RC44 News-Feed

The 44Cup Marstrand had a tricky start today off the Swedish paradise island bearing its name. A weather front slowly moving across the west coast of Sweden brought with it solid 25 knots winds, 30+ gusts and the real prospect of no racing for the eight owner-driver RC44s. However mid-afternoon, as the front’s torrential rain arrived, so the wind dropped and PRO Maria Torrijo  was able to coax the teams and their high performance one designs out on the water.

Ultimately just one race was held before the wind became too unstable, but crews and race committee alike were pleased to have salvaged one race on what could easily have been a no race day. 

In the singleton race, held in a 12 knot northerly, Chris Bake and Team Aqua came out on top. “There was huge expectation for big breeze, but we got out there and the breeze was 14 knots and flat water,” said Bake. “The start was congested by the committee boat but we came in and tacked onto port and got on to the right side of the course where we prevailed and managed to defend. It was a bit touch and go downwind because it was pretty shifty and there were lots of areas where there was more breeze, but we managed to hold on to the lead - so all good. As always the fleet is really tight and there is nothing between first and fifth and fifth and eighth.” 

Bake is the ‘Master of Marstrand’ having won here more than any other RC44 team and is also the event’s defending champion. “I like Marstrand a lot: the breeze is great, the weather conditions are highly variable - it throws everything at you. There’s the terrain and the horizon melds into the sea, but I really enjoy sailing here. There is a good atmosphere.”

The race was up and down for Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika, but turned out well finishing second. As the team’s new Spanish tactician Manu Weiller explained: “We had a good start and we were in the front for the first few minutes but then we struggled for boat speed on port tack and then got bounced around the place and were fifth at the top mark. Then we had a bad downwind and we were last at the gate with Peninsula. But we got a very nice line and we started to sail the boat better. We rounded the top mark in third and then we passed Artemis downwind.” 

Equally strong out of the  blocks today was the event’s host Torbjörn Törnqvist, whose Artemis Racing held second place most of the way around only to be displaced by Team Nika just short of the finish line. The Swedish team appeared transformed today compared to Portorož.

“It is great to be back here,” said Törnqvist. “I have had a bit of time to practice before the regatta. Obviously we didn’t have a good last regatta. Now we have our regular crew back and that feels good. The class is so tight that the slightest mistake and you slide back. I think we know what we need to improve on. We have worked on a few things that did not work in the last regatta. We will try to do our best and enjoy the sailing.”

On mainsheet once again aboard Artemis Racing is double Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy. “Flat water 14 knots and J2s, it was a good fun race,” he said. “We lost one boat on the last run, but these things happen. In Portoroz we were struggling to handle the boat in stronger winds. All of us were a bit rusty, but particularly not having some of our main crew members because of the COVID meant we struggled to get around the corners. This is a brilliant place to sail and we have been here many times. It was good to get the race in.”

Conditions are forecast to be lighter and sunny tomorrow when the race committee will attempt to hold three races.  

On a circuit where the racing is as close as it is on the 44Cup, rarely does one team to claim back-to-back wins in the high performance, owner-driver one designs. Yet this is what Igor Lah, tactician Adrian Stead and the crew of Team CEEREF managed - victorious in the first event of the new 44Cup season in Portoroz in May following their success at the 44Cup’s last pre-COVID event in Palma in 2019. 

Previously Lah has started season with the 44Cup leader’s golden wheels, but this year is the first he has retained them going into the second event, which begins tomorrow off Marstrand, Sweden. As Lah puts it “We intend to keep the golden wheels, but we will see what happens. We sailed yesterday, it was good and I am pretty sure it will go fine. The most important things are to stay safe and not have anyone testing positive.” This morning everyone involved in the 44Cup Marstrand was tested for the virus and all were negative. The event is being held as a bubble between the host hotel and where the RC44s are moored. 

Thanks to the continued support of Stena Bulk and Artemis Racing’s Swedish owner Torbjörn Törnqvist, Marstrand is historically the most frequently visited venue of the 44Cup. Since it first came to Marstrand in 2011, the circuit has returned every year since save for 2016.

The team with the best track record in the 44Cup’s Swedish home is unquestionably Chris Bake’s Team Aqua. Bake, the ‘Master of Marstrand’, won here consecutively for the first three years and is also the defending champion, having claimed the title here again in 2019. Bake came close to winning the 44Cup Portoroz after recording a perfect scoreline on the second day of racing only to drop subsequently to third overall. 

In their ‘zero to hero and back again’ season in 2018, Nico Poons’ Charisma won here, while another team with a strong track record in Marstrand is Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika. They famously claimed the RC44 World Championship title on these waters in 2017 and were runner-up here in 2015 and 2019. 

“I am very happy to be back in Sweden - it is such a nice place, beautiful,” says Prosikhin. “It feels very different: Different sea, different landscape, different feel - in fact the whole environment and the whole Swedish lifestyle, with their own vision of how people should live - I respect them a lot!”

His Team Nika has a new tactician this season in Spain’s Manu Weiller, the latest in a long illustrious line that has included Russell Coutts, Ed Baird, Terry Hutchinson and Dean Barker, among others. In terms of his temperament the mild-mannered Weiller is most similar to Barker during whose tenure Team Nika performed the best. “His manner is different – he is very calm. It is not a loud boat. He is very precise,” says Prosikhin of his new tactician. 

John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing had an up-and-down performance in Portorož, but tactician Ed Baird knows the waters off Marstrand intimately. He competed here many times on the World Match Racing Tour and also won the match racing part of the RC44 event here in 2012, sailing with Synergy. “It is a beautiful place,” says Baird. “It is quite different where we sail with the 44s than where we match raced. It is more offshore, so it can be lumpy, rainy, windy, smooth – every day is difficult… It is a rugged place, beautiful in the summer. We love coming here. It is a fantastic venue.” 

Hugues Lepic’s Team Aleph has never made it to the podium in Marstrand but showed moments of brilliance in Portoroz, winning the final race. However the French team’s Italian tactician Michele Ivaldi won the RC44 World Championship here with Bronenosec Sailing Team in 2014 and followed this up with a repeat win on these waters in 2015. 

“It has been a good place for me,” admits Ivaldi. “It is always a very open course. There is a lot of dynamics going on – there’s current, wind shifts and changing conditions. I don’t have to deal with currents in the Med, but we’ll have them here and for the next event [in Cowes, UK over 11-15th August]. It is always very challenging in Marstrand because you get the wind from every direction during the week and it is always different, with low pressure or high pressure passing by. You have to keep your eyes out of the boat.” 

Another team to watch here in Marstrand will be Pavel Kuznetsov’s Atom Tavatuy. The Russian team, which unlike the other veterans of the circuit only joined the 44Cup full time in 2019, missed finishing on the podium in Portoroz by one point. Across the series there they only finished lower than fifth in one race and among all the teams they seemed ‘most improved’. But as ever with the 44Cup, any team seems capable of winning anytime.  

One of the most daunting jobs in the sailing is to be tactician on board Team Nika in the 44Cup. This has nothing to do with the team or the owner– Vladimir Proshikin is one of the nicest individuals you could hope to meet – but simply due to this position’s extraordinary lineage. Previous individuals who have worn the team’s characteristics black and gold and while whispering into the Russian helmsman’s ear have included: Russell Coutts, Dean Barker, Terry Hutchinson, Ed Baird and Tom Slingsby, all of them America’s Cup legends. 

The latest to join this exceptional list doesn’t come with America’s Cup stripes but is one of the most sought-after small keelboat tacticians. 36-year-old Spaniard Manuel ‘Manu’ Weiller was supposed to have stepped on board Team Nika last season but due the 44Cup being cancelled in 2020, this was postponed. However Weiller did finally experience his first regatta with the team at last month’s 44Cup Portoroz. 

Despite the pandemic, Weiller had a surprisingly busy 2020, almost entirely racing in Italy where sailing in classes such as the Melges 20, Melges 32 and Swan50 took place with stringent safety measures put in place. “I was having three or four PCR tests each week - a lot of tests!” he recalls.

Heralding from Palma, Weiller had a fairly conventional upbringing in dinghies, starting with Optimists and moving into 420s (including a European Championship in Piran, by coincidence the neighbouring town of Portoroz where this year’s first 44Cup event took place). Being the right size physically, there was then the potential to get into Olympic sailing aboard a 470, but Weiller says there was some problems with the Spanish sailing federation which resulted in his ditching this plan in favour of going to university. While at college he took strongly to match racing and from 2005 and on was regular feature of the match racing circuit both in Spain and internationally. Many of his best results surprisingly came in Russia such as a second place Grade 1 rated Yava Trophy in Moscow in 2008, which doubled that year as the EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship and the following year winning the Grade 2 Seven Feet Cup in Vladivostok.

