While racing in 44Cup events usually goes to the wire, decided in the last few metres of the final race, this hasn’t been the case this year when the dominant force has been Monaco-based Dutchman Nico Poons and his Charisma team.

Winning two bullets from two races on Friday put Charisma into the lead of this 44Cup Portorož World Championship, the pinnacle event of the season for the tweaky high-performance one designs. Local Slovenian favourite Igor Lah and his Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 waMedias top scoring boat yesterday, but going into the final day still trailed Charisma by five points, albeit with a more comfortable eight point lead over third-placed Team Aqua.

The outlook for the final Sunday looked un-sailable with every forecast predicting sub-five knot breeze. Waiting out on the water Chris Bake was deserted on board Team Aqua, left to sail his RC44 singlehanded to much whoops and hollering of encouragement from his crew in the support RIB. Several other brave singlehanded owner-drivers lined up against him in a mini-race.

Ultimately the wind did stabilise, and, with anemometers barely rotating, a final race was started deep into the Bay of Piran, a stone’s throw from Portorož Marina. The two top teams didn’t engage – Ceeref headed left, Charisma right, up the first beat. Charisma prevailed, getting the inside berth to Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team at the top mark while Ceeref rounded a close fifth, immediately gybing. On the run Charisma remained on starboard, a tactic that paid as she led into the bottom gate ahead of Black Star. From there Charisma sailed her own race and despite splitting from the pack (or they from her) when she gybed early on the final run, went on to score her fifth bullet of the championship from 10 races.

The RC44 World Championship in Portoroz Photo: Pedro Martinez

Incredibly this was the third consecutive 44Cup event that Charisma has won this season, a feat only previously achieved by Team Aqua during their peak period in 2011. While five out of the eight teams competing here have previously won the RC44 World Championship, this was the first time for Poons and Charisma. “In the light weather I didn’t expect to do that well,” commented the delighted Dutchman. “But in the end it was all good! It was quite tiring especially because of the light wind. I am not so much of a light wind specialist, so I had to focus on that, but we succeeded.”

Poons attributed their success to their consistency of their crew. This comprised Hamish Pepper (tactician), Chris Hosking (main trimmer), Ross Halcrow (headsail trimmer), Dimitri Simmons (offside trimmer), Ryan Godfrey (pit), Ivan Peute (bow) and Robin Jacobs (grinder), supported by coach Morgan Reeser, boat captain Julian Hampe, Sam Poons and Sophie Heritage: “Outside of sailing, the team is quite relaxed with themselves. We have Julian, who is doing a very good job together with Sophie. Hamish is a very special talent and without him we wouldn’t have this success. But the whole crew is special – Chriso, Rosco have sailed a long time with me now and Ivan is the longest serving.”

Of their success, Hamish Pepper commented: “We knew this week was going to be tough and we worked hard on our light air performance. Even last night we were talking about how we could improve and do a better job. The guys on the boat are so damn good that I don’t need to be concerned about anything. It gives me the opportunity to be the best I can at my job. We were really fast downwind this week. I don’t know why. Rosco and Chriso and Nico really worked the boat well and the guys on the bow were using their bodyweight to help.”

Of today’s race Pepper added: “We didn’t want to engage too much. Just sail as clean a race ourselves and do the best we could. We managed to get to the right side of the course and a few breaks went our way. We were very happy.”

While they won here in Portorož at the beginning of the 2021 season, Ceeref’s Igor Lah was gracious in defeat. “It was almost impossible to win with only one race, so it was all or nothing. I really liked this event…it was light wind but it was spectacular and great sailing.” He added that because the RC44 has a Slovenian design in Audrej Justin, the RC44 is almost considered the nation boat. Certainly this event has attracted more local media interest and sponsorship than any other in the 44Cup calendar.

RC44 Class President Chris Bake made it to the last spot on the podium, largely thanks to being one of yesterday’s top scoring boats but also due to today’s third place for his Team Aqua. Of this week Bake observed: “I don’ think that there are many boats out there that in 5-6 knots of breeze could go out and have the type of racing that we’ve had. We had a good race in 5.5 knots today which is great testament for the class.”

