mark and had to soak in,” admitted Charisma’s tactician Hamish Pepper. “It was pretty even going into the gate- the other side was favoured, but we came around on the favoured tack and then we picked up a big leftie and then it became very easy after that. It was more luck than skill I’d say…” As another tactician observed – that had been the only left of the day… 

In fact while they did not win a race, the day’s star performer was local host of the 44Cup Aldaidesa Marina, John Bassadone and his Peninsula Racing. They never finished off the podium and concluded Friday leading overall on eight points to Black Star Sailing Team’s 11 and Artemis Racing’s 12. 

“It is fantastic to have a home regatta in our marina here, right next to where I live in Gibraltar,” said a beaming Bassadone. “I am super proud. The guys have done a tremendous job, as it hasn’t been easy, -so a big thank you to them. I am excited and pleased what a great set up everyone has done. It is just fantastic to sail with the Rock of Gibraltar in the background.”

Some local knowledge may have come into play as the Peninsula Racing team often sail their team’s fleet of J/80s or Victorys in Gibraltar itself. “It has been a while since we have been leading – it feel good,” continued Bassadone on today’s performance. “We have sailed very well in very tricky conditions in a lot of wind. Vasco [Vascotto – tactician] and the whole team have done a great job today to help me sail around in apretty solid manner and we are super happy with the result. But this is only the first day and it all can change pretty quickly.”

For all the teams apart form Peninsula Racing it was a high scoring day and in a true example of the ‘first shall become last’ in the third race Black Star came home eighth while Aleph Racing was ninth after some spinnaker issues on the final run.  

Tomorrow the racing is again due to start at 1200 CEST with lighter winds forecast. 

On some days conditions can be marginal for a committee to lay on yacht racing. Today at the 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina there was nothing marginal about the wind strength on the Bay of Gibraltar. Despite the first warning signal for the opening day of competition being brought forward by an hour to 1100 CEST, already at 1000 conditions were exceeding the maximum 25 knot limit for RC44 racing to take place. The decision to cancel racing for the day was disappointing, but an easy one.

44Cup PRO Maria Torrijo explained: “We are expecting strong wind, especially this afternoon – we have a warning of gale force winds. This morning we were supposed to have less wind and a window of two hours in which we wanted to do two races, but right now on the course we have 23 knots steady and the gusts are up to 27-28 and we know it will be increasing throughout the day.”

Fortunately prospects for tomorrow are much better with 18-20 knots forecast, when the race committee will attempt to make up the schedule.

Team Aqua’s Chris Bake commented: “25+ knots and building and we are expecting 50-60 knots later today, so it is a case of ‘sense over valour’. There is no point trying to go racing these conditions.”

The event at Alcaidesa Marina is hosted by Peninsula Racing and owner John Bassadone. Peninsula Racing and their team coach Gustavo Martinez Doreste frequently race here on Peninsula’s fleet of J/80s. “I think it was a good decision to cancel today,” said Doreste. “We are used to having the westerlies and easterlies here. Today was pretty much like yesterday, but the gradient is stronger. What we also have today are much bigger puffs, so sometimes it can be nice sailing but then suddenly you get a gust of 30-35 knot because the wind is coming over the mountains. So it is tricky.”

Black Star Sailing Team tactician Cameron Dunn agreed: “When we first came down to the dock this morning we had 15 knots at the top of the mast and within the next hour we were getting puffs to 24. But there is a 50 knot gradient up there and it is going to be 45 knots later on this afternoon. Unfortunately it just came in too quickly. 

“Tomorrow is looks like it will be a moderate to windy, post-frontal northwesterly, 12 to 20 knots, pretty light on Saturday possibly and then the opposite direction, southwesterly on Sunday. And as we saw yesterday when it gets light out here there is a lot of geography – it can be quite a radical race course.”

Aside from the wind, banter on the dock is turning to rugby with Argentina and New Zealand playing on Friday night and England v South Africa on Saturday and all these nations represented on the 44Cup. Irish crews are still being reminded repeatedly of their defeat last Saturday to New Zealand.

Following the RC44 class’ World Championship in Cowes in August, the 44Cup resumes tomorrow in the shadow of another famous maritime British empire outpost - Gibraltar. Host of this event for the high performance owner-driver one designs is the 624-berth Alcaidesa Marina. This is located in Spain, metres across the border from the northern ‘Pillar of Hercules’, home of John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing team. Racing at the 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina will start tomorrow on the Bay of Gibraltar at 1100 CEST. 

Appropriately given the move to Spain for this fourth event of the 2023 44Cup, a Spanish team will be in charge of the class’s trial RC44 this week. While the Noticia team has been a regular feature of Spanish yacht racing for years, the international community will most likely remember the name from a decade agowhen a Noticia Soto 40 competed in the complimentary one design fleet to the TP52s on the Audi Medcup. Noticia’s Santander-based owner Luis Martín Cabiedes latterly recruited the remnants of the Iberdrola former Spanish America’s Cup crew, performing well in the process.

From an IMX 40 to the Soto 40 and then on to J/80s (racing with Jose Maria ‘Pichu’ Torcida - two time J/80 World Champion) and a J/70 (with Torcida and Rayco Tabares – five time J/80 World Champion), both popular classes in Spain, Cabiedes acknowledges his yacht racing has retrograded over the last decade. But there is good reason for this: “Four or five years ago I decided to start steering, which will mean that I can keep racing for longer. So far we haven’t had good results, but I am no5 in the J/70 ranking in Spain. The truth is that I always like to sail with very very good crew like this one.” 

The Spanish yacht racing scene is small and everyone knows everyone. Many of the Peninsula Racing crew had raced with Cabiedes previously and with the news that the 44Cup was visiting mainland Spain, they lured Cabiedes into trying out the RC44, although he admits he didn’t require much luring. “The RC44 was a boat that I always wanted to try, but I’m afraid I like it too much! It is a wonderful boat, a wonderful fleet and a wonderful circuit.”

To date he has just had some training on board. Tomorrow racing proper will start. So what does he like about the RC44?  “It has the speed of a larger boat, but the feel of a dinghy. The Soto 40 was a little bit like that. It is a one design which makes the racing much more fun. And the fleet is incredible - teams have been offering us sails – as is the boat. It is like the last evolution of the 2007 America’s Cup monohulls. Now we have other types of boats which are great but this will stand for a long time. I am very sure the RC44 will become a classic.” 

While Spanish, Cabiedes admits that he has never raced on the Bay of Gibraltar. The team that has are of course the local hosts on John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing, that is all except their Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto. “I’ve never sailed here but the guys know this place quite well,” commented Vascotto. “It is very interesting. On Tuesday I sailed here for the first time and it was shifting. You need to very very smart in terms of how to play them.” 

This season the team to beat remains Nico Poons’ Charisma, the leader with a 2023 regatta scoreline of 2-1-1, including the World Championship title in Cowes two months ago. However behind the Dutchman's runaway train on 4 points, it is close between Aleph Racing second on 10 points and Team Nika in fifth place on 12.

Going into this event Peninsula Racing, Teams Aqua and Nika, Charisma and Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 have the same crew as normal. The others have made minor changes in personnel. 

The crew on Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team has gained an Olympic Golden medallist in the form of Australian Will Ryan, who was the 470 champion at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Ryan has sailed with the RC44 previous for just one event, with the German La Pericolosa crew in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote at the beginning of 2022. 

Ryan now lives in Switzerland and has become involved in many of the circuits there including the TF35 flying catamaran and becoming Swiss J/70 champion. But his biggest commitment is as wing trimmer for to the Swiss SailGP team.

“I love it - the racing is very dynamic,” says Ryan. “It is a very friendly atmosphere  and coming from a dinghy background, downwind is always fun and the racing is short and intense. It is a really nice atmosphere on shore too - everyone is keen to help us out, people have lent us sails etc. I have very good memories and am excited to be back.”

Due to the severe weather forecast to later tomorrow afternoon, the race committee has chosen to advance the first start by one hour to 1100 tomorrow. 

The fourth of five events on the 2023 44Cup set sails next week over 18th-22nd October in a new venue for the high performance owner-driver one design circuit on the Spanish mainland.

Located next to the border with Gibraltar, Alcaidesa Marina is in La Línea de la Concepción and faces west into the Bay of Gibraltar. While in previous years the 44Cup has raced 10 miles to the north in the Mediterranean Sea out of Sotogrande, where the Rock of Gibraltar served as a distance backdrop, for the 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina the mighty British rock, one of the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, will be its magnificent next door neighbour. 

Racing next week will take place in the Bay of Gibraltar and in the famous Strait connecting the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean. The Bay is open to the south so offers protection and flatter water in the prevailing southwesterly or easterly winds. This may prove a blessing since the wind can be accelerated as it funnels through the Strait with the long term forecast at present predicting a blustery westerly on the final Sunday. 

The 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina is being hosted by Peninsula Racing’s John Bassadone, who welcomed the nine teams:  “I am honoured to welcome the 44Cup to our home waters – the Bay of Gibraltar. Having grown up here, I am proud to be able to showcase everything we have to offer from the hospitality to the sailing experience.

“The Gibraltarian and Andalucian way of life is uniquely ours. It knows no bounds and there are so many exciting things to experience. From prehistoric caves to world famous golf courses and everything in-between, you will be left wanting for nothing.

“I am certain this leg of the Championship will produce some very exciting races and nail biting sailing. The backdrop of the Rock of Gibraltar and the Atlas Mountains in North Africa are known as the Pillars of Hercules and what a fitting setting for the 44Cup.”

Bassadone has previously raced J/80s out of Alcaidesa Marina. He adds of the conditions: “In October you can get anything here from very blowy to quite calm - you have to prepare for anything at this time of year in this part of the world. We will control the controllables. There will be good entertainment ashore and no one will go hungry!”

Alcaidesa Marina offers deep water access in all weather conditions and has 624 berths for yachts ranging from 8 to 90m in length. It also features a modern boatyard equipped with a 75 tonne boat hoist and specialist marine businesses on site. 

The 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina will follow the usual format of events for the RC44 class with practice racing on Wednesday 18th October followed by four days of typically three windward-leewards per day over Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd October.

The venue will be novelty for most of the crews not being on the regular yacht racing circuit. However Team Nika’s British tactician Nic Asher many years ago trained out of here while preparing for his 470 Olympic campaign. Aside from the potential for good conditions he remembers the outstanding marine life that populates the Bay. 

The Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes and the Solent laid on a World Championship worthy of the leading owner-driver one design class, the RC44. Over four days, the nine teams enjoyed top of the range conditions, plus the usual complexities of British tides and fast moving weather systems. Despite these challenges Nico Poons, tactician Hamish Pepper and the crew of Charisma defended their World Championship title. Unlike the title they won last year in Portorož, Slovenia in ultra-light conditions, this time, the latter part of the regatta was held in 20 knot winds, more typically ‘Charisma conditions’ which contributed to their victory with a race to spare.  

Charisma began the day five points ahead of Team Nika, with Chris Bake's Team Aqua and Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing a further two and three points astern respectively.

The first race was action packed with two of the main contenders receiving penalties - Team Aqua shortly after the start and Team Nika at the second top mark rounding. In addition there were two significant lead changes: Igor Lah's Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 led around the top mark; John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing edging ahead on the second beat; finally Charisma, having to make one less gybe, pipped both to the post. 

The fortunes of Aqua and Nika descended further in the second race, held in similarly brisk conditions. With the tide slack, Peninsula Racing and Ceeref looked strong out to the right. However Aleph Racing rounded in front while Charisma was just able to get the inside berth rounding in third. Here Team Nika picked up yet another penalty. Meanwhile Team Aqua was caught in traffic and in a last effort gybed early and alone on the final run. Team Aqua and Team Nika crossed the finish line in seventh and eighth places respectively. 

Their results had a dramatic effect on the leaderboard leaving Charisma 13 points ahead going into the final race and, unbeatable, claimed their second consecutive title. 

“In this class because of the level, you don’t need to do anything to be at the back,” said Poons of his victory. “The trick is to be as consistent as possible. You win the regatta by reducing the damage of the bad races.” He added: “This week we didn’t start that strong, especially on the second day. Yesterday we had a very strong day and today was good.” 

Hamish Pepper added: “The last five races went really well - all credit to Nico and the team – they make me look good and do everything really well. When I have full faith in Nico steering and the guys trimming and the crew work, it give me the confidence to put the boat into places that sometimes normal people wouldn’t try. We had to do that today at the top mark for our last race - Nico and the guys pulled it off nicely and that probably won us the regatta with a race to spare.” 

In addition to Poons and Pepper, the Charisma crew comprised Chris Hosking, Ross Halcrow, Dimitri Simmons, Ryan Godfrey, Robin Jacobs, Flavia Tomiselli and Ivan Peute. Their coach is American Morgan Reeser with the local experience for this regatta from David Howlett.

Other reasons for Charisma’s generally superb performance seems to be a combination of Poons, who despite his modesty has been yacht racing as both crew and helmsman for some 40 years; a world class tactician and crew; the team, including Poons, getting in the maximum permitted training time before every regatta and using up all their annual sail cards harnessing the talents of sail designer Robert Hook. 

While Charisma basked in glory, the story for the rest of the fleet was far from over. With Charisma gone and Louise Morton’s all-female Bullet crew having retired, there was still the tightest fight in the final race for the remaining podium positions with Aleph Racing one point ahead of Team Aqua and Team Nika.

Ultimately Team Aqua, the day one leader, finally came good to win the race and claim second overall. Even then the drama was not over. Team Nika was looking solid in second but where would Aleph Racing finish? A third would leave her tied, claiming third overall on countback. Ultimately Aleph Racing finished fifth behind Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team and Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing, leaving Team Nika third overall. 

Chris Bake, who in addition to campaigning Team Aqua was also the 44Cup Cowes’ host via his club, the Royal Yacht Squadron commented: “As always in this class it comes down to the last leg of the last race. Charisma put on an exception performance this week and were very consistent. The rest of us struggled with ups and downs on the scoreboard. We were really pleased to be able to pull it together on the last race.

“The Solent is a tricky body of water. It has variable winds and variable currents to deal with. The race management and the courses they set up were superb. The weather was typically British summer time with some cloud and rain, but it has been superb. We provided a lot of entertainment on the water.”

At the prizegiving the Royal Yacht Squadron was roundly thanked by the 44Cup class and teams for their hospitality and their superb race management headed up by Peter Saxton with the 44Cup’s own Maria Torrijo. 

From here the 44Cup moves to Alcaidesa Marina next to Gibraltar for the penultimate event of the season, over 18-22 October. 

Doing bow onboard a RC44 can get busy and chaotic quickly. We speak to Team Aqua’s Juan Marcos, and Team Charisma’s Ivan Peute to get their best tips and tricks for doing bow on the 44Cup circuit. 

According to Peute, there are three essential things he needs to do to nail the start. The first one is to feed the correct information to the tactician. This is based on judging the time and distance to the line and pre-empting how other boats on the start line will manoeuvre and clearly and precisely communicating that information to the tactician.

 Secondly, the bowman must make clear hand signals when approaching the line, so the helm knows how far from the line they are. Lastly, the bowman needs to know where the line is, so they know whether they are over after the start. Pinging the start line, which means pinpointing where each end of the line is, is key so you can be the closest boat to the line where the starting gun goes. 

 RC44’s are very unique boats with no lifelines which makes staying onboard during the racing absolutely essential. Marcos has a ‘Death zone’ which is between the forehatch and forestay. Whenever he enters the death zone, to ping the line he always ensures he is holding onto something. 

When it comes to hoisting and dropping the spinnaker, the key according to Marcos is having a reliable drop line system. To ensure dropping the spinnaker is clean and efficient, make sure ‘drop lines are ready to run, and the drop line is not underneath the bag for example or tangled.’ If the drop line is not ready to run, then the kite goes into the water and you end up having to fish the kite out of the water which is slow. 

For hoists, it is key to make sure the tapes have been run and the kite can go up into the air without being tangled.

If you want to find out more about racing onboard an RC44 check out this video. 

With near gale force winds forecast for the afternoon, to stay on schedule racing for the high performance owner-driver RC44 one designs on the penultimate day of their World Championship was brought forward by two hours with a first warning signal at 0930. In the southwesterly breeze the race area was set up between Hill Head and the Brambles Bank, in the northeastern quadrant of the central Solent, by the Royal Yacht Squadron’s expert race management team led by Peter Saxton and the 44Cup’s own PRO Maria Torrijo. 

In fact when racing got underway it was only in 16 knots, the tide running from left to right across the course. Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing and Igor Lah's Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 were called over early. While the right was winning early, the left came good up the beat and here Team Nika managed to round ahead of Nico Poons’ Charisma and then continued to hang on for the remainder of the race. 

Tactician Nick Asher described the conditions: “It wasn’t as windy as we thought it would be to start with. We were wondering about which jib to go on - everyone was on their J3 and we matched them. It was very shifty - puffy with some big holes in it – it was about just trying to get off the line and stay in phase.  There were lefties - 20° shifts coming off the island - and more pressure sometimes.” 

In the next two races, it was the turn of the defending world champions and 2023 44Cup leaders Charisma. Again the Monaco-flagged team headed left and, despite being caught up in traffic with Chris Bake’s Team Aqua and John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing, wriggled clear, crossing clear ahead of several starboard tackers to squeak around the top mark just ahead of Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing and Ceeref. Despite Ceeref and Team Aqua gybing early on the run, Charisma stayed in front to take her first bullet of the series. 

Charisma did well out on the left again in race three, but this time pulled out a solid lead by the top mark, leaving teams Nika and Aqua to round behind in traffic. Charisma went to claim the bullet unperturbed until the final run when the chasing packed closed in with the top five crossing the line within just nine seconds. 

With a near perfect 2-1-1 scoreline today, Charisma has surged up the leaderboard, five points ahead of Team Nika and another two ahead of 2019/21 World Champions Team Aqua. 

Traditionally Charisma’s crew likes the big conditions but Poons points out that they won last year’s World Championship in Portorož, Slovenia in sub-6 knot conditions. “But,” he observes, “our chances in heavy weather are less open-ended than in light conditions.” As to any tactics tomorrow, Poons says “We will just do our thing like normal and go as fast as possible…”

Main sheet trimmer Chris Hosking added:  “Today was good. The 44s are renowned for being exhilarating boats in those wind speeds. They are fantastic boats – upwind we were doing target [speed] and downwind we were planning. We were all pushing each other to keep fully focussed. We had three great starts and good boat control.”

As to why they went left, Hosking explained: “The first two races certainly there was current, which we thought was favourable on that side. The third race was a more open race track with a few more options.” 

Both Team Nika and Team Aqua scored nine points today, with Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing a point from the podium. A 4-3-2 restored day one leader Team Aqua to the podium. “I thought it was quite hard upwind, but downwind we had good speed and good angles and we recovered from some bad mistakes,”  said Chris Bake, who is hosting the 44Cup Cowes via his club, the Royal Yacht Squadron. “Overall it was a really fun day - the RC44 comes alive in 20+ knots. It was really gusty from 16-23 knots and really fun…when we were going well… Obviously Nico and Charisma are sailing very strong. Hopefully we can get a few races in tomorrow.” 

Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 has been uncharacteristically light on top placed finishes this regatta and posted a 3-5-3 today, leaving her fifth. “It was great sailing – a lot of wind but up and down, right and left. I enjoyed it a lot - it was extremely hard to steer, but I survived. Now I have to go and have a cup of tea!” said Igor Lah. 

Charisma’s Chris Hosking concluded: “It is never over until it is over in this class. There are too many good boats here and good people to go resting on your laurels, based on what happened yesterday. We will need to stay fully focussed and check through our processes and do basic things well - get off the start; make sure we are going quick and don’t make any boat handling errors.”

One design keelboats come in all shapes and sizes. Classics often remain as they have always been with few if any upgrades, while for more modern, high performance yachts it is important to stay ‘current’, fitting the latest gear without letting budgets run away. 

Over the RC44’s successful career the strict one design has continually been upgraded as technology has evolved. Annually teams are permitted to replace a limited number of sails, but changes to any other parts of the boat must be first agreed by the Class before they are changed simultaneously across all boats. Past developments to the RC44 have included the mainsail, deck gear and electronics. This spring it was the turn of the Harken winch package: The primary and mainsheet winches, all original-fit from when the boats were launched, were replaced with the latest tech from Wisconsin – a brand new winch, designed specifically for the RC44 - while the mechanics and gearing inside the winch pedestal was upgraded too. 

“The reason for the upgrade was that the class was conceived in 2005 and the winches are 17 years old now,” explains Chris Hosking, mainsheet trimmer on Nico Poons’ Charisma, who spearheaded this project on behalf of the RC44 class. “Harken no longer produces that line of winches and we were running out of spares parts, etc. Plus there was the opportunity to conceive a winch that was specific for this size of boat: Harken’s grand prix winch range was missing a winch of this size because before this the smallest they did was the Air 250 which they use on the TP52s, which is a bit too big for a 40 footer.”

Mark Wiss, Director of Global Grand-Prix and Custom Yacht Sales at Harken gives his take on this: “We are excited – for several years we have been talking to the Class about upgrading their winch and pedestal system, mainly because the equipment they had was the original equipment and most of it we don’t support or produce any more. We were getting worried that the spare parts they needed to keep sailing, we didn’t have. Finally we sat down with some of the key members of the class and developed a proposal.”

The new Harken Air Winch 180 is the smallest in Pewaukee, Wisconsin-based manufacturer’s Air Winch range. The first Air Winches were introduced for the AC50 catamarans used for the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda. Their previous smallest, the Air Winch 250 was subsequently conceived for the TP52s, while their Air Winch 600s are aimed at the AC75s and top of the range Air 900s are used on Ultim maxi trimarans. “We always had a plan for a small one, but we never had the opportunity to invest in the design because there weren’t enough 40 footers in that size range to justify the expense of designing and building it,” continues Wiss.  

Compared to the RC44’s original main sheet and primary winches, the new Air Winch 180 has a bigger footprint and larger diameter. To improve aerodynamics, it is shorter in height, but this has required it to be choked up slightly in order to keep the same sheet angles on to the drum as before. Structurally the 180 is more robust, with a larger diameter centre but, despite this, it weighs significantly less. The 180s fitted to the RC44s are all-aluminium save for some carbon components such as the top cover while the gears are stainless steel. The new winches also have a plain top while the previous ones had a rarely used top cleat. 

In addition to this the pedestals has been brought up to present day tech. While the original carbon casing has been retained, their innards have been replaced with MX mechanics. “It is a chain system with a clutch in the top,” explains Wise. “They can now put the winch in first speed and select ‘overdrive’ so that one turn of the pedestal handle equals almost three turns of the drum. The previous overdrive equipment was from a time when asymmetric sails were brand new to the market. Now they can gybe and hoist and drop at speeds they have long wanted, but haven’t been able to.” So while one turn on the pumps would previously turn a winch 1.8 times, the upgrade has nearly doubled this. Hoskings notes: “A push button enables you to get into overdrive gear, which we use for hoisting, gybing and dropping the spinnaker. You can really notice a difference – all the manoeuvres are now much smoother and more efficient. We can outside gybe nicely now because we have the line speed to enable us to do it. Then we go out of overdrive to trim the jib sheet.” The two lower gears have also been modified with feedback from the RC44 crews. 

Being able to carry out faster manoeuvres due to the new winches has knock-on effects for the whole crew. Long established playbooks have had to be reappraised: for example, tacticians can now call for kite drops to be made closer to the mark, while the helmsman can now turn the boat faster through gybes.

Hosking continues: “We will be pushing further into the bottom mark and the potential to be able to gybe on someone and roll them is enhanced because we have the line speed with the spinnaker sheet now, so we might see that the tacticians knowing that they can now pull off some of these more aggressive manoeuvres against some of their competitors because you have got the line speed to be able to do that.” 

In addition the primary winches now counter rotate - the starboard one now loaded anticlockwise. “We made the primary winches handed so that you have the same number of turns of rope on each winch,” explains Hosking. “Before you’d be sailing along with port pole going downwind and you’d either have half a turn too much or half a turn not enough.” So this too is now similar to other bigger grand prix race boats. 

So what seems like a modest change, potentially has big effects out on the race course. 

In typical 44 Cup style, Friday’s racing at the World Championship for the leading owner driver one design circuit concluded with two boats tied in the top spot with third place just one point behind with two days of racing left this weekend. 

With the wind having veered southwest overnight, the Royal Yacht Squadron’s race committee, overseen by class PRO Maria Torrijo, moved the race area into the central-western Solent, off the Beaulieu River. The wind was also less, starting at 12-14 knots and dropping to 6-10, but gusty and shifty as a steady stream of clouds passed through bringing with them drizzle and reduced visibility. Given Saturday’s potentially vicious forecast and uncertainty over whether racing will be possible, four rather than three races were held today. The first start at 1130 coincided with the end of the ebb, which was followed by two highly tactical races when the tide was slack before it began flooding. Given the dynamic situation it was a relatively high scoring day. 

After a lacklustre first day, Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing came out guns blazing and with some aggressive playing of the tide on the opening beat, was first to the top mark and from there to the finish ahead of Team Nika and Aleph Racing. With the bit still between their teeth, the Swedish team followed this with a third in the second race.              

“It was a better day for us,” summarised Artemis Racing’s tactician 49er gold medallist Dylan Fletcher. “We had a big briefing and worked out what we needed to amend. It was a very difficult day with the tide changing and varying between the sides. Trying to understand that was difficult, but we are happy to have come out with some solid results.”

Of the first race he added: “Everyone knew it was a left hand track and we just had a really nice start and picked a good lane. We had good speed and are quite happy. In the second race we had an issue with the kite so we lost a boat, but here if you make one small mistake you get punished hard. But that is why everyone enjoys it and it makes winning all the sweeter.”

In the second race Chris Bake’s Team Aqua pulled in ahead onto the starboard layline coming into the first top mark rounding. Resolutely hanging on, Team Aqua notched up her third bullet of the regatta. 

With the flood beginning, combined Solent wisdom suggested taking the right/mainland side of the beat where the tide on the plateau off the Beaulieu River would provide relief. Eight of the nine RC44s employed this tactic, with the exception of John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing which on her lonesome headed to the left/Isle of Wight side of the course. However a favourable shift caused the Gibraltar team to round the top mark with a monster lead of 1 minutes 52 seconds over Nico Poons’ second placed Charisma. The rest of the fleet was left fighting for positions with Charisma second ahead of Igor Lah's Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860.

Peninsula Racing’s tactician Vasco Vascotto explained: “At the start the wind was really right. We started to leeward and I said ‘to me this is the maximum lift we are going to see.’” Then everyone else tacked. “We were alone for a long time and prayed our choice was correct. I promise you that the next 10-15 minutes felt like hours - but it was nice to cross in front! Obviously we were relieved that finally something worked. It was nice to watch and I had a lot of messages, but the reality was that personally I had three other bad races. If we want to win this championship, I need to sail better.”

In the final race the right/mainland side of the course was definitely paying but by how much? Ultimately the tide left the group which had gone further right overstood, while those inside, Aleph Racing and Black Star Sailing Team, were sweetly lifted up rounding ahead and going on to win. 

“We had a good last race,” said Lepic, whose team is the defending 44Cup Cowes champion. “We had a decent start, but we were on the right side of the course when there was a big right shift which Michele and Paul [Westlake] had somewhat anticipated. It is very humbling to be here in Cowes, but also very exciting and good racing.”

Tactician Michele Ivaldi admitted: “That as a bit of luck. We didn’t have a good start. The boats closer to the shallow water were getting relief in the current but there was a right shift and they ended up overstanding by quite a bit leaving us on the perfect layline.”

This win left Aleph Racing leading the 44Cup Cowes World Championship at the half-way stage, tied on points with Team Nika, with Charisma just a point behind. Along with Aleph Racing, the lowest scoring teams today were Nika, Artemis Racing and Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860.

Tomorrow the wind is looking possibly sailable in the morning but in afternoon the forecasts have it gusting to 30+ knots. As a result the first warning signal has been advanced to 0930. 

With two bullets from three races, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua has taken an early lead after day one of the 2023 44Cup Cowes, the World Championship for the high performance owner driver one designs.

With racing run by the event hosts the Royal Yacht Squadron under the eye of class PRO Maria Torrijo, the easterly – southeasterly wind direction required the race course to be set up in the central-eastern Solent, southeast of Brambles Bank. While the wind started light with 20° shifts, for the second race the overcast sky cleared, the sun appeared and the wind built to 15 knots with moments of 18.  

In the first two races, Team Aqua led around every mark. In the opener after a pin end start she squeaked ahead of defending 44Cup Cowes Champions Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing coming into the top mark (the French held on to second but then received two penalty points for a start line collision). In the second Team Aqua started close to the committee boat and was one of the first to tack on to port, nosing ahead of the group on the Isle of Wight side of the course. By the top mark she was comfortably leading Nico Poons’ 2023 44Cup leaders on Charisma and hung on from there. 

As to what made the difference today, Bake commented: “Getting off the line well. After that it was fairly dynamic - whatever strategy you had didn’t seem to pan out. It was hard not to be OCS (three boats were called over in the first race). The boat was going well and a bit of [boat] speed made the difference in the end. It was a good day, but there are three more to go....” 

Team Aqua ended up two points ahead of Charisma, ever consistent with their 4-2-2 scoreline today. 

Team Nika got off to a slow start but after winning the final race ended the day third overall, three points behind Charisma. “It was a tricky day,” commented tactician Nic Asher. “The first race was a bit lighter than we expected and the wind was shifting around - it was tough to understand was what happening. The current was a big thing balancing whether that or the wind was more important was key. We struggled to start with - we were OCS in the first race, but throughout the day we got in the groove.”

By the final race, it was clearly paying to go right for maximum tidal boost up the beat and left to keep out of the tide on the runs. “The wind was pretty steady so we wanted to win the boat end and we then just went right of the fleet,” explained Asher. “It was a fairly straightforward race.”

Still fairly new to the RC44 is Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team which finished a creditable sixth after a 3-5-6 today. “We showed on the last day in Marstrand that we can have some good results in a row [they finished sixth of eight in Sweden in July]. We have found a way to balance the boat and I’m happy that we’ve continued to step up from Marstrand on the first day here.” Zuerrer admits he and the team are struggling a little with the tides since they have done almost no previos sailing on the Solent.  

Bullet, the all-female team led by local legend Louise Morton, may be lying last at the end of day one, but this in no way reflects their performance. Notably in the second race Bullet was leading up the first beat, only to be edged out at the top mark by Team Aqua and Charisma and then subsequently lost places. 

“We absolutely loved it,” said Morton. “We have only had three days sailing in the boat prior to today. We hadn’t lined up against anyone before the practice race yesterday. They are cracking boats – really good fun to sail, requiring really good crew work, everyone needs to work with each other – there is plenty going on and the racing is really tight. We have had a really good day. We were pleased with our second race - we went up the first beat well. We are sailing with borrowed sails and we have much less experience. We have a lot to learn, but we are in the mix and actually the girls are really good. There is a good vibe on board and we are all very grateful for the opportunity. 

“I am under no illusion that we will be right at the back, however it is close racing. We are not far behind the others. As the breeze comes on there will be plenty more opportunity for mistakes to be made or misreading the tidal conditions. We are not going to win or even podium, but we are enjoying progressing and getting better with every race. Even getting the kite down was a ‘mare a couple of days ago. Now we are getting much better at it. We will be fine.”

Racing is set to continue tomorrow with a first warning signal once again at 1130.  

On Friday the 44Cup had the pleasure of taking the young people from the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust out on the water as VIP guests. All nine young people onboard the RC44s during racing are at different stages of recovery and join the fleet as part of their Ambition to ‘Go Further’. It’s about creating unique and year round opportunities that inspire belief in brighter futures.

For many young people, picking up from where they left off before cancer is not possible. When treatment ends the work of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust begins. They inspire young people aged 8-24 to believe in a brighter future through free sailing and outdoor adventures.

The pinnacle of the 44Cup’s 2023 season sets sail tomorrow (Thursday 10 August) with the opening races of the 44Cup Cowes World Championship. 

This is the second occasion the high performance Russell Coutts-conceived one designs have raced on one of yachting’s most famous stretches of water: the Solent. In 2021 it was Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing with a crew led by Michele Ivaldi that won ahead of Team CEEREF and Team Aqua. 

The Solent’s fierce-some reputation as a yacht racing venue is due to its geography. With Southampton Water entering it from the north, the Solent is effectively the channel dividing the Isle of Wight from Hampshire. It’s unique tidal characteristics plus being peppered with sand banks, shallows, ledges and spits and all their accompanying eddies and back eddies, makes it one of the toughest stretches of water to navigate. This week racing will be held northeast of Brambles Bank, off Lee-on-the-Solent.

To help understand the Solent’s complexities, most 44Cup teams are relying upon specialist local knowledge. To help Team Nika for example, British tactician Nic Asher has employed his former 470 Olympic crew Elliot Willis, while Igor Lah's Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 already has as its tactician local Adrian Stead (fresh from winning the Rolex Fastnet Race) and have also enrolled leading international navigator Jules Salter. But perhaps best qualified is local sailor Graham Sunderland author of Winning Tides who is advising Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing. Could it be coincidence that the French team won here in 2021 when Sunderland was also advising them?

Nico Poons’ Charisma, which is the present holder of the ‘golden wheels’ as the 2023 44Cup leader, has another Solent specialist in legendary British Olympic coach and sailor David Howlett, who is supporting team coach Morgan Reeser and tactician Hamish Pepper. Pepper, from New Zealand, raced for two seasons here but admits about the current: “there is a fair bit to learn and understand. It adds another element to the racing. It will be challenging for everyone.” Being top of 44Cup leaderboard brings its own challenges, especially since this is a World Championship. “We sailed well last year and were fortunate enough to win the Worlds, but it is hard to repeat. Everyone has us as their target, so it would be quite easy for someone else to slip through. But this is the big one - everyone will be fast and sailing well with good coaches and outside support.”

Charisma has the added benefit that helmsman Nico Poons knows these waters well. “I started sailing on the Solent more than 40 years back on various IOR boat,” he says, including with recently deceased fellow Dutchman, Piet Vroon. “I was crewing on boats until 2000, when I got my own 39ft footer and we went to Cowes in that. So I know the Solent pretty well. It is challenging. You need to have some local knowledge.” 

While his Solent experience doesn’t go back as far as Poons, Peninsula Racing tactician Vasco Vascotto, along with several others of the 44Cup’s more wizened crew, also competed on these waters in the Admiral’s Cup, once the effective world championship of offshore racing. In 1999 Vascotto was steering the Sydney 40 Merit Cup for the European team, which finished second overall. Before that Merit Cup had won the Sydney 40 Worlds nearby on these waters. 

“It is special because you always need to think first about the current and then about the wind,” says Vascotto of the Solent. “That is the most important thing. You can’t make any mistakes, because if you do the current will be pushing you down.” Peninsula Racing is currently ranked third overall in the 2023 44Cup. 

Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team and Torbjörn Törnqvist's Artemis Racing will both be hoping to improve upon their performances last month in Marstrand, Sweden. For this event, the RC44s will be joined by a ninth RC44, Bullet, sailed by an all-female team, led by Louise Morton. 

Team Aqua’s owner, Chris Bake is hosting the 44Cup Cowes World Championship via his club, the Royal Yacht Squadron. “It is nice to have my club hosting us this week,” said Bake. “There are quite a few people coming out to watch the racing this weekend. It think there is some nice context [with the America’s Cup].” Back in 1851 the Royal Yacht Squadron ran a race for the 100 Guineas Cup, famously won by the yacht America and subsequently rechristened the America’s Cup. Bake was a backer of Britain’s challenge for the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda. 

Racing starts tomorrow with a first warning signal at 1130. It will take place in the central Solent but will again be sent off from the Royal Yacht Squadron line on Saturday, as they were for today’s practice racing. 

Having rewritten the RC44 Class Rule so that teams this season can race with at least one female on board, so the 44Cup will next week have its first all-female team. The nine teams competing will include the ‘black boat’, which is regularly lent out to those looking to join the circuit or local teams, like Oman Sail. She will be campaigned by well-known Cowes skipper Louise Morton and her Bullet team.

Although new to the high performance RC44 one design, Morton is far from new to racing with an all-female crew and has enjoyed much success ‘beating up the boys’. Most significantly, against stiff competition, including her vastly experienced husband Peter, she has won, not once but three times, the highly prestigious Quarter Ton Cup. She is also a four time winner of the Women’s Open Keelboat Championship. Otherwise her sailing has been extensive from transatlantic and Fastnet Races and numerous RORC seasons, to 30+ Cowes Weeks and inshore regattas from the St Barths Bucket, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia, to the Rolex China Sea Race and Phuket King’s Cup. Most recently she has taken to yacht racing in the 5.5mR keelboat class. 

“I am really looking forward to it – it is something different,” says Louise of the 44Cup Cowes. “All of the crew immediately said ‘yes’. For them it is a really exciting opportunity.” Like her last Quarter Tonner, her RC44 will be called Bullet. 

Within the family there is a little 44Cup form. Husband Peter Morton, steered Team Aqua in place of Chris Bake for the first two days in Porto Montenegro in 2019. On the second of those Team Aqua was top scoring boat. “He loved it,” Louise says of Peter’s brief stint. “I think he was hoping he might be asked next week, but he’ll have my role! He absolutely thinks we can have a crack at it and have a good time. We have local knowledge of the Solent and we’ll be based at home, which will make life easier.” 

With former Olympian Lucy Macgregor as tactician, Louise will be migrating her regular crew across to the new boat, although she has had to expand this. The Bullet crew will comprise Lucy Macgregor, her capable sisters Kate and Nicky; Annie Lush on mainsheet; Dutch Ocean Race sailor Laura van Veen; Annabel Vose; Midge Watkins; Mary Rook and Abby Childerley. While with the new rule for 2023, RC44s now typically sail with nine, all-female teams can sail with 10 and their combined crew weight can be 760kg compared to 730kg. However according to Lucy Macgregor they won’t be anywhere near these figures: “We are going to be wildly underweight. We will be ‘eyes wide open’ to work out our own way of sailing the boat, because we won’t have the power that some of the guys have in terms of body weight.” 

Up until this year RC44s were regularly sailed with eight, so Lucy says: “I think effectively we’ll have two floaters - someone floating between bow and pit for example and another at the back of the boat. We will work all of this out as we go - I’m sure it will be one of those events where we’ll finish the last race wishing we were starting the event again, because we will have learned so much.” 

Significantly for Lucy, this regatta will not only reunite her with her sisters but also with her past crew line-ups. She match raced with Lush and younger sister Kate in the Elliott 6m at London 2012 and with Lush and both her sisters when she won the last of her four Women’s Match Racing World Championship titles in 2018. 

Both Lucy Macgregor and Louise Morton are impressed by the level of support they have had from other teams and individuals in the 44Cup. Like all the other RC44s, the 'black boat' had the same Harken winch and pedestal upgrade. Over winter she also received a full new paint job, non-skid plus standing and running rigging replacement. On top of this the regular teams are lending them good quality racing sails. 

Aside from being light, a lack of RC44 experience will be their principle hurdle. They will sail the boat for the first time on Saturday and will put in more training days before the race proper starts. However on their 5.5mR team is Andrew Palfrey, previously Team Aqua’s long term coach and the Macgregor’s match racing experience will come to play: “I am sailing with some girls who have been on the match racing circuit for some time and they are used to turning up at regattas and having to learn a boat and go racing,” says Louise. As to the specifics of the RC44: “It has got twin wheels and I haven’t sailed very much with asymmetrics, which will be interesting…”

Lucy Macgregor concludes: “For me personally the RC44 has always been on my list of fleets I wanted to sail in. It is a bucket list item for me to have this opportunity to race and race with our own team as well. We’ll be quick learners - we’ll need to be because there are a lot of established teams and some seriously high quality talent across the fleet. We are just looking forward to getting stuck in and trying to make some impact in the class. I can’t wait.” 

The 44Cup Cowes starts with practice racing on Wednesday 9 August with racing proper from Thursday 10 August to Sunday 13 August, culminating with a prizegiving at the Royal Yacht Squadron. 

Having rewritten the RC44 Class Rule so that teams this season can race with at least one female on board, so the 44Cup is going a step further for next week’s 44Cup Cowes. The nine teams competing will include the ‘black boat’, which is regularly lent out to those looking to join the circuit or local teams, like Oman Sail. She will be campaigned by well-known Cowes skipper Louise Morton and an all-female team. 

Although new to the high performance RC44 one design, Morton is far from new to racing with an all-female crew and has enjoyed much success ‘beating up the boys’. Most significantly, against stiff competition, including her vastly experienced husband Peter, she has won, not once but three times, the highly prestigious Quarter Ton Cup. She is also a four time winner of the Women’s Open Keelboat Championship. Otherwise her sailing has been extensive from transatlantic and Fastnet Races and numerous RORC seasons, to 30+ Cowes Weeks and inshore regattas from the St Barths Bucket, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia, to the Rolex China Sea Race and Phuket King’s Cup. Most recently she has taken to yacht racing in the 5.5mR keelboat class. 

“I am really looking forward to it – it is something different,” says Louise of the 44Cup Cowes. “All of the crew immediately said ‘yes’. For them it is a really exciting opportunity.” Like her last Quarter Tonner, her RC44 will be called Bullet. 

Within the family there is a little 44Cup form. Husband Peter Morton, steered Team Aqua in place of Chris Bake for the first two days in Porto Montenegro in 2019. On the second of those Team Aqua was top scoring boat. “He loved it,” Louise says of Peter’s brief stint. “I think he was hoping he might be asked next week, but he’ll have my role! He absolutely thinks we can have a crack at it and have a good time. We have local knowledge of the Solent and we’ll be based at home, which will make life easier.” 

With former Olympian Lucy Macgregor as tactician, Louise will be migrating her regular crew across to the new boat, although she has had to expand this. The Bullet crew will comprise Lucy Macgregor, her capable sisters Kate and Nicky; Annie Lush on mainsheet; Dutch Ocean Race sailor Laura van Veen; Annabel Vose; Midge Watkins; Mary Rook and Abby Childerley. While with the new rule for 2023, RC44s now typically sail with nine, all-female teams can sail with 10 and their combined crew weight can be 760kg compared to 730kg. However according to Lucy Macgregor they won’t be anywhere near these figures: “We are going to be wildly underweight. We will be ‘eyes wide open’ to work out our own way of sailing the boat, because we won’t have the power that some of the guys have in terms of body weight.” 

Up until this year RC44s were regularly sailed with eight, so Lucy says: “I think effectively we’ll have two floaters - someone floating between bow and pit for example and another at the back of the boat. We will work all of this out as we go - I’m sure it will be one of those events where we’ll finish the last race wishing we were starting the event again, because we will have learned so much.” 

Significantly for Lucy, this regatta will not only reunite her with her sisters but also with her past crew line-ups. She match raced with Lush and younger sister Kate in the Elliott 6m at London 2012 and with Lush and both her sisters when she won the last of her four Women’s Match Racing World Championship titles in 2018. 

Both Lucy Macgregor and Louise Morton are impressed by the level of support they have had from other teams and individuals in the 44Cup. Like all the other RC44s, the 'black boat' had the same Harken winch and pedestal upgrade. Over winter she also received a full new paint job, non-skid plus standing and running rigging replacement. On top of this the regular teams are lending them good quality racing sails. 

Aside from being light, a lack of RC44 experience will be their principle hurdle. They will sail the boat for the first time on Saturday and will put in more training days before the race proper starts. However on their 5.5mR team is Andrew Palfrey, previously Team Aqua’s long term coach and the Macgregor’s match racing experience will come to play: “I am sailing with some girls who have been on the match racing circuit for some time and they are used to turning up at regattas and having to learn a boat and go racing,” says Louise. As to the specifics of the RC44: “It has got twin wheels and I haven’t sailed very much with asymmetrics, which will be interesting…”

Lucy Macgregor concludes: “For me personally the RC44 has always been on my list of fleets I wanted to sail in. It is a bucket list item for me to have this opportunity to race and race with our own team as well. We’ll be quick learners - we’ll need to be because there are a lot of established teams and some seriously high quality talent across the fleet. We are just looking forward to getting stuck in and trying to make some impact in the class. I can’t wait.” 

The 44Cup Cowes starts with practice racing on Wednesday 9 August with racing proper from Thursday 10 August to Sunday 13 August, culminating with a prizegiving at the Royal Yacht Squadron. 

With rollmops unfurling in the big breeze, the decision was made to cancel the final day of racing at the 44Cup Marstrand. Despite this, over the last four days eight races were held and a worthy winner found in Nico Poons’ Charisma, defending champion of the 44Cup’s Swedish stopover and as well 2022’s 44Cup overall winner. 

“There are big waves, 30 knots and the wind is going to increase. There will be a slight lull but the sea state will still be large, so we are going to cancel racing today,” announced 44Cup Class Manager Bertrand Favre at this morning’s skippers briefing. This had been brought forward to 0830 in the tentative hope of getting in some racing this morning. 

The announcement was greeted with sighs of relief among the crews. “I absolutely agree,” said Team Nika’s stand-in tactician American Bill Hardesty, who has match raced on this waters often. “It is crazy out there. You can see even more white caps this morning than you could on Friday. It is not safe to sail today.” 

As a result Charisma won her first event of the 2023 season. “It wasn’t because we were so good, but because Ceeref was not so good this week,” modestly explained Nico Poons of his rival Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860, winner of the 44Cup Oman in March but which finished a disappointing fifth this here. “It was a good week. We had eight races and three bullets. We were quite stable and ended up with a good lead over the others. It is about keeping the team together and keeping the focus.”

Perhaps the biggest display of the calibre of Charisma’s crew was when after the second race yesterday they were involved in a serious collision (not their fault). Despite this shock they bounced back to win the next race. “We had to fix the bow,” continued Poons. “We found some damage, but the team then needed to focus. It says a lot about them that they were focused straight away because when the collision happened, we were all really scared at that moment.” 

Australian main sheet trimmer Chris Hoskins explained their success: “There are so many great people and great teams in this fleet, it is just a matter of sticking to your processes; trying to get off the start line in good shape; going the right way up the race track and keeping your boat going fast. This week was quite puffy and shifty, but Pepsi [Hamish Pepper, tactician] did a remarkable job getting us around the race track and we were all working hard as a team trying to keep the boat going as quickly as possible through all the transitions. One thing we do well as a team: We never give up, we are always fighting like dogs.”

Equally pleased with their result was John Bassadone, tactician Vasco Vascotto and his crew on Peninsula Racing. They ended up second, one crucial point ahead of Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing. The Gibraltarian team won the final event of the 2017 season but ever since have been off the boil, finishing in the bottom half of the fleet. Now with Vascotto back from duties with the Italian America’s Cup team and with the key addition of 470 gold medallist and America’s Cup winner Jordi Calafat on main sheet, Peninsula Racing appears to be enjoying a renaissance. 

“It has been a long time coming,” observed Bassadone. “The guys have worked pretty hard. It’s almost been there for quite a while, but now I am happy to be in a better position, fighting for the podium which is what the guys deserve since they put in so much hard work. We are all very happy and enjoying the sailing, which is most important. This week every day has been an improvement and it is not been like other times when you don’t understand why you are not performing. We know we have to improve lots of things. It is a nice position to be in - going into the next regatta with some confidence.” 

Team Nika was fourth, five points from the podium, just one ahead of Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860, while Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team ended the regatta on a high with two third places, the first signs of promise from the newbie team from Switzerland.

Next up will be the 44Cup World Championship, taking place in Cowes, Isle of Wight over 9-13 August. 

They are the reigning 44Cup champions, and defending champions here in Marstrand and today Nico Poons, Kiwi tactician Hamish Pepper and the rest of his red-hatted crew on Charisma showed again why they are the current supreme leaders in the high performance owner-driver one design class. 

Hosted by the Marstrands Segelsällskap and supported by Artemis Technologies, racing at the 44Cup Marstrand was blown-off yesterday due to excess wind and waves. Today conditions had dropped to around 10 knots today with a slight left-over chop and PRO Maria Torrijo succeeded in making up most of the schedule by holding four races as the wind continually backed from the south to southeast. In this Charisma won the first and third races and plus two fourths, making her not only the day’s top scoring boat but also leader of the 44Cup Marstrand with a significant 10 point lead going into tomorrow’s final day. Marstrand, the paradise island off west Sweden, took on a more wintry feel as a front arrived bringing rain half way through today’s proceedings. 

“We are pleased,” commented Charisma’s tactician, Hamish Pepper. “It was fantastic for the team and the guys are sailing the boat well, Nico is steering it well. When we are behind we manage to claw our way back and pick up one or two places. When we were ahead we could extend a few times.” 

Today the race track was slightly one way with most teams heading left into the shore in search of tidal relief and a favourable left shift. “It was not a ‘must go’ left, you had to play the shifts and we had a few opportunities to play the shifts well and we got a few bullets,” continued Pepper.

Most impressively the team seemed to not miss a beat when they had an unfortunate port-starboard collision with Team Aqua prior to the start of the third race that had left Charisma (who was in the right on starboard) with her sacrificial bow knocked off and Team Aqua with damage to her port topsides. “Luckily no one was hurt. Their boom came close to our guys and our rigging,” said Pepper. “It was just bad luck for them timing-wise. The good thing about the RC44 is that it has a fake bow, so if you do have a collision the bow is designed to come off and soften the blow. We had a spare bow out there, and it took about 15 minutes for our boat builder to strap it on.”

John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing picked up her second bullet of the event in today’s second race. Then in the fourth and final race, 44Cup Marstrand event host Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing tacked at just the right moment on the first upwind to edge into the lead. 

“We have been trying hard and finally it came our way, so it was nice,” observed Törnqvist. “We got to the left, which is where we wanted to be, because we were down at the pin, where it was a bit crowded. Then we managed to get the lead and hold on to it. But it was very close at the end.”

On the final moments of the last run came a strong challenge to them from Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing. But Artemis Racing managed to keep its nose in front to take its first bullet of the event. “It is close racing as always. It was nice to finally to have a little bit of success after some not so good races,” admitted Törnqvist. Of the event generally he added: “It is good – we didn’t sail yesterday but we have had eight races so far and we are going to try and get some more in tomorrow.” 

Team Nika had a mixed day coming home second in today’s first race but trailed the fleet home the second race when she suffered damage to her headsail. Very much on the ascent today was Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team which was third in the last two races. 

“I think it was the best day we have ever had in the RC44,” said a beaming, if soaking wet, Zuerrer once ashore in the 44Cup’s dockside hospitality suite. “It feels great that we are now able to stay up with all the other guys, even though it is still hard when it is so close at the top, and then staying there all the way to the finish line.”

Tomorrow further strong winds are forecast. To stand the greatest chance of being able to get racing in the first warning signal has bene brought forward to 0930.  

While forecasts yesterday indicated that there might be a 50-50 chance of racing taking place today at the 44Cup Marstrand, in the event conditions off the popular Swedish tourist hotspot made this impossible.

Principal Race Officer Maria Torrijo explained why racing has been cancelled for the day: "The wind is already blowing 26 knots average and the gusts are 30+. The sea state right now is 3m. And the forecast says that the wind will increase at least 2/3 knots more.

"Even if the wind drops, the sea state will still be too much to race." 

Experienced tactician on Aleph Racing, Michele Ivaldi agreed: “Conditions are pretty rough: The most important thing is the sea state. They went out at 0900 and it was 2.5m and they were expecting it to build to 3m. And the wind was gusting into the 30s. Even if these boats can be sailed in almost all conditions, this is too much. We have sailed before in 26-28 knots but in calmer waters. For example if you sail in Lanzarote in an offshore wind you can do that.”

The PRO will inform competitors later, after studying the forecast, if the schedule will be changed for day three of the 44Cup Marstrand to recover the lost races.  

Meanwhile tonight the owners and crews will enjoy the usual regatta dinner but which this year will take place in the Standverket Marstand fortress, built in the mid-19th century at the entrance to Marstrand harbour.

Racing resumed in Europe for the eight high performance owner-driver one design RC44s today with the opening rounds of the 44Cup Marstrand, hosted by the Marstrands Segelsällskap and supported by Artemis Technologies. With the sky overcast for the first three races, conditions were relatively benign, the wind never exceeding 10 knots and more often closer to 6 and slowly backing from the southwest to the south over the course of the afternoon. The 44Cup teams and race organisers have been keeping an eye on the forecast which tomorrow is warning of 20-30 knot winds conditions which may not be sailable even for the highly adaptable RC44s. As a result in anticipation of possible disruption, four, rather than the usual three races, were held making use of today’s lighter conditions. 

Once again demonstrating the high calibre of the 44Cup fleet, each of today’s four races had a different winner. After three races the three boats which had won races were tied for the lead on nine points: Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing, winner of the first; Nico Poons’ Charisma, winner of the second and John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing, winner of the third. With Chris Bake’s Team Aqua claiming the fourth and final race of the day ahead of Charisma in second, Poons’ Monaco-based team, the defending Marstand champion, tops the leaderboard after this opening day of racing in Sweden but in usual 44Cup style by just one point. 

“It was a good day - we had luck when we needed it we sailed well the other times,” said Charisma’s Kiwi tactician Hamish Pepper. “The wind clocked left all day, but it was quite tricky - there were still veins of pressure here and there. So it was testing and a lot of boats were up and down, but the team sailed well and we are happy just to be up there at this stage, even if it is early days.”

Perhaps due to the light wind, where getting ahead into clear air was paying greater dividends than in stronger breeze, today’s race winners all finished with a substantial lead over the rest, the closest finish being when John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing won the third race by 26 seconds ahead of Team Aqua. 

Peninsula Racing could only manage a sixth in the final race, dropping the Gibraltar team to third place, three points behind Aleph Racing, but are still showing signs of a renaissance, thanks partly to the return of their Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto and Spanish Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup winner Jordi Calafat. “Today was good, very difficult,” said Vascotto. “We had two good starts and then I made some mistakes. In the last start I lost a minute and I thought we were late. We had a good plan B - I have already spoken with my mother, she is very upset…!”

In the fourth race, the teams were paying more attention to the left side of the course with Team Aqua making the most of this gambit. “It was a tight start and we got off to the left of the course and punched hard left and the rest was all good shifts and that was it,” summarised Chris Bake. “The wind had gone from 210/215° all the way to 175° so the wind was clocking left all day.” 

Since the first 2023 44Cup event in Oman at the beginning of March, all the boats competing have been equipped with the latest Harken primary and mainsheet winches. These replace the old generation winches which in some cases were first fitted to the boats when they were launched all the way back in 2006, notably Team Nika and Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860, hulls #10 and #11 (although 16 years on, both are still being raced hard, regularly winning World Championships and even the annual 44Cup series). The first of the brand new Harken Air 180 have been fitted to the entire 44Cup fleet, along with substantially upgraded mechanics inside their pedestal grinder. The winches bring the considerable advantages including weight saving, a structurally more stable base and in particular almost double the line speed in ‘overdrive’. At this event teams are adjusting to the new high performance of the winches which are enabling them to make the RC44s faster in tacks, gybes, hoists and drops. 

Given tomorrow’s forecast racing will start early with a skippers’ briefing at 0900 and a first warning signal at 1000 CEST. 

After a lengthy break since early March, the 2023 44Cup resumes tomorrow in Marstrand, Sweden. The 44Cup Marstrand will take place over 29 June to 2 July off west Sweden’s paradise island, hosted again by Marstrands Segelsällskap and Artemis Technologies. 

Today’s practice starts and racing for the eight owner-driver one design RC44 racers took place in perfect conditions, with sun and 12-14 knots. Conditions over the next four days look more varied with light southwesterlies tomorrow, brisk 20+ knot westerlies on Friday, into the high teens on Saturday and high teens to low 20s for Sunday’s concluding races. 

British Olympic 49er gold medallist Dylan Fletcher has an exciting new job since he called tactics for Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing in Oman. He is now a reserve helmsman for the British America’s Cup challenger INEOS Britannia, but is continuing his duties with the Swedish 44Cup team. For Fletcher, this will not only be his first time racing in the world famous yacht racing venue of Marstand but his first time racing in Sweden: “I have watched lots of match racing here. I don’t know too much about it, but I am quite open minded. It seems to be like the UK with quite a variety of conditions.”

The Artemis Racing crew line-up remains the same as Oman, with fellow British Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy on mainsheet but now with multiple world champion Matt Cornwell standing in on bow. As to their form, Fletcher says: “We are working hard. The fleet is incredibly competitive, but that is what makes it enjoyable. We have been looking at a lot of the data, but there are no silver bullets in this fleet. It is all about chipping away. And all happens at a slightly different pace to what I am used to!”

While Artemis Racing usually performs well in its home venue, at present a nose ahead in terms of 44Cup recent form are Nico Poons’ Charisma and Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860. Ceeref won in the opening event of the season in Oman and is the current holder of the ‘golden wheels’, the 44Cup’s equivalent of the Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey. Runner-up in Oman, Charisma was second in Oman but was the 2022 44Cup champion, and is the 44Cup Marstrand’s defending champion. 

Of the 44Cup’s return to Europe, Igor Lah commented: “I am looking forwards to it. It looks promising. Hopefully we will have nice wind, but everything is open. I prefer stronger winds.” His crew, led by tactician Adrian Stead, remains unchanged since Oman. “We will try to perform like we did in the last one. We have had quite a long break and it takes a while to get back in the groove.” 

Meanwhile, never one to presume much at the start of a regatta, Dutchman Nico Poons said of the 44Cup’s Swedish stopover: “It is a gorgeous place. We have won here two or three times. I am feeling confident, but we shall see on Sunday.” 

After finishing second to last in the 2022 44Cup, John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing is stepping up this season, finishing a point short of the podium in Oman. Back on board after his sabbatical with the Italian America’s Cup challenger is the Gibraltar team’s regular tactician Vasco Vascotto along with new Spanish recruits - female crew Julia Minana and big gun mainsheet trimmer, 470 gold medallist and America’s Cup winner, Jordi Calafat. 

“It is a great race course and a great regatta,” said Bassadone. “I am happy to be here and I have the bit between my teeth and am hoping to have a good regatta. We have our new main trimmer, while Julia is our secret weapon. She is really good. We have made lots of improvements but then all the other boats have too. Everyone is improving. I hope this year we get ourselves back to where we believe we should be.” 

Of Marstrand, Bassadone adds: “It is beautiful, especially on days like today. I love coming here. It is so unique. Since I have been to Marstrand I now come to Scandinavia on family holidays – Norway, Sweden, Iceland…” 

Another of the few new faces on the dock here is American Bill Hardesty - stand-in tactician on Team Nika. Hardesty knows Marstrand well having sailed here many times in Match Cup Sweden, winning in 2011. This is only his second time racing the RC44, last time being here, on the same boat, eight years ago, then filling in between Terry Hutchinson and Dean Barker.

“The RC44 is great,” says Hardesty, who is a triple Match Racing, Etchells, Farr 40 and Melges 24 World Champion as well as US Sailing’s Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 2011. “It has a lot of performance that most boats don’t have: They get up and go fast downwind and the systems are well thought-out. I really like them, though I am surprised there aren’t more of them racing.” While Hardesty is used to racing on Marstrand Fjord, where races this week are expected to finish at least on one day, he reckons he will be okay to the western, seaward side of the island. “We’ll figure it out. Sunday is look extra spicy and Friday could be good now too.” 

Racing starts tomorrow at 1200. 

The 44Cup is ready for what promises to be another classic round of hotly-contested one-design racing in the beautiful surrounds of the Swedish resort of Marstrand.

With a fine weather forecast and good wind conditions predicted for the four days of racing that starts on the 28 June, the eight crews are looking forward to renewing rivalries after the opening regattas of the 2023 season in Oman back in February.

The top boat after the first event of the season is Igor Lah's Team CEEREF powered by powered by Hrastnik 1860 after an impressive performance on the final day in Oman saw the Slovenian team bridge the seven-point gap to Nico Poons’ Charisma and take the victory. Still, British tactician Ado Stead knows they will have to be on their game to stay ahead: "We are blessed by having the golden wheels at the moment by being just in front, but it's a cut-throat class and there are no free rides out there."

Defending tour champions Charisma are in second place, with French team Aleph Racing and Gibraltain team Peninsula Racing in third and fourth, respectively.  

Team Nika performed well in Oman, claiming six podium spots over 12 races; however, a mast break at the end of the day put a costly 10th on their scoreboard and dropped them to fifth in the ranking. 

Swedish home team Artemis Racing are in sixth with Team Aqua in seventh and the newest team to join the fleet Black Star Sailing in eighth. 

The 44Cup is hosted by the excellent team from Marstrands Segelsällskap, and each of the RC44 teams will have one of the youth sailors from the local club as part of their shore crew for the week to allow them to learn how a professional team runs.