RC44 News-Feed

Following the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Europe and the travel restrictions currently in place, the 44Cup Organising Authority has decided to cancel the 44Cup Portoroz, which would have taken place from the 22 - 26 April 2020.

The safety and well-being of the sailors and the 44Cup’s personnel is the main priority of the Class. The 44Cup Organising Authority will continue to work with its local event organisers, teams and stakeholders to monitor the situation as it develops.

The 2020 season is set for the 44Cup and for the first time the ultra-competitive one design owner-driver RC44 fleet will join one of the oldest and most respected regattas in the world, Cowes Week.

As they did in 2019, the44Cup will start its 2020 season on the Adriatic Sea with the 44Cup Portorož, Slovenia, over 22 26 April. Portorož holds a special place in RC44 history having been the location of the first sea trials for the Russell Coutts conceived one design in 2006 and was where the class' first regatta was held in 2007. 

For the 2020 edition, the event will be hosted for the first time in Portorož town centre with the RC44s moored on the main town pier and the race course set against the backdrop of the walled historic town of Piran. 

Defending their 2019 44Cup tour champions title, local heroes Igor Lah's Team CEEREF will be looking to add their first event win to the scoreboard on home waters: "Sailing under Slovenian flag is for us a great challenge and responsibility", explained Lah. 

"To be located in the city centre will be fantastic for the spectators and teams as we will have the atmosphere and connection to city life alongside the racing. The competition will be tough as all the teams are well prepared and sailing is as close as possible. This gives a lot of challenge and opportunity to everyone."

The 44Cup's RC44 one-design monohull offers owner-drivers some of the best value world class fleet racing in the world, with the boats regularly finishing within seconds of each other. It is also one of the most versatile one designs, able to race in 5-25 knots and packing into its own container for convenient cost effective shipping. Despite being 13 years old the 44Cup still attracts the biggest names in sailing thanks to the high quality of racing it offer, as Peninsula Petroleum's tactician and America's Cup winning helmsman Ed Baird highlights: "In the 44Cup what you see is people like Tom Slingsby, Iain Percy, Cameron Appleton and myself here because the racing is very good. There are plenty of new concepts and designs right now but the boats don't exist, they are just in computers. The racing is happening here.

"One of the great things about the 44Cup is the mix of amateurs and professionals in the crew. The amateurs are very good and so when the owners come to these races, they get on the boat and everything works very nicely for them. It's a simple process for the owners to step on and go racing."

44Cup 2020 events schedule 

44Cup Portorož, Slovenia 🇸🇮 22 - 26 April 2020

44Cup Marstrand, Sweden 🇸🇪 24 - 28 June 2020

44Cup Cowes, UK 🇬🇧 11 - 15 August 2020

44Cup World Championship Sotogrande, Spain 🇪🇸 23 - 27 September 2020

44Cup Calero Marinas - Lanzarote, Spain 🇪🇸 11-15 November 2020

It was supposed to be a heavyweight bout between Chris Bake’s Team Aqua and Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika. These two, among the oldest, most successful teams in the high performance one design monohull class, started the 44Cup Palma, the final event of the season, separated by just one point at the top of the 2019 44Cup leaderboard. Behind them Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF went into the 44Cup Palma five points off the lead with Aleph Racing of Hugues Lepic a further point behind. 

However this non-discardable final event of the season was to prove surprisingly dire for both the leaders who, against all expectation, began today’s final day of racing in last place. Meanwhile, two other teams were excelling – Nico Poons’ Charisma, the 2018 defending 44Cup champion, and Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF, winner in 2016-17. 

With the opening day of racing cancelled, Charisma scored two bullets on Friday while Team CEEREF had managed the same on Saturday. Today – the final day of the event - Charisma won the first race, Team CEEREF the second, but significantly in the latter the Monaco-based Dutchman’s team had come last, reducing their nine point lead to just one. Going into today’s third and final race, not only was it all on for the event victory, but, delving deeper into the maths, the top three RC44 teams were effectively tied on points for the lead in the 2019 44Cup season’s points.  

Fittingly after three difficult days for the race committee, for the last day, the Bay of Palma delivered, with the on-shore wind building well into the 20s for the final race, with an increasingly short, violent sea state. 

For this last race, Team CEEREF won the pin end and did well out to the left, but was third to the top mark behind Bronenosec Sailing Team and Charisma. Significantly at the leeward gate Team CEEREF split right from the two leaders and enjoyed a nice lift as she came back on starboard. She led at the top mark, a position she held to the finish with Charisma coming home second. This left the two teams tied, with Team CEEREF winning the 44Cup Palma on countback. 

It was similar behind, where sixth and seventh place finishes for Team Nika and Team Aqua respectively left them tied in the 44Cup Palma, but significantly Vladimir Prosikhin’s team finishing seventh to Team Aqua’s eighth on countback. These poor results left Team CEEREF come from behind to win the 2019 44Cup season by two points. 

“I was sure it was impossible,” said a beaming Igor Lah, who only found out he’d won overall when Team CEEREF docked at the Real Club Nautico de Palma. “It was just mathematically possible and it looks like maths was on our side today! Today everyone on board wanted to win because we had some bad regattas and some bad luck. We needed this.” Here in Palma, he observed, they hadn’t sailed exceptional well, only that they hadn’t sailed to their usual high standard before this.  

Of their outstanding performance British tactician Adrian Stead observed: “The goal was to come here and to win the regatta, but the beauty of this class being so strong, you can win, but if you don’t sail well, it is very easy to be at the back - which we know! We were positive with how we sailed, but we did enough to sneak past Charisma.

“Igor [Lah] really sailed the boat well because it was so shifty and gusty. Everyone put in 110% today. I am really pleased.” Aside from Lah and Stead, Team CEEREF comprised trimmers Dirk de Ridder, Javier De La Plaza and Lah’s son Tine, plus Andreas Axelsson, bowman Matteo Auguardo and grinder Jelle Janzen.

Being bold paid today continued Stead and they particularly impressed after the first start when they attempt cross the entire fleet on port.  

For defending 44Cup champion Nico Poons and his Charisma team, this was his best result of the season (alongside second at the Adris 44Cup Rovinj). It was also a third podium finish this season for Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing. “We are happy to be on the podium and the racing was fun,” said Törnqvist, whose boat endured two collisions (neither their fault) on Friday. “That is part of it. It is intense and close. The sailing is as good as it gets – it is so competitive. I am looking forward to next season.”

Tied on points with Artemis Racing, but fourth on countback here was Bronenosec Sailing Team, a result elevating them off the bottom spot on the podium. “It was exciting - I like this much more than 5-6 knots,” said skipper Kirill Frolov of today’s conditions. They were deprived a podium finish after losing their bowman overboard at the top mark in today’s first race, dropping them from fourth to last.

A war story that will go down in 44Cup folklore occurred on the high speed last run of the last race when Peninsula Petroleum went ‘down the mine’ spectacularly. “There was a lot of pressure coming, which we anticipated, but it hit us at the bottom of a very big wave,” explained owner John Bassadone. “The bow went in and in and continued to go in... The stern of the boat came out so far that the rudder was completely outside of the water. The bowsprit broke and eventually it fell over on its side with the mast in the water. I got spat out along with Ed [Baird, tactician] and Jose Maria [Lara] which it was a bit worrying, because I went into the turbulent wash, and it took ages for me to come up and I was swallowing water. I am so happy...to be alive! This has never happened before on an RC44 I’m told...” 

Despite their disappointing result in Palma, two event wins for Chris Bake’s Team Aqua this season caused them to finish the 2019 44Cup second overall, with Team Nika tied on points with them, but third on countback.

The 44Cup resumes in 2020 in Portorož, Slovenia at the end of April.

If Charisma and Aleph were the stand-out teams yesterday, today, the penultimate day of the 44Cup Palma, belonged to Igor Lah's Team CEEREF. In a return to their 2016-17 season-winning form, the Slovenian team won both of today's races. This elevated them to second overall astern of Nico Poons' Charisma which had another solid day leaving them with a six point lead going into the final day. 

For the teams and race management it was another profoundly challenging day. The forecast was for ‘light but sailable’ with the breeze filling in early afternoon. In the end, the teams were sent out after being held ashore for an hour and a half, only for a storm cell to bring strong winds and lightning to the race area. As the horizon darkened the nine RC44 teams were sent in. Once the squall had passed they were called back out, but this resulted in another late day with the first race only started at 1515 CET. A second was shoehorned, but it was dark by the time the boats later docked at the Real Club Nautico de Palma. 

 

Racing in Palma in November was always going to be challenging not just for crews but especially for race officials more used to racing here in summer, in a sea breeze you can set your watch by. 

Yesterday racing was canned with the breeze gusting to 40 knots. Today, despite a large residual swell, conditions appeared more sailable, but for almost two hours the wind failed to settle, its direction pulled around due to the giant clouds crossing the Bay of Palma race area. Although light to moderate, the wind randomly shifted between southwest and northwest and back before finally settling close to the former when, on their fifth attempt, the race committee was able to lay a course successfully.