The most regularly visited venue on the 44Cup, since the first full racing season for the high performance owner-driver one designs took place in 2008, has been the picture postcard island of Marstrand on Sweden’s west coast. While the remote island is a holidaymakers’ paradise, Sweden is the original home of Artemis Racing owner Torbjörn Törnqvist, who along with Team Aqua’s Chris Bake, has continuously raced his RC44 on the 44Cup since the very dawn of the class. 

The first 44Cup event was held off Marstrand in 2011 and the circuit has returned every year since with the sole exception of 2016. 

“I do look forward to the Swedish event,” says Törnqvist. “I like it obviously but most of all I like to do regattas wherever they are. Hopefully we will do a bit better than we did at the first event.” 

At the 44Cup Portorož in Slovenia at the beginning of May Törnqvist said Artemis Racing had enjoyed good upwind pace but had suffered on the downwinds, especially in the manoeuvres - not overly surprising since this was the Swedish team’s first time back in on their beloved RC44 since the final of event of the 2019 season in Palma. “There is nothing wrong with our speed,” Törnqvist concluded.

In recent seasons Artemis Racing has enjoyed posting the best results of the year on its home waters, having finished third in Marstrand in 2019 and second the year before. 

But the boat with the best success record in Sweden is unquestionably Chris Bake's Team Aqua which goes into racing next week as the defending champion of the 44Cup Marstrand event. In 2019 Bake’s crew saw off Team Nika, Vladimir Prosikhin’s World Championship winners on these waters in 2017, with Artemis Racing sneaking on to the bottom step of the podium – a slender point ahead of both Team CEEREF and Peninsula Petroleum. Team Aqua also scored back to back wins here over 2011-13. 

Also to be watched here will be London-based Frenchman Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing. His Italian tactician Michele Ivaldi scored back to back wins here in 2014 and 2015 with Vladimir Liubomirov's Bronenosec Sailing Team and Lepic always enjoys the trip north. “It is always a good event. We love to go there.”

Not to be discounted on these waters too is Nico Poons, whose Charisma won here in 2018. On that occasion Charisma rudely displacing the event hosts Artemis Racing on the final run of the final race. Tied on points with the Swedes, Poons only managed to claim the top spot on the podium on countback.

Coming out ahead after the first season event of this new season of 44Cup is Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF. The Slovenian team tops the championship roster and is holder of the leader’s golden wheels. In fact Lah has held the RC44’s golden wheels going into the first event of previous seasons, but significantly this is the first occasion that the Slovenian team, on which Britain’s Adrian Stead calls tactics, goes into the second event of the season still holding them – a situation with which the crew is more than happy. However Team CEEREF’s track record off Marstrand is disappointing by their high standards. In many years of coming to this event they have reached the podium only twice – scoring second in both 2011 and at the World Championship here in 2017. 

As usual the 44Cup Marstand will begin with practice racing on Wednesday, 30th June following by four days of racing over 1st-4th July. 

Watch the full event highlights from the 44Cup Portoroz, the opening event of the 2021 44Cup Championship Tour.

The last day of the 44Cup Portoroz again saw 20+ knot conditions, gusts and shifts that made for close, high adrenalin racing and plenty of opportunities across the race course.

After a difficult second day Igor Lah's local Slovenian team, Team CEEREF, was most consistent yesterday and today built on this, posting initially a second. This was followed in race two by a come-from-behind win as Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis Racing, for the first time at this event, led round the top mark. Team CEEREF chose to gybe early, enabling her to cruise into the lead upon which she then consolidated.

Going from fifth place to third on the final run of the final race was enough for the Slovenian team to win the 44Cup Portoroz by five points from Vladimir Proshikin's Team Nika.

Meanwhile a battle royal was taking place for the final rung of the podium. After managing a perfect scoreline of three bullets on Friday, followed by one more race win yesterday, Team Aqua had a miserable start to the final day which dropped her from first place to fourth. Fortunately Chris Bake'a team fought back in the final race to come home second, enough to displace Atom Tavatuy. The Russian team's fourth place nonetheless was their best result since joining the class in 2019.

The 44Cup Portoroz saw a return to racing in the high performance owner driver one design class for the first time in 17 months. It was a tribute to the local and national governments as well as the perseverance of the RC44 owners and the class that this event was able to take place.

The 44Cup will resume in Marstrand, Sweden over 1st to the 4th July.

For the first 44Cup event in 17 months, Portorož could not have offered better conditions to date; slowly ramping up the wind strength to the third and penultimate day of racing, when the wind was at times solidly into the 20s, gusting to 25 knots. 

While Chris Bake's Team Aqua was the undisputed champion yesterday, first home in all three races, today reverted to familiar 44Cup form with three different winners. In the first race John Bassadone's Gibraltar team on their rebranded Peninsula Racing played the right side of the first beat masterfully to lead at the top mark, clinging on to the finish. 

"We stayed out of trouble," recounted Peninsula Racing's proud owner. "We managed to get a good start, tacked out to the right, got a decent shift and, from then on, played the shifts quite well and stayed ahead. It was breezy and we sailed conservatively with smooth boat handling and a good performance from the entire team. 

In a fleet as close as the 44Cup is rare that one team dominates but, perhaps because of the 17 month absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, yesterday at the 44Cup Portorož there was one stand-out performer, Team Nika. But today even Vladimir Prosikhin's team was outshone by RC44 legend, Chris Bake, his Kiwi tactician Cameron Appleton and Team Aqua. Team Aqua seemed unable to put a foot wrong and managed to score three bullets. Like Team Nika on day one, Team Aqua ended the day with a four point lead with Hugues Lepic's Team Aleph still second maintaining the most consistent scoreline across the, fleet but with three teams within three points of the Frenchman. 

If yesterday provided the perfect light reintroduction to 44Cup racing after the long enforced break, today was a step up in wind strength with a warmer southerly spending most of the sunny afternoon in the mid to high teens. The direction allowed the race committee to set up the start line off the much photographed seaside town of Piran, Portorož's more ancient neighbour.

It didn't seem to matter where Team Aqua started today, they always made the best of the first beat and had always pulled into the lead by the all-important first top mark rounding. From there they lost the lead to Charisma in the first race up the second beat, but just recovered to pull ahead on the final run. In the subsequent two races they were strongly challenged by Team Aleph and Team CEEREF respectively, but each time sailed sensibly, defending well. Even at the finish of today's final race when there was a head-down, five way dive for the finish line, they kept their collective head to come out on top. 

Tomorrow the forecast is for the wind to be once again from the south, but a little stronger still. Will Team Aqua be able to continue her winning streak or will a third team come to the fore? 

With its light start, brilliant sunshine and the ancient town of Piran and the still snowcapped Slovenian Alps as a backdrop, the day could not have been better for the 44Cup fleet to blow away any cobwebs after such a long absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having not lined up since November 2019, 44Cup competition resumed today for the high performance owner-driver one designs, with three races successfully held on the Bay of Piran. These started in a 6 knots and built to 12 over the afternoon. 

The 44Cup Portorož is being hosted by Vladimir Prosikhin and Igor Lah, owners of Team Nika and Team CEEREF respectively. Team CEEREF is the 44Cup's Slovenian-flagged RC44 while two key crew on board Team Nika once represented Slovenia in the Olympic Games, come from Portorož and one, Mitja Margon, is this event's organiser. It was appropriate therefore that these two RC44s won the first two races. Team Nika posted by far the most consistent results today, returning ashore with a four point lead. Behind her the competition is far closer with just four points separating second from seventh places.

As someone who shows jubilation well, being back was a sheer delight for Prosikhin: "Everyone here is extremely happy, because we were missing our RC44 regattas SO much - one of the worst things about this pandemic was that we couldn't sail our beautiful boats. Coming here is like returning home to your family, the relations with everyone are so good. Some of the guys on the boat have been with me for 10 years."

After a few days out on the water training here in Slovenia, owners and crews of the eight RC44s are now back in the saddle and ready for tomorrow's start of the 44Cup Portorož. The last time the 44Cup fleet raced was in Palma in mid-November 2019. A full season was scheduled for 2020 but was cancelled in its entirety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Formal practice racing was held in the waters off Portorož today under the command of new 44Cup Principal Race Officer Maria Torrijo, who has taken over from the revered PRO Peter 'Luigi' Reggio, who has retired after 12 years of sterling service to the high performance one design class. Torrijo comes from having most recently been Deputy Race Officer for the 36th America's Cup in New Zealand. 

Despite the long break, out on the water the RC44 fleet seems as competitive as ever. "The teams are pretty close as always - that is what we have seen in training," says Nico Poons, owner of Charisma, which ended the 2019 season in fifth place overall. "We will have to see how things are going, but it is all so open. All boats can win."

Poons hasn't sailed his RC44 since 2019. but since then has raced a smaller sportsboat in Monaco, where he resides. "It is good to be back, but you do feel how rusty you are."

Following a huge effort on the part of the local organisers in Slovenia, the class, as well as the owners and teams arriving from the four corners of the globe, the 44Cup season will fire up again next week at the 44Cup Portorož.  

 Taking place over 19-23 May, the Slovenia stopover of the 2021 44Cup marks the first time the high performance 44ft one design monohulls and their owner-drivers will have met on the race course since Palma in November 2019, following the cancellation of the entire 44Cup in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Eight teams are due to line-up next week including Igor Lah's Team CEEREF, which won the 44Cup overall in 2019 as well as the last event in Palma. The Slovenian team finished 2019  just two points clear of Chris Bake's Team Aqua and Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika, with Bake's team claiming second overall on countback. All three will be fighting it out again next week. 

The 44Cup is proud to celebrate the return to sailing and the sport that we love. As we deliver the opening event of the 2021 season in Portoroz, Slovenia next week, we pledge that the health and safety of all our stakeholders – sailors, officials and partners – will be our priority.

We are working confidently and positively with local businesses as well as following guidance from the local government and our colleagues at the Slovenian Sailing Federation and World Sailing - to provide a safe environment for everyone involved in this elite sporting event.

Mandatory Covid-19 lateral flow test upon arrival and at 48h intervals throughout the event, minimising contact onshore, holding all briefings outside and reducing all contact outside the event bubble are just some of the measures being taken to ensure the safety of everyone involved. In addition, we are engaging with other major sailing circuits to learn from their experiences and incorporate best practice in our plans to ensure a safe return to racing for all stakeholders.

On the 44Cup highly accomplished yachtsmen not only populate the race boats but the coach boats too. Take Chris Bake’s Team Aqua: Since the fleet last visited Bermuda in 2016, furiously writing notes and shooting video on their RIB has been towering Australian Andrew Palfrey, better known simply as ‘Dog’. A past Olympian, Palfrey is a small keelboat specialist having claimed three World Championship titles, once in the 5.5mR and twice in the Etchells. 

The sea has been in Palfrey blood for generations. His great grandfather, who emigrated from England to Australia in the early 19th century was a shipwright as was Palfrey’s grandfather. His own father was a merchant seaman, who subsequently earned a living running fishing trips as his eight children (including seven boys) were packed off to the nearby Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron. Of his siblings, Palfrey admits he is only one still in the marine industry. 

A career with a metal working company was going well until a young Palfrey was recruited by a friend to compete in the J/24 Worlds in Kingston, Ontario in 1989. Here the field included budding stars such as Ken Read, Ed Baird, John Kostecki and fellow RC44 coach and Olympian Morgan Reeser. “I met a lot of people, people who I know well today. But that was when something switched on in my brain ‘this is what I want to do.’”

Palfrey returned for that year’s J/24 North Americans, which, significantly, was won by an Australia, Ian Bashford for whom Palfrey subsequently worked for until Bashford’s untimely death in 1996, aged just 37. Meanwhile recognising that corporate life was not for him, Palfrey became, if not a professional racing sailor, then someone who spent his life racing while earned a living in the marine trade. While frequently away from Australia sailing in the USA or Europe, returning home he would work in a chandlers or boat building. 

In the late 1990s, Sydney 2000 was on every Australian sailor’s radar. For this Palfrey teamed up with Cameron Miles and James Mayo in the Soling keelboat. “Again Olympic sailing was one of those ‘someone switched the lights on’ moments - sailing with nice people, not having to sell boats, etc. It was great.” For that Games they lost the Aussie Soling spot to Neville Whitty’s team but as a consolation won the highly competitive Etchells World Championship when it was held in Pittwater in 1999. Post Sydney 2000, Palfrey was about to start another Soling campaign with a young James Spithill, when the keelboat was suddenly dropped from the Olympic roster.  

Palfrey’s sailing, he admits, went through a small hiatus until he hooked up with Iain Murray. The former Kookaburra America’s Cup helmsman (now AC Race Director) was keen to mount an Olympic campaign in the Star keelboat. Palfrey already knew him having worked for Murray at Bashford Boats. “I’d never thought about the Star because in the late 1990s crews were massive, 130-140kg,” he recalls, but by Athens 2004 crew weight was restricted. Sadly Murray/Palfrey were again beaten from getting the Aussie Star berth by Atlanta 1996 bronze medallist, Colin Beashel. Nonetheless they became training partners and finally their hard work paid off when they got the ticket to Beijing 2008. By this time Murray was 50 and Palfrey was 41. They finished 14th. 

While Palfrey was Olympic sailing, the profession of ‘racing sailor’ was developing as was that of coach. Palfrey had made an impression running the Star campaign (while Murray was occupied with his numerous businesses) and soon found himself coaching top teams in the popular Farr 40 and Mumm 30. “I knew what I liked from a coach and I started doing that more and more,” he says. In particular he worked with Richard Perini’s teams that won the Mumm 30 Worlds in 2004 and the Farr 40 Worlds in Sydney the following year.  

Palfrey’s own sailing also took a turn. Post-Beijing he was recruited by an even bigger legend of Australian sailing, John Bertrand for his Etchells keelboat campaign. With the former Australia II America’s Cup winning skipper, Palfrey sailed with some interesting individuals. First there was Ben Ainslie with whom they finished third at the 2009 Etchells Worlds in Melbourne. 2010 proved to be Palfrey’s most successful year claiming the Etchells World title, this time with future Laser gold medallist Tom Slingsby. Directly from that regatta Slingsby breezed into winning a Laser World Championship, while Palfrey claimed the 5.5mR Worlds with Swiss Star sailor Flavio Marazzi.

Palfrey compares the 44Cup to the cartoon Roadrunner where the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote punch in for the day as though going to work, then spend the day trying to kill each other and then punch out. “In the 44 class they have dinners at each event and the social side is really encouraged, so everyone knows each other. But then you get on the water and the racing is at such a high level. Even with 8 or 10 boats there is not a lot of real estate at the top mark. It is intense, tight and super enjoyable.”

As to the RC44 boat itself, Palfrey is a fan. As a sailor he is known for his success in smaller keelboats and the RC44 is a bigger iteration, conceived by a sailor, Russell Coutts, for sailors and owner-drivers. “I like technical boats where the racing is tight and where good sailors make a difference - the RC44 really fits that category. To me, they are really cool boats. There is the technical aspect with the trim tab, overlapping genoa, etc  – which are throw-backs in some ways, but cutting edge too. They are hard boats to sail well from a boat handling point of view but they are rewarding too because they are so efficient. Their performance is incredible, especially in light airs and they get up and go downwind, but it takes technique...”

Mastering the skill of steering an RC44 also represents a challenge for owner-drivers: “It is team work - the trimmers being in sync with the driver over the power level, heel angle, rudder angle, etc. They all must be in harmony, with the owner communicating with the sailors.” 

As to the 44Cup, Palfrey enjoys going to new places and really enjoyed Montenegro and Portoroz, where the 2021 44Cup is scheduled to start in May. Ideally he would like to see the 44s take part in some multiclass regattas, to show-off the quality of the racing to a broader audience.

As with everyone in the yacht racing world during the pandemic, life has been relatively quiet, but confined to his home base in Cowes, Palfrey has been keeping himself busy. He is a hardcore cyclist and is deeply involved with the build of two 5.5mRs, while coaching and running racing for the vibrant Cowes Etchells fleet. He also has been developing new custom kit for the Etchells fleet, a cottage industry he runs out of his ‘man cave’ at home.  

Palfrey like everyone is keeping his fingers and toes crossed that the pandemic recedes and foreign travel opens up again in time for the 44Cup Portoroz over 19-23 May. 

After a rollercoaster year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the 44Cup is ready to launch into 2021 with two new venues and a full fleet of nine boats.  

The 44Cup will debut in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, UK, over the 11 to 15 August for event three of the 2021 season followed by the Italian resort of Marina di Scarlino for event four on 6 - 10 October.  

44Cup Class Manager Bertrand Favre explains: "We are thankful to our event organisers and dedicated RC44 owners who have been able to shift the majority of the schedule to 2021. It allows us to ensure greater certainty and reduce travel in the early part of the year whilst still introduce two fantastic new venues to the fleet"

The 2021 season will open once again in Portoroz, Slovenia, over 19 - 23 May. Hosted for the first time in Portorož town centre, the nine RC44s will be moored on the main town pier with the racecourse set against the backdrop of the walled historic town of Piran. 

Following the season opener, the fleet will move on to Marstrand, Sweden, home of Artemis Racing and a firm favourite on the 44Cup calendar thanks to being the sole stopover in Scandinavia and its usually excellent conditions, for event two over 30 June to 4 July. 

The 44Cup Cowes will take place on the Isle of Wight over 11 to 15 August as part of a busy summer schedule of racing, taking place during the week after Cowes Week and the Rolex Fastnet Race start. The 44Cup race course will be set each day in the eastern Solent by the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron, with a start or finish each day signalled by the Squadron's famous cannon.

Another new venue for the fleet in 2021 will be Marina di Scarlino, Italy. Located just a few kilometres from the island of Elba, Yacht Club Isole di Toscana lies at the heart of culturally rich Tuscany and will host the 44Cup for the first time. The Gulf of Follonica and its natural parks surrounding the marina help create a mild microclimate with ideal wind and sea conditions for sailing in any season.

To close the 2021 season in November, the 44Cup will travel south to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands for the Calero Marinas 44Cup hosted over the 17 - 21 November by Puerto Calero. "Having chosen Calero Marinas as their Canary Islands' base since 2008 the 44Cup brings the world's top sailors to Lanzarote for some thrilling racing. This prestigious class offers much to look forward to with their return in 2021," explains José Juan Calero, CEO  of Calero Marinas.

2021 44Cup Schedule 

19 - 23 May - 44Cup Portoroz, Slovenia

30 June - 4 July - 44Cup Marstrand, Sweden

11 - 15 August - 44Cup Cowes, UK

6 - 10 October - 44Cup Scarlino, Italy

17 - 21 November - 44Cup Calero Marinas, Puerto Calero, Lanzarote

The 44Cup has always been popular with Russian teams, the high performance owner-driver one design class attracting their nation’s top sailors. However Evgeny Neugodnikov and Tavatuy Sailing Team’s owner Pavel Kuznetsov are exceptional as they both live far from the ocean in Yekaterinburg. Just east of the Urals, this is some 1000km from the Caspian Sea to the southwest and even further from the Barents Sea to the northwest.  

Nonetheless water has been always been Yekaterinburg’s lifeblood, since it was established in the early 18th century by the Czar, as one of Russia’s main centres of heavy industry. The Verkh-Isetskiy lake on the River Iset was created to supply the Verkh-Isetskiy Metal Works, then producing steel, canons and canon balls. More recently the Yacht Club Komatec was established here by Neugodnikov’s grandfather and his three brothers and used by subsequent generations. For 30 years the Yacht Club has hosted international sailing event, including the annual Yava Trophy, Russia’s leading match racing event, and the 2004 ISAF Match Racing World Championship, was won by Peninsula Petroleum's tactician Ed Baird. More recently the club hosted the 2018 Women’s Match Racing World Championship. 

The owners and Organising Authority of the 44Cup have today made the final decision to cancel the remaining two events of the 2020 season. This is due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic which this year has brought much of the sporting world to a standstill.        

 Having revised its 2020 schedule consistently over the last few months, the 44Cup community hoped a September and November regatta would still be possible in Portoroz, Slovenia, following the World Sailing and World Health Organisation guidelines. However, the final decision to cancel the 2020 season was due to the strict travel restrictions and quarantine requirements which remain in place and affect many of the fleet's owners, organising team and sailors who travel from around the world to participate on the circuit for the high performance one design owner-driver monohulls. 

The priority for the RC44 Class is safety and ensuring the future of the circuit. Today's decision will help minimise any potential spread of the COVID-19 virus through non-essential travel. 

RC44 Class President and owner of Team Aqua owner Chris Bake explains: "The feeling that we have made the right decision was unanimous amongst the owners. It is incredibly sad, but the reasoning is not only for the safety of the fleet and community but also because many of the crews have been racing together for so long now they have become like family. It wouldn't be the same having so many of the key team members absent.

"That said, we are now desperate to get on the water and get back to racing. All nine of the 44Cup owners are committed to the future of the RC44 Class, and I'm sure that come the first start gun for 2021 the competition will be fierce". 

RC44 Class Manager Bertrand Favre adds: "I would like to thank our sponsors, local event organisers and stakeholders who have done their best to adapt to the consistently changing plan during these difficult months. 

 "A special thank you from the Class goes to Mitja Margon and his team at GoSailing in Slovenia who have worked twice as hard; not only gearing up to start the 2020 season last April but then working tirelessly to adapt the plan in preparation for September. We now look forward to starting the 2021 44Cup season in beautiful Portoroz, Slovenia, at the end of next April".

 The full focus of the Class and teams will now be on the 2021 season. The full calendar for the 2021 44Cup will be announced in the coming weeks. Visit www.44Cup.org to find out more. 

While Cameron Appleton holds the record for taking part in the most number of 44 Cup events, Team Aqua’s main sheet trimmer, fellow US-based Kiwi Andrew Estcourt, reckons he, along with team mate Ben Graham, has missed only one event with Chris Bake’s team as they start their 14th season on the high performance one design circuit. 

While still in New Zealand, Estcourt carved a name for himself following the likes of Russell Coutts, Chris Dickson and Dean Barker in winning the coveted Tanner Cup youth championship in P Class dinghies. He was a keen match racer and campaigned a 49er in the early days of the Olympic skiff. 

Since moving to the US sailing mecca of Hood River in Oregon in 2003 he has become a sought-after keelboat crew, winning the Melges 24 World Championship in 2007 with sailmaking legend David Ullman, the Melges 32 Worlds in 2011 and subsequently has been a regular on the Farr 40, TP52 and 44 Cup circuits.   

Following the postponement of the 44Cup Portoroz and the 44Cup Marstrand, initially scheduled for April and June this year, it comes as little surprise that due to the travel restrictions imposed by the UK Government the 44Cup will sadly not be a part of Cowes Week in August 2020.

With the entire sporting world having been brought to a temporary standstill this year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, the 44Cup has been consistently revising its schedule for 2020. 

The 44Cup would like to thank all of the supporters of the Cowes event, and we hope the fleet will return to make its debut at a future date.

Due to the impact of the ongoing global outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) it is decided that the 44Cup Marstrand, due to take place over the 24 - 28 June, will be postponed to the summer of 2021.

A highlight of the 44Cup calendar each year the event hosted by the GKSS on Marstrand Island, Sweden, around midsummer is a fantastic display of RC44 racing, with the fleet often racing to a finish line set from Strandverket castle inside the fjord.

The 44Cup Marstrand 2021 will continue to be supported by Stena Bulk and organised in association with the GKSS who give the rescheduling their full support.  

Given the unprecedented nature of the outbreak and the impact on world travel, events and people’s lives, the 44Cup continue to monitor the situation as it develops. However, they also continue to plan to move forward when the time comes. 

44CUP VERTUAL REGATTA SERIES 1 

01.04.20 - 3 races sailed

Whilst in lockdown tonight we raced the first in a four-part 44Cup Virtual Regatta series. 

A private series that will take place over the next four weeks of April, the opening round saw a runaway victory for ARTTUBE RUS1 sailor Sergey Avdonin who claimed all three first-place finishes. 

44Cup umpire Miguel Allen is a comfortable second overall after posting a consistent 2 4 2 scoreline with Charisma's bowman Ivan Peute five points behind in third. 

Tonights most spectacular moment came in the second race from Charisma's coach Morgan Reeser who, after an excellent start and leading the first beat, suffered a devastating technical glitch halfway through the first mark rounding and plummeted through the fleet to last - We saw a lot of this 👹👹👹 - nevertheless he was back for more in race three!

Good racing all. Same again next week. Keep safe. 

44CUP VERTUAL REGATTA SERIES 2

08.04.20 - 3 races sailed 

Race report to be published this evening.