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Episode 3 of the RC44 Championship Tour documentary Down to the wire featuring the 2017 RC44 Championship Tour final in Lanzarote.

Down to the wire is the RC44 Championship Tour's exclusive three-part series with Bloomberg TV EMEA giving you an exclusive insight into the racing and unseen interviews with the owners so you can see just what it takes to race on one of the most competitive one-design racing circuits in the world.

For their twelfth season, the RC44s will visit the four corners of Europe in 2018, including a return to Portorož in Slovenia for the first time in nine years. 

With Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF claiming the RC44 Championship for a second consecutive year in 2017, it was appropriate that for the new season the circuit for the high performance Russell Coutts-inspired one design monohulls should include the winner’s home port. 

RC44 Championship Tour 2018 event schedule

28 February - 4 March – RC44 Calero Marinas Cup 2018 – Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
9 - 13 May – RC44 Portorož Cup – Portorož, Slovenia
27 June - 1 July - RC44 Marstrand Cup – Marstrand, Sweden
26 - 30 September - RC44 Cascais World Championship – Cascais, Portugal 
14 - 18 November – RC44 Valletta Cup – Valletta, Malta

Despite performing dances for the wind gods, the breeze failed to materialise for a second consecutive day at the RC44 Calero Marinas Cup in the normally windy Canary Islands. The wind occasionally built to 6-7 knots at around 135° but would then die swinging hard left to 80°. Despite looking for every available opportunity and moving the race course, at 1430 principal race officer Peter Reggio reluctantly announced there would be no racing for the day. 

“We tried, we tried and we tried, but there was no wind,” he explained. 

With no racing on the final day, John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum claimed this, the last event of the season. In turn this left Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF to win her second consecutive RC44 Championship. 

At the prizegiving in Marina Lanzarote, Lah was presented with his trophy haul including his second HYT watch and a half model of Team CEEREF resplendent with her number 11 bow number. Lah observed: “Number 11 means two wins in a row and it means we started 11 years ago. Thank you all of our team.” Aside from Lah the only original member of the Team CEEREF crew is Jaro Furlani.

Racing resumes for the RC44s next February with the start of their 2018 season. 

Earlier this week, Saturday was lining up to be the big wind day of the RC44 Calero Marinas Cup, so breezy in fact that racing looked likely to be blown off. In fact the outcome was the same, only due to a total absence of wind.

Racing had been already been delayed until 1230 to leave enough time for the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Transatlantic Race to get away from Arrecife. In the event, many of the offshore boats bound for Grenada in Caribbean were still within 100m of the line half an hour after starting. 

With no immediate hope of racing, the nine RC44s were sent back ashore to Marina Lanzarote to await further instructions. Ultimately at 1430 PRO Peter Reggio made the inevitable call to cancel racing for the day. "Part of it was that rain cells were sucking all the energy away from where we were," he explained. "On the other side of the island there's breeze from the northeast at 15 knots and in the cuts between the islands it's blowing hard. Just not here…"

Uncharacteristic southeasterly winds, combined with a confused and often sharp sea, made life tough for the nine crews on day two of the RC44 Calero Marinas Cup.

While on day one there was no stand-out crew, today John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum had the bit between her teeth. The first race got underway in 14-15 knots and the Gibraltarian team won the pin and, coming in on the port tack layline, led around the top mark with Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika in hot pursuit. The two boats remained in front at the leeward gate where they split with, on this occasion, Peninsula Petroleum going right. Peninsula defended well and despite the wind dropping off, these positions held to the finish, with Chris Bake’s Team Aqua, overall leader going into the day, pulling up from fifth to third.  

Competition getting closer as the season nears its conclusion, combined with tricky conditions for today's three races off Lanzarote, left the top eight boats racing at the RC44 Calero Marinas Cup ending day one separated by just six points. 

With the backdrop of the Canary Island's famously barren terrain that is a favourite with science fiction film directors, racing got underway just south of Arrecife's Marina Lanzarote, where the nine RC44s are moored.

The 2017 RC44 Championship Tour comes to a close next week in Arrecife, Lanzarote with the RC44 Calero Marinas Cup, 23rd – 26th November. As the nine shore crews prepare to take to the water for the hotly anticipated final, we take a look back over the teams’ performances this year to see how the fleet are stacking up on the starting grid.

Episode 2 of Down to the wire the Bloomberg Television series about the 2017 RC44 Championship Tour is now online featuring the 2017 Marstrand World Championship.

Down to the wire is the RC44 Championship Tour's exclusive three-part series with Bloomberg TV EMEA giving you an exclusive insight into the racing and unseen interviews with the owners so you can see just what it takes to race on one of the most competitive one-design racing circuits in the world.

With the fifth and final event of 2017 RC44 Championship Tour set to conclude in Arrecife, Lanzarote, from 23rd to 26th November, sailors and spectators will see a double dose of action next month, as RC44 racing is paused temporarily on Saturday 25th November for the start of the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta incorporating the RORC Transatlantic Race. 

With a joint race village hosted in the Calero Marinas' stylish new Marina Lanzarote, both fleets will enjoy the warm hospitality of the Canaries explained Managing Director José Juan Calero: "This November looks to be a thrilling time for Lanzarote, with two iconic races taking place in local waters. We are honoured that prestigious fleets such as these choose our facilities and share our appreciation of the Canaries' marvellous winter sailing conditions."  

The Calero Marinas have been a regular winter destination for the RC44 fleet over the years, having hosted four regattas and three World Championships between 2010 and 2013.

Cascais laid on an action-packed day for the conclusion of the 2017 RC44 Championship's penultimate event, the RC44 Cascais Cup. At the beginning of it, Igor Lah's Team CEEREF held a slender lead, but lost it to Charisma. By the start of the third and final race Alexander Novoselov's Katusha was leading by two points. Despite Team CEEREF sailing an immaculate final race, a second placed finish for Katusha enabled the Russian team to win the RC44 Cascais Cup by just one point. 

"I am happy," said a beaming Novoselov, still dripping after taking a victor's plunge. "It was a good day with big challenges. Normally when we win some races I say we were lucky, but this time it wasn't that. We had very good team spirit. It was tough right to the end."

Novoselov said the last race was stressful, with Team CEEREF leading at the first top mark rounding when they were third. From Team CEEREF's side, tactician Adrian Stead recounted of the fateful race 3: "At the top of the first beat Katusha looked dead and buried, but the next time I turned around they were in second…which was annoying."

Day three of the RC44 Cascais Cup saw three more teams come to the fore for the first time. Conditions were difficult for the race committee, who ran the first race on the 'offshore course' in wind heading for the high 20s, and then had to move the race track into the Tagus estuary. Here the sea state was calmer, but an unusual offshore northerly was causing significant shifts, gusts and holes in the breeze. 

Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika has had a difficult regatta so far, having picked up four penalty points following two collisions, but today they came good. In the first race they were first to find a favourable shift , were ahead at the weather mark and extended from there. In race two they led at the second top mark rounding only for their kite to rip causing them to drop to second. Posting a 1-2-6 today has caused them to fast track up the leaderboard, from seventh to second.

Cascais turned on the conditions for which it is famous – 20+ knot winds and sunshine - for day two of the RC44 Cascais Cup. Again it was a day with three different winners and mixed results for all. 

Kirill Frolov’s Bronenosec Sailing Team scored the first bullet of the day. This was the first race of the event when a team has led from start to finish in the tricky conditions off the Portuguese sailing mecca. The Russian team went inshore to the right on the first beat. Coming back in Bronenosec was clear ahead of the port tackers, led by Chris Bake’s Team Aqua, was first at the top mark and successfully defended from there. 

Portugal’s sailing mecca, for the opening day of the RC44 Cascais Cup. After a two hour delay, a light westerly established itself in the mouth of the Tagus Estuary, building to 15 knots by the end of the afternoon, enabling three races to be held.

Competition out on the water today proved that it is no aberration that just two points separate the top five boats in the overall 2017 RC44 Championship. After day one the RC44 Cascais Cup leaderboard is similarly tight with just five points separating the top seven boats. Not only were there three different winners, but in each case the winner was not the leader at the first top mark rounding. 

Firing up tomorrow and running until Sunday is the RC44 Cascais Cup. For the nine high performance one design keelboats competing, this is the penultimate event of their 2017 Championship, before the Lanzarote conclusion over 23-26 November. 

At present the Championship is the closest it has been in the RC44’s 11 year history. The top five boats are within two points overall and three are tied on points at the top of the leaderboard after three events: Team Nika, Bronenosec Sailing Team and Katusha. 

Three regattas down, two to go and there is a three-way split for the 2017 RC44 Championship Tour title. So far this season current series leaders Team Nika of Vladimir Prosikhin and third-placed Katusha of Alexander Novoselov have taken a regatta win each. But hiding in second, under the radar, is Bronenosec Sailing Team. 

With all three Russian teams tied on 10 points and the chasing fleet only one point adrift, the RC44 Cascais Cup, 28 September – 1 October, is going to be a test of nerves. As whoever handles the pressure will take the win. 

“Onshore we are friends, I wish them luck and I’m proud of those Russians all the time,” explained a spirited Prosikhin, “but on the race course, all competitors are competitors no matter who they are or where they are from. No compromises.” 

RC44 Championship Tour - Overall ranking 

1. TEAM NIKA - 10

2. BRONENOSEC SAILING TEAM - 10

3. KATUSHA - 10

4. TEAM CEEREF - 11

5. PENINSULA PETROLEUM SAILING TEAM - 12

6. TEAM AQUA - 14

7. ARTEMIS RACING - 18

8. CHARISMA - 23

9. ARTEMIS RACING YOUTH - 27

Team Nika has won the RC44 Marstrand World Championship after a dominant performance across the four days of competition. The final day delivered the strongest wind of the week in Sweden, with the north-westerly breeze blowing at 15 knots and with a big, lumpy seaway. Vladimir Prosikhin may not have won any races today but he steered Nika to a comfortable victory overall, earning back the trophy he last raised in 2015.

For the first race of the day, John Bassadone steered Peninsula Petroleum into her customary position on the left-hand of the start line and sailed into the lead to secure the team’s first race win of the regatta. Next it was the turn of Nico Poons to notch up his first win for Charisma in race two. While the Dutch team struggled for speed in the lighter conditions of the previous three days, with the whole fleet on the smaller jibs, Charisma finally found her form.

So that’s the Worlds over, and now Team Nika takes over the golden wheels from Peninsula Petroleum as the top performing boat from the first three events of the season. However, the other crews will lick their wounds and work out what they need to do steal those golden wheels away from Prosikhin when the fleet next meets a month from now in Cascais, Portugal.