Winds gusting up to 40 knots and a heinous seastate out on the Bay of Palma, kept the 44Cup fleet at the dock on the opening day of the 44Cup Palma. The wind began veering and dropping mid-afternoon but the left-over sea state precluded the deciding round of the 2019 44Cup from getting underway. 

“We had a steady 23-25 knots of wind, but the sea states was such, coming from various directions, that it was basically like a cauldron,” reported PRO Peter Reggio. “That combined with the velocity being at the upper end means it wouldn’t have been good racing at all. Fortunately the forecast for the next few days is looking better than it did this morning. 

Many of the owners spent the early afternoon enjoying the hospitality provided by the Real Club Nautico de Palma before the final decision not to race was made at 1430. 

“I’m disappointed, but that is how it is,” said Igor Lah, whose Team CEEREF currently lies fourth in the 44Cup but whose Slovenian team led by Britain’s Adrian Stead was back to back winner in 2016 and 2017. “I like sailing in the big wind but I am a bit afraid of big waves because of my knees. It is my first time racing in Palma. I like the city. The cathedral is amazing.” As to his team’s prospects Lah added: “We were a little unlucky at the last event. We started with some mistakes and then it accumulated. We are in better shape now.”

David Lenz, coach for Team CEEREF felt it was a good call not to sail today. “The sea state was driving it as much as the wind. The models were in the 20s gusting to 30 and, later on, going hard right and dropping. So would make it hard to set a race course. For the new few days, it looks pretty good, with 10-20 knots, maybe lighter at times and offshore, so fairly flat water, shifty with some rain around making it less stable. But we like that – it’ll  be good fun.”

Bronenosec Sailing Team’s tactician Cameron Dunn agreed: “It was the right call. The wave state out there would have been very big for these boats and short. For the rest of the week, it is looking promising - offshore, shifty, puffy conditions, but we should get three good days of racing and at least nine good races in.”

Conditions are looking more reasonable for the remainder of the 44Cup Palma with a first warning signal tomorrow scheduled for 1200. 

 

Starting tomorrow is the 44Cup Palma, concluding event of the 2019 44Cup where the overall winner will be decided. At present two teams, Chris Bake's Team Aqua and Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika, are top contenders. Team Aqua has been a late riser having won the last two events, starting with the RC44 World Championship in Marstrand, Sweden in July. Team Nika has not won an event in 2019, but has been consistent runner-up in three events and is now lying just one point from first.

“We have to win here by two points to win the season, so it is a challenge,” observes Vladimir Prosikhin – a tiebreak would still favour Team Aqua having finished ahead at the World Championship. “Everything looks good, but Team Aqua is strong, a serious challenge and they are at their prime while we were second both times!

“I remember it was the same between us and Bronenosec in 2015 in Virgin Gorda when they had to win two points and have one boat between us, but in the very last race there was a huge storm and everything changed - we finished just behind them and won that year.” 

Being the last event, scores are non-discardable, so it is still possible for any of the top four teams to win overall. In contention, currently five and six points from first respectively, are Igor Lah’s third placed Team CEEREF, winner in Montenegro, and Aleph Racing of France’s Hugues Lepic, winner of the Adris 44 Cup in Rovinj, Croatia, currently fourth overall.

Any of the top seven teams can still reach the podium from Nico Poons' Charisma, the 44Cup’s defending champion, but currently in seventh place after another up and down year, to John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum or Torbjörn Törnqvist's Artemis Racing, all currently within one point. 

What will shake things up is launching into the unknown. Palma is a top destination for yacht racing, but oddly it is the first time in 12 years of RC44 competition the circuit has visited. While the vast majority of the 44Cup sailors have competed here many times, few, if, any have raced here in November.

For Peninsula Petroleum’s tactician Ed Baird this will be his sixth time racing here in 12 months, included winning his class at the season opener, PalmaVela, the season opener for the 44Cup’s hosts this week –Real Club Nautico de Palma.  He says the big unknown will be the weather. While summer events here rely on the sea breeze, this won’t occur mid-November. 

“In winter time you are at the mercy of fronts. Hopefully it doesn’t get too rainy and cold,” says Baird. The America’s Cup winning helmsman anticipates all sorts of conditions: “One day with big swell and strong wind and other days when it is windy, but smooth and shifty, and other days a little lighter.”

As to the prospects for Peninsula Petroleum anything is possible. Loosely they are the ‘home team’ as their crew is mostly Spanish. However they haven’t won an event since 2017. “We are learning a lot of things together,” continues Baird who took over as tactician at the beginning of this season. “The first three events were a little heart breaking because we had chances of winning all of them going into the last day and each time we ended up just behind the front group. Then Cascais was tough, and we have put that behind us.”

The pressure is on for the 44Cup fleet going into next week’s grand final in Palma, Majorca, over the 13 – 17 November. This will be the fifth and final event of the 2019 season and we expect to see a a heated fight for the podium between the top three teams. 

Chris Bake’s Team Aqua currently lead the fleet, on a roll after the World Championship win in Marstrand Sweden during the summer which they followed up with a win in Cascais, Portugal last month. Having been at each other’s throats for the entire season Team Aqua’s biggest threat is Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika has taken three second place event finishes this season and is desperate to take an event win. 

“It’s becoming a pattern that we need one more day each event - we wake up too late,” admitted Vladimir Prosikhin last month. “We finished the final day in Cascais with three firsts - we improved our position throughout the week, so I am happy, but it would be better to start that way.”

Also in the mix for the end of season podium is Igor Lah’s Slovenian Team CEEREF. On 10 points overall they have a four point gap to bridge to second place and a further two points to first. After an unusually bad results at the last event in Portugal, which saw them finish a disappointing seventh place, the usually consistent crew, lead by British tactician Adrian Stead, is hungry to relive their Tour winning form of 2016-17.

Remarkably for this international one-design fleet this is the first time the 44Cup has visited Palma and hosted by the Real Club Náutico de Palma many of the sailors are very well rehearsed in racing on these waters. 

Nearly every team features sailors from the 52 Super Series who regularly race in Palma. 

At the 2019 52 Super Series World Championship in August German team Platoon took the win. Good news for Charisma who share tactician John Kostecki, trimmer Ross Halcrow and coach Morgan Reeser. 

After a strong start to the 44Cup Cascais, Nico Poons' Charisma did well but couldn't shine as brightly as the teams on the ascent in the last two days. However with a scoreline this season of 9-2-9 followed by a third in Cascais, the Monaco-based Dutchman's team is replicating his up and down season of 2018...which he ended up winning overall.

Making it hard for Charisma to defend their 2018 Tour winning title this season is the big step up from the mid fleet teams Aleph Racing, Peninsula Petroleum and Artemis Racing who are all within three points of each other ahead of Poons’ team in fourth to sixth respectively.

Team Aqua’s tactician Cameron Appleton discusses his first time racing an RC44, how the boat has changed over the past 12 years and why the things that stay the same mean it is still loved today by the sailing elite.  

“What was it like at the start?” Appleton says as he raises an eyebrow, sat on the dock-box on a quite morning in Palma waiting for the wind. As the longest serving tactician after 12-years in the RC44 fleet, and having never missed an event, Appleton has clocked up 18 event wins, five Tour titles, has raced in every single RC44 regatta and finally, this season, achieved the title that had long eluded him becoming the 2019 RC44 World Champion in Marstrand, Sweden, in July. 

“When the class was first launched it was viewed as quite exclusive and probably still is,” he suggests. “Everyone is always sceptical about new ideas that at the time might be a bit extreme and pushing the boundaries but initial concept from Russell (Coutts) for a more transportable classes in this size rage really set the RC44 apart.” 

With the boats built in Pauger, Hungry, the first event of the then named RC44 Championship Tour was held in Portoroz, a pretty Slovenian town where the boats were assembled and first splashed. 

“When we arrived at our first event we were a new team in a new class and we really didn’t know what to expect. We had done a bit of training in Dubai but nothing more.” The original format of the class back then was a couple of days of match racing, a practice day or lay day and then four days of fleet racing. A marathon compared to today’s format of four short sharp days of fleet racing.  

“The first ever event we won every match race and the overall fleet race,” he explained. “I steered back then and Chris was the grinder. We weren’t outstanding. We lost Chris over the side one day, we made silly mistakes in the boat handling but we won through consistency and I think that is a team ethos we have carried through the years – there is no point in being brilliant for a second, you just have to keep being consistently in the top half to win.”

Having grasped this valuable lesson early on Team Aqua have gone on to win a record five tour titles, four of which consecutively from 2011 to 2014, and the consistency even runs through the team with three team members still onboard from the original 2007 crew – Ben Graham, Andy Estcourt and Appleton himself.

So why has a one design class with very little modification from its original design outlasted expectations and is still going strong 12-years later with a fleet of nine dedicated owners?

“Everything about the RC44 really makes sense and it’s a great way to get good racing in with good owners against great teams,” Appleton says with a nod to slim black monohull bobbing on the dock in the low November sun. “Physically the biggest real progression is in the sails. Other than that there have been a few minor upgrades since the start – slightly longer rudders, jib car track changes, just some small bits and pieces. But more impressively the crews have now learnt how to get the best out of these boats and it’s so competitive you can’t miss a beat.”

“The nervous excitement of that first event is still the excitement we feel going into the first regatta of the season today,” Appleton exclaims. “The boats have dated really well. they were modern when they were launched and they are still really relevant today – you know you can be critical about any boat, you can be critical about this boat, but the reality is the racing in the RC44 fleet is really, really good – and that is why we are all here.”

 

 

Whether it is in big waves or small, gale force or sub-10 winds, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua has shone this week and as a result today won the 44Cup Cascais with a race to spare. Although this was common occurrence for Team Aqua during her glory years of 2011-13, winning with a race to spare is very rare these days, such is the level of competition in the high performance one design monohull class. 

The final day of 44Cup racing off the Portuguese sailing mecca, where the event is being hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais, provided even brisker conditions than yesterday. This was mainly due to the race committee setting up the start area further offshore, free from the protection of the headlands west of Cascais. As a result, with the wind regularly blowing 20+ knots, and a lumpy and at times random chop set up on top of the Atlantic swell, it was a perpetually wet ride for the crews on this high load, high stress deciding day.

While at the 44Cup Cascais there has been a light first day, a medium second day with a large swell, on day three the Portugese sailing mecca saw winds exceeding the forecast, gusting up to 25 knots, with a short wind-driven chop and a reduced swell. The wind hovering around 18-20 knots for most of the day provided hair-raising downwinds with the crew hanging on as the RC44s accelerated to 20+ knots speed, engulfed in spray. The conditions placed a premium on crew work and it was easy even for the most polished teams to come unstuck - notably three time World Champion Team Nika which broached dramatically during  today’s first kite hoist. 

The class act was once again Team Aqua, Chris Bake’s team providing a masterclass in how to sail the high performance one design RC44 in big breeze and waves. After scoring a 2-1 in the first two races, in today’s third and last they demonstrated even more skill when they recovered from a late start, “We got sandwiched on the whole first upwind and never had clear air and saved ourselves on the last downwind,” said Bake. They started in eight position, gybed early then, as Bake explained “we sent it!” They finished third. 

With an okay day Nico Poons’ Charisma looks secure in second, albeit seven points behind Team Aqua. But there was a change of occupant on the final step of the podium, with Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing having a terrible day while Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika demonstrated some of her old form, winning today’s final race and ultimately ending the day eight points behind Charisma but seven points ahead of Aleph.

Bronenosec Sailing Team tactician Cameron Dunn added: “We got pretty good starts and things fell our way a little bit and it felt we were going as quick as we have gone all season as well against the fleet in those conditions. We had some really nice smooth hoists and exited the top mark very nicely in all of the races, which allowed us to make gains on people behind us which makes my life a bit easier! Downwind we were ripping along with our hair on fire! It wasn’t full extreme Cascais, but it was bloody nice sailing.”

Oddly at this regatta while the podium placers have some security in their positions, one of the top fights tomorrow will be between the tailenders – Artemis Racing, John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum and Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF, all usually very capable of winning races, Team CEEREF having been the 2016 and 2017 44Cup champion and winner of this year’s first event in Montenegro. 

“Clearly everyone is improving,” said Artemis Racing’s Torbjörn Törnqvist. “I think that our boat is quick and we have our moments, but not everything is working and perhaps we aren’t at our best. It doesn’t take much to slip down the leaderboard. Tomorrow is another day. We can’t be on the podium but we are looking forward to the last day and hopefully we can improve on where we are.” 

However he very much enjoyed today’s conditions: “It was fantastic sailing, good fun. In big breeze, it was challenging, so everything you could wish for. We had 21 knots [boat speed] at one point, but I’m sure others did as well.” 

For tomorrow, the deciding day of the 44Cup Cascais, similar conditions are forecast with the northwesterly again gusting to 20+ knots and with the swell further reduced. Cascais at its best. 

A selection of the best shots from Pedro Martinez of Martinez Studio.

At the halfway stage of the 44Cup Cascais, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua has joined Nico Poons’ Charisma at the top of the leaderboard and is even ahead on countback. 

The second day of racing for the high performance one design RC44 monohulls, hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais, was held in slightly more wind than yesterday, 10-16 knots, building slowly in the final race, but remaining more firmly northwest. However the height of the swell was notably larger, drummed up by Hurricane Lorenzo. Thanks to the long wavelength this wasn’t especially dramatic, but it made holding a course tricky as boats experiencing a momentary lull as they disappeared in the troughs. 

In the first race Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing nosed ahead after claiming the inside overlap on Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing rounding the top mark. From here the French team went on to win the first race, just as they did yesterday, en route to becoming top scorer of the day. 

In the next race Team Nika attempted to pull off a similar manoeuvre on the inside at the top mark, but was just too slow. Team Aqua sailed around their outside and on to claim their second bullet of the regatta.

Tavatuy Sailing Team’s victory marked the third race today won by the pin end starters, despite PRO Peter Reggio expending all his cunning trying to prevent this. 

Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika seemed to have a better day posting a 2-3 in the final two races, and holds fourth, nine points behind Aleph Racing. In fact their day’s score was just one better than yesterday due to their eighth in today’s opening race. “The important thing is that we were second and third in the second and third races and have found our groove,” said Prosikhin. “The feeling is completely different, because before we struggled to find a nice mode - we were sailing too slow and were losing speed which was very difficult to recover. Now we are sailing more like the other boats and it is more equal. I hope it will continue, otherwise it will be quite painful!”

Prosikhin said the tricky part was remembering how to sail the boat in a sizeable swell. “Upwind – the wind speed is different in the troughs and the crests. The boat naturally goes up and down but when you have speed and a bit more wind it’s easier. Somehow it has taken us a while to remember how to sail in this.” 

While Team Nika holds the middle ground, the leaderboard at this halfway stage looks very unusual for the 44Cup with three boats within two points of first and, almost 20 points behind, four boats two points off fifth. Over the remaining two days it will be interesting to see if this division contracts or expands further. 

In contrast to their tail end of the fleet finish in Marstrand in July, Nico Poons and Charisma showed the way around the race track on the opening day of the 44Cup Cascais, posting a most respectable 2-1-2. 

Despite Hurricane Lorenzo rampaging to the north, conditions were relatively benign off the Portugese sailing capital and the event’s host club the Clube Naval de Cascais, peaking at around 15 knots and then dropping steadily through the afternoon to around seven in the third and final race. In this Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio was forced to reduce the course length.

“It was good - concentration, focus and some good starts. That was it. It is time to catch up again,” affirmed Poons, whose team currently lies seventh overall in the 2019 44Cup. His tactician, America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race winner John Kostecki added: “Nico did a great job today and was really focussed. It went well - we got off the line well; we went the correct way up the first beat. Sometimes the left paid but we always had a good lane on port tack, which our coach told us to do. Plus we seemed to be going fast.”

Given the usual closeness of the fleet, it is surprising gaps have already opened up at the top end of the fleet after just three races. However the competition is much closer in the mid-fleet where just five points separates Team Nika in fourth from eighth placed Artemis Racing. Artemis Racing had several opportunities to do better today. Notably in the first race she was jockeying for the lead with Team Aleph only to park at the second top mark rounding, incurring two red flag penalties in the process.

The forecast for Friday and Saturday is for the wind to be around 12-20 knots but with the swell to increase, the effect of Hurricane Lorenzo, building over this period. 

Racing continues tomorrow, with a first warning signal scheduled for 1200, and concludes on Sunday. 

The annual 44Cup pilgrimage to the Portugese sailing mecca of Cascais is being held this week with racing for the high performance one design monohulls taking place over Thursday to Sunday, 3-6 October off the northern shore of the Tagus estuary.

Hoping to rediscover some of last year’s form here is Monaco-based Dutchman Nico Poons who, with his Charisma team won the final event of the season on these waters, in the process securing them the 2018 44Cup title overall, albeit by a single point ahead of Team Nika and Team CEEREF. 

“Last year here it was great, but this year is tough,” admitted Poons. In 2019, Charisma was second in Rovinj, Croatia but this is sandwiched between two ninth place finishes. “I don’t see us winning this year, but we have two events to go, so we’ll do our best,” says Poons. 

Nonetheless sailing in what is effectively the Atlantic Ocean is always enjoyable, the crews able to surf the RC44s at 20+ knot speeds down the large oceanic swells. “It is one of the best sailing areas you can think of and the club is nice. What is not to like?” concludes Poons. “And the racing is very, very close. There are very small differences between us.”

There is some prospect for big waves this week with post-tropical cyclone Lorenzo blasting a path northeast from the Azores towards the British Isles. While this has brought hurricane force winds to the Azores, such winds won’t be felt in Cascais, but the residual wave train may. 

Andy Horton, tactician on Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing, reckons this could get interesting towards the end of the week. “There is a ridge in between us and Lorenzo and we have some pressure down the coast today and tomorrow, but then it gets a little funkier because we have some waves coming. Last year in November we didn’t sail because the waves got too big - I don’t think it will be like that, but they are saying 3m waves on Friday-Saturday and they will be from the west with the breeze from the north. So on starboard we’ll be banging into them but the fun thing will be on port downwind, they’ll be right behind us and we’ll be just ripping.” Surfing as Cascais does best. 

Racing at the 44Cup Cascais starts tomorrow at 1300 local time.  

 

Firing up next week is the penultimate event of the 2019 RC44 season, the 44Cup Cascais, running over the 2nd - 6thOctober. As ever the points are tight as the year draws to a close for the nine strong fleet of high performance one design keelboats, with only four point separate the top six teams.  

At present Team Aqua is leading the overall standing after triumphantly winning the 2019 44Cup World Championship title in Marstrand, Sweden, back in July. A title that has eluded owner Chris Bake and his long term tactician Cameron Appleton as the classes most successful team during their 13-year campaign with the fleet. 

Aqua claimed this year’s title ahead of Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika who is currently on joint points with Bake’s team overall, but second on countback. “It is very close, but the fleet is so strong it can change quickly,” explains Prosikhin. “There are no weak boats, but that is what is enjoyable. It is a big challenge and when you win you really have something to celebrate.”

A single point off the top two teams is Igor Lah’s Team CEEREEF. Having won the 2017 and 2016 44Cup titles as well as the 2013 and 2016 World Championships tactician Adrian Stead knows what it take to perform under pressure. Having lost valuable points in Marstrand to home team Artemis Racing, who are currently fourth overall and showing good consistently this season, CEEREF need a good performance at the 44Cup Cascais to break away from the chasing pack ahead of the final event of the season in Palma, Majorca in November. 

The final two teams to be in the mix for the podium are Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing whose win the second event of the season in Rovinj, their first ever after nine years in the class, is holding them on seven points in fifth one point ahead of John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum in sixth. 

Suffering unusually deep scores on more than one occasion this season Charisma, Tavatuy Sailing Team and Bronenosec Sailing Team hold the bottom rungs on the leaderboard but good fortune in Cascais could easily seem them leapfrog their way to the top as so often is the case in this competitive fleet. 

To follow all the action at the 44Cup Cascais visit www.44cup.org.

One of the never-ending attractions of racing on the 44 Cup, be it for pro or amateur crew, but especially for the owner-drivers, is the ability to learn and improve. This is no mean feat involving teams of humans working in unison to master the seemingly black art of driving a boat to the max by harnessing a force that is both invisible and infinity fickle. Fortunately the ability for teams and owner-drivers to improve has taken a big step up thanks to some new coaching technology that makes both the analytical process and resultant learning fast and fun. 

What the new software does is to bring all the data and media streams together in a way that is extremely user friendly even for the most tech-phobic coach, sailing team or owner. 

At present crews have their boat’s polars, effectively a spreadsheet of performance data suggesting the speed they should be going on any given point of sail for any wind strength and sail combination. Each RC44 is also fitted with a B&G electronic instrument package that constantly monitors every aspect of the boat’s performance from wind speed and direction to boat speed and GPS speed over the ground, to rudder angle to pitch to data from the load cell attached to the forestay and much more. All of this data is recorded and after racing is deeply analysed by the coaches and teams to determine why some aspect of their sailing - be it trim, starting, mark roundings – were somehow brilliant or sub-standard. 

Sadly in isolation this intense number crunching has been extremely dull with even the most talented of coaches struggling to dig out any secrets buried within this vast quantity of data. Until now. 

However this kind of analytics has taken a significant leap forwards with Njord Player. This software was created initially between the Phoenix TP52 team, sailor Tom Burnham and the developer, but has since rapidly migrated to other classes, including the RC44, where Burnham coaches Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis Racing. 

Essentially the step forward with this software is its ability to sync up every single byte of performance data from off the boat with all media streams, such as video and audio from on board or from on the water (eg the coach boat) or a drone. 

Pelle P products are tested in collaboration with world-class sailing and ski teams in their element. From this Pelle P takes the feedback and develops the best products for the job. The result is technical clothing that really works on the mountain, at sea and on the golf course – clothing for active lifestyle

Pelle P has been a proud partner to the 44Cup since 2013. As a part of the collaboration, Pelle P are now offering 44Cup merchandise for all customers and fans. 

Products are available to purchase online here or if you have any special requests for 44Cup merchandise, please do not hesitate to contact Pelle P on info@pellepetterson.se

Much like the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, the 44Cup has Nico and Pedro Martinez: A father and son combination, who are separately considered as two of the best sailing photographers in the world and together make the 44Cup look effortlessly cool. 

Nico’s history as a professional sailing photographer is impressive. He was official photographer of the America's Cup Challenger Rioja España in San Diego 1995, Bravo España in New Zealand 2000 and Desafío Español for Valencia 2007. 

He has been the official photographer of international regattas such as the Barcelona World Race 2010, the Record Barcelona - New York, the Audi MedCup 2008-2011 before finally becoming a regular on the 44Cup in 2011. 

It was inevitable that Nico’s profession would eventually rub off on his young son, even if unintended. 

Pedro had his first taste of sailing photography at 15 years old editing his father’s photos during the summer holidays and shooting himself for the first time in 2006 in Valencia during America’s Cup training as a 20 year old. Although this, of his own omission, was a disastrous gig as a horrible case of seasickness resulted in blurred and out of focus shots.

Since then certainly Pedro has come a long way, forging his own path mostly separate from his father in what is a highly competitive profession. “There are the classic photos, the top mark shots where the boats come to you, that you know will just work and is what is expected of a sailing photographer. But for me they are boring. I want to be more creative,” he says.

Having partnered with his father on the 44Cup in 2012 the combination of Nico’s more traditional shots combined with the perhaps fresher creativity of Pedro complements the classically beautiful RC44 monohull and keeps the imagery of the 12 year old one design class current.  

Pedro explains: “The most unique thing about the 44s when you are shooting them is the colour, especially if you shoot them with a backlight they look completely black which is pretty cool, so you can see their geometric forms. The images often look graphic. 

 “The boats are all identical in size, shape and nearly all are black, but then they each have their own colour details that you can pick out in a shot.” 

So what does it take to be creative as a sailing photographer: “The key thing for me is to keep on trying new ideas, even when you think they probably won’t work. If you just take the photos you know will work, you never find anything new. From time to time you realise that something you have tried actually could work and then it’s very exciting to keep improving it, until it works. That is when you can be successfully creative”. 

When asked who inspires him, Pedro obviously pays tribute to his father: “He’s very good at the classic sailing photos and so that is the base of all my knowledge and thanks to him that comes very naturally to me.” There is also his partner in his own photography business Sailing Energy, Jesus Renedo: “He is always pushing for something different and experimental. He is always encouraging me and behind any new techniques”.

Then there is British sports photographer Clive Mason who he worked with at the 2016 Rio Olympics: “Every day I was able to check his photos and I learnt so much about technique. I saw photos that I never thought could be done. But importantly I learnt about the way he works. Getting the unusual shot didn’t just come from the techniques – it was the way he set them up, managed people and created situations so you didn’t just get the money shot – but you got it in 10 different ways. Having that much variety is really useful.”

Capturing the emotion of Olympic sailing, Pedro tries to bring a similar human connection to his 44Cup pictures: “I love shooting the Olympians because they are so close to the water and their bodies are very dynamic - you can see their faces and expressions really clearly. When you shoot big boats like the 44s it is important to get the right angle and, because a lot of the time a lot of the crew are focused on what is happening inside the boat, it’s difficult to show their faces and how hard they are working”.

With regular call ups from some of the most prestigious sailing regattas in the world you may wonder why Pedro saves space in his calender for the 44Cup but the answer is simple: “We have been the same team for years and it is like a family. We feel comfortable and confident going into each event which is perfect because it allows me to work on the water with no stress at all and that allow me to be more creative.” 

Holding an eight point advantage going into the final day, and then doing enough to hang on, enabled Chris Bake’s Team Aqua to be crowned the 44Cup Marstrand World Champions for 2019. The team claimed this year’s title ahead of Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika and Torbjörn Törnqvist’s local heroes aboard Artemis Racing.

“I feel really good about it,” said Bake, still dripping from his victor’s plunge once Team Aqua was back at her berth on the Marstrand quayside. “Yesterday was a good day and the boat was going really well. Today was tough – shifty and really patchy.”

Today the teams had a long wait out on the water as the breeze faded, subsequently materialising just long enough to allow two races to be sailed before the 1500 cut-off. 

In the first race Artemis Racing had a lengthy battle for the lead, including repeated place swapping with Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF. The Slovenian team was ahead going into the final run, but gybed early ultimately allowing Artemis Racing through to take the bullet.