The 2022 44Cup concludes in Muscat, Oman over 7-11 December.

44CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PORTOROZ RESULTS:
(After 10 races)

1. Charisma - 8 1 3 1 1 4 1 4 4 1 - 28
2.  Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 - 4 6 2 2 7 2 6 1 2 5 - 37
3. Team Aqua - 5 3 4 8 6 1 4 6 3 3 - 43
4.Peninsula Racing - 3 8 7 3 2 3 7 8 1 4 (2) - 48
5. Aleph Racing - 7 2 1 5 5 8 5 3 5 7 - 48
6. Artemis Racing - 1 4 8 6 4 6 2 7 6 6 - 50
7. Team Nika - 6 5 5 4 3 7 3 5 7 8 - 53
8. Black Star Sailing Team - 2 7 6 7 9UFD 5 8 2 8 2 - 56

With a race lost on Friday at the 44Cup Portorož World Championship, to recoup the schedule four races were held today (Saturday). The race area was further offshore with the nearby medieval town of Piran as an eyecatching backdrop in one direction with another headland to weather strongly affecting the light breeze causing it to shift frequently between the south and southwest. This made for highly tactical racing with much position changing.

Absent due to business commitments, defending world champion Chris Bake arrived last night and is back aboard Team Aqua, promptly won the today’s first race. First to the top mark having played the left, Team Aqua fended off Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team that had gybed early on the run. Team Aqua then played the mid-right on the second beat to score her first bullet of the series. Meanwhile overall race leader, Nico Poons’ Charisma, had a shocking first race in which they picked up two penalties leaving them last only to fight back to fourth. Team Aqua went on to score the third best score of the day propelling them up the leaderboard from seventh yesterday to third today.

“It was really tricky, but the boat is going really well,” said Bake. Of taking the wheel today he added: “Probably it was a little easier for me as I didn’t have the stress of the last few days so, being fresh and more on the shifts. We obviously had a good first race, but it was hugely fluky - we had 40° wind shifts on a regular basis.”

While a third consecutive World Championship victory would be a 44Cup first, Bake says he is not thinking about this. “It is always wonderful to win a championship, especially with this class being as competitive as it is. I am just trying to get the boat going, and keep it going right now rather than trying to win the World Championship. 

In true Nico Poons zero-to-hero style, Charisma fought back and, in the second race, masterfully played the shifts up first beat, finally benefitting from a major right shift lifting her towards the weather mark, leading around with Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing close astern. Unfortunately the shift left the leaders able to lay the leeward gate in one. A course change rectified this for the second lap and again playing the right enabled Charisma to hang on to her lead over the remainder of the course – despite breaking from the pack and gybing early on the final run, a move no one else followed.

Today’s third race was the windiest with 8-9 knots. After leading both yesterday’s races, but winning neither, the hard work put in by Igor Lah’s Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 finally paid off. Black Star Sailing Team put in a spectacular opening leg and reached the top mark on Team Aqua’s transom as, coming in on port, Ceeref struggling to find a gap to thread her way in, rounding in fourth. Team Aqua lost out badly gybing here leaving Black Star to lead into the gate with Team Nika. Black Star clung on at the top mark rounding ahead of Charisma. Up to third Ceeref was first to gybe and, in a dose of medicine served to them twice yesterday by Charisma, found better pressure to take the lead and the bullet.

Posting a 2-6-1-2 today, Ceeref was today’s winner, much to the team’s delight: “We made some small changes and they paid off,” explained Igor Lah. “We knew yesterday we could do it and we did it today! We are really looking forward to this match tomorrow.”

Tactician Adrian Stead explained today’s awkward conditions: “It was a tricky race track: With the breeze coming from the southwest sometimes it was coming around the headland and sometimes coming over the land. The breeze stayed in for longer than forecast which was great. It felt like we were going well upwind. On days when you have four races you have to keep bashing away. Everyone in this fleet is so good you can’t just sit there. You need to be active and look for the next shift.”

In the fourth and final race John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing showed their old form, at least partly attributed to the return of their old tactician Vasco Vascotto. The Gibraltar team led Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing and Team Aqua on to the run. While Ceeref and Artemis Racing gybed away, Peninsula Racing soon followed but was far enough ahead to lead into the leeward gate and for the next lap ahead of Ceeref. Behind there was a four way photo finish for fourth place, with Charisma prevailing. Team Nika would have been in this position had they not wrapped their kite during a final gybe.

“When you finish the day with a terrible moment like that - losing three boats within lengths due to a bad gybe, it is quite painful,” admitted Team Nika’s tactician Francesco Bruni. “I am very happy that our owner always has a smile on his face. The team is down so we have to do all we can to recover tomorrow.”

Tomorrow is the final day of the 44Cup Portoroz World Championship and three more races are scheduled. The forecast is not looking promising but neither has it for the last three days yet the event has so far held its full schedule.

44CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PORTOROZ RESULTS:
(After nine races)

1.Charisma - 8 1 3 1 1 4 1 4 4 - 27
2 Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 - 4 6 2 2 7 2 6 1 2 - 32
3.Team Aqua - 5 3 4 8 6 1 4 6 3 - 40
4.Aleph Racing - 7 2 1 5 5 8 5 3 5 - 41
5.Peninsula Racing - 3 8 7 3 2 3 7 8 1 (2) - 44
6. Artemis Racing - 1 4 8 6 4 6 2 7 6 - 44
7.Team Nika - 6 5 5 4 3 7 3 5 7 - 45
8. Black Star Sailing Team - 2 7 6 7 9UFD 5 8 2 8 - 54

Irish sailors are among the crews competing in the 44Cup, the circuit of the high-performance one-design RC44 class in Cascais, Portugal. 

Dublin Bay's Cian Guilfoyle is a Grinder on the French entry, Aleph in third place while Simon Johnson is in the Pit of Black Star Racing currently in eighth position.

While the opening day of the 44Cup Cascais saw the rare occurrence of one boat - Nico Poons' Charisma - winning all three races, on day two it was back to the 44Cup ‘norm’ with lead changes and three different winners. Charisma performed consistently enough to maintain her lead at the halfway stage, with a four-point advantage over Igor Lah's Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860, today's overall winner - despite an 11th hour tactician change with British two time 470 World Champion Nic Asher flying in this morning to stand in on tactics for Adrian Stead.

With Chris Bake at the helm of Team Aqua, so the 2021 44Cup champions roared in to win today's first race ahead of Ceeref and Torbjörn Törnquist's Artemis Racing. The 10 knot northwesterly was marginally lighter than yesterday with in a diminishing north-going tide. In this teams Nika and Aleph and the newbies on Black Star Sailing Team banged the right hardest out of the start, but Team Aqua was first around the top mark and extended from there.

The high-performance one-design RC44 class in Cascais, Portugal Photo: Nic Martinez

Race two took place in near-identical conditions. At the top mark Charisma was back on form, leading at the top mark, but with Teams Aleph and Nika, once again joined at the hip, on her transom. On the run Aleph and Nika benefitted from holding longer on starboard gybe, but Nika managed to lay the favoured starboard gate mark perfectly to take a slender lead. She was then just able to nose ahead of her rivals at the second top mark rounding and hang on to the finish.

“It was nice to finally win one,” admitted Team Nika’s tactician Francesco Bruni after they had struggled yesterday. “It was a very intense race because Aleph and Charisma were very close the whole race. The key moment was when we managed to lay the starboard gate and defend our small lead. Aleph was still very close on the second upwind, but at the top we managed to stretch a couple of lengths.

“Today there was less bias on the line and Maria [Torrijo – PRO] did a very good job with setting up the course so that which side to go wasn’t an easy call.”

The breeze had built marginally to 13 knots for race three. In this Christian Zuerrer’s newbies on Black Star Sailing Team enjoyed their ‘15 minutes of fame’ leading out to the right on the first upwind, but in the congestion coming into the top mark it was Ceeref that wriggled ahead, rounding with John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing outside her. The Slovenian team played the shifts to perfection on the run to hold a comfortable lead at the gate which she never relinquished.

Ceeref’s stand-in tactician Nic Asher, arrived in Cascais having only left home in the UK at 0200 this morning. Of their winning race he said: “The line was squarer and the wind was furthest right, so we felt that the [committee] boat was the right place [on the line] to be. So we came around the fleet. We are pretty fast downwind so we extended and then the next lap was pretty straightforward.” Despite still being new to the RC44, Asher called tactics for Team Pericolosa in Lanzarote in February.

On what was a high scoring day for all teams, Ceeref put the fewest points on the board. Igor Lah was pleased: “It was great today with our replacement tactician - everything was fine. Nic has the same dialect [as Ado] which was helpful!”

While Charisma hangs on to second at this halfway stage of the 44Cup Cascais, Ceeref has reduced its second-placed deficit to four points, five ahead of Aleph Racing, on which Farr 40 World Champion Alex Roepers is standing in here for owner Hugues Lepic.

For Christian Zuerrer, owner-driver of the new 44Cup Black Star Sailing Team, the learning curve remains steep: “Today was great fun - a good day with enjoyable racing. Every day is a step up for us, in fact, every race. Today we had some small issues with a hole in a kite…In our debriefing yesterday we were talking about our downwinds and that was better today. In this everyone has the same speed and it is nice to be in the pack as the closer sailing gives you more confidence so you can slowly get more aggressive in the manoeuvres.”

Together with Aleph Racing, Artemis Racing was second-lowest scoring RC44 today. The Swedish team has also been working through the details – getting off the line, putting in a good first tack and then speed building yesterday and their leebow tacks and downwind performance today. Their tactician Andy Horton is one of the most experienced on the circuit and was looking forward to the wind veering into the south for tomorrow’s racing, placing a whole new perspective on the competition. “It is pre-frontal southwesterly, slowly building over the next two days, so it will be pretty open, gradient-based, so shifting back and forth,” he said.

Racing resumes tomorrow at 1200 and concludes on Sunday. 

44CUP CASCAIS RESULTS:

(After 6 races)

1. Charisma - 1 1 1 4 3 4 - 14
2. CEEREF powered by Hrastnik 1860 - 3 4 2 2 6 1 - 18
3. Aleph Racing - 4 2 7 5 2 3 - 23
4. Team Aqua - 2 6 4 1 4 8 - 25
5. Artemis Racing - 7 3 5 3 5 2 - 25
6.Team Nika - 5 8 3 6 1 5 - 28
7. Peninsula Racing - 6 5 6 7 7 6 - 37
8. Black Star Sailing - 8 7 8 8 8 7 - 46

Two Irish sailors are among the crews lining up this morning in the 44Cup, the circuit of the high-performance one-design RC44 class. 

As Afloat reported previously, Simon Johnson is in the Pit of Black Star Racing and Dublin Bay's Cian Guilfoyle is a Grinder on the French entry, Aleph. Full crew breakdowns are below.

Five-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts conceived the design of the light-displacement, high-performance one-design RC44 with naval architect Andrej Justin in 2005. Created for top level one design racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules, the concept and design features of the RC44 are aimed at the amateur helmsmen with professional crews.

Igor Lah, tactician Adrian Stead and their CEEREF powered by Hrastnik 1860 are the team with the biggest target on their back going into the 44Cup Cascais, which sets sail today at noon. In early February the Slovenian team won the opening event of the 2022 44Cup in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote by a slender margin but a margin that nonetheless sees the 44Cup leader’s golden steering wheels sparkling welcomely aboard their high performance one design keelboat.

This is not the first time that Lah has been in pole position having won the 44Cup overall in both 2017 and 2019. However, his team’s track record racing at the Portuguese sailing mecca is mixed. “The golden wheels – they have a nice grip and we will of course try and keep them, but it is a very competitive class,” states Lah. Does he feel more threatened when his boat has its special ‘bling’? Not especially: “Everyone is still attacking everyone - everyone is playing their own game. Maybe the last day there are some more ‘tactics’, but everyone can win races. I am happy with the crew and I look forward to continuing what we are doing.”

Team CEEREF had a miserable time here in 2019 and before that had a string of frustrating second placed finishes. Despite this, Lah says: “It is brilliant, incredible – I really like the scenery here. The weather is perfect. There is no more corona (fingers crossed). I really enjoyed the conditions for today’s practice race. Hopefully it will stay that way for the week.”

Chris Bake’s Team Aqua got off to a difficult start to this 2022 season, finishing fifth in Lanzarote but is certain to be strong this week given that they are the defending champions, having won here when the 44Cup Cascais last took place in 2019.

But they are not the only team present to have previously lifted the 44Cup Cascais trophy. Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing won in 2016 and in an attempt to try and improve his team’s chances was on board for today’s practice racing. “Cascais is definitely one of my favourites venues,” said Törnqvist. “It is nice to be here sailing. It is always warm with good breeze - what more can you ask for?” As to today’s practicing racing he added: “I decided that I wanted to do a bit more to get a better feel for it. We were saying that we managed to tick off all of the mistakes today - so we got stuck at the top mark, etc which in fact it is good to do, because it sharpens you up!”

While most of the RC44 crews are seasoned veterans of the class and of Cascais, one who surprisingly isn’t is Giles Scott, the double Olympic Finn gold medallist turned America’s Cup tactician. The last time he raced in Cascais was 2007, his debut year in the Finn. “I don’t know this venue so well, but it is pretty readable,” admits the towering Brit. “There are certainly intricacies to it. Everyone loosely knows that is going on, but it isn’t that straightforward.”

Still relatively new to the RC44 and the class, Scott is still acclimatising, as demonstrated by what should have been a good result in Lanzarote but ended up a disappointing sixth. “We were pretty frustrated with that because it felt like we had clutched ‘defeat from the jaws of a good result’. We were in the mix and fighting for a podium spot in that last race and we got a penalty at the last mark and made a few errors - we were sailing pretty well but we just came out the wrong side in this super-tight racing.” 

Even newer is the Black Star Sailing Team of Christian Zuerrer. The new Swiss owner is not only racing his first 44Cup event this week (aboard the class’ own RC44 charter boat) but this is his first time ever racing in Cascais and his first time racing a yacht with wheels. Today’s practice racing was only his fifth day sailing the speedy monohull.

“It is great sailing,” said Zuerrer. “The first two or three days we just had to get it together as a team, find out how to sail the boat and do our manoeuvres properly, etc. So it has been great since then to race against other teams and see how close the line-up is.”

Zuerrer also campaigns a GC32 foiling catamaran, so the adrenalin rush is a little different on the RC44 monohull. “You have more time to think about things - it is not so fast. But I like the one design class with everyone having the same speed so it then comes down to crew work.” While Zuerrer is taking the opportunity try and help nurture young Swiss sailing talent, the majority of his crew, that includes Flavio Marazzi, the Swiss Olympic Star sailing legend on mainsheet, are new to the RC44. The exception is Kiwi tactician/coach Cameron Dunn who brings vast experience with him. “Employing him was the best choice I’ve made,” admits Zuerrer. “He has a lot of experience and is a nice guy and he can teach our young guys.”

44CUP CASCAIS ENTRY LIST:

ALEPH RACING (FRA17)
Alex Roepers (USA) - Guest Driver
Michele Ivaldi (ITA) - Tactician
Skip Baxter (NZL) - Main trimmer
James Dagg (NZL) - Headsail Trimmer
Lara Poljsak (SLO) - Offside Trimmer
Jaro Furlani (ITA) - Pit
Cian Guilfoyle (IRL) - Grinder
Paco Lepoutre (FRA) - Floater
Greg Gendell (USA) - Bow

ARTEMIS RACING (SWE44)
Torbjorn Tornqvist (SWE) - Owner / Driver
Andy Horton (USA) - Tactician
Iain Percy (GBR) - Main trimmer
Maciel Cichetti (ITA) - Headsail Trimmer
Emanuele Marino (ITA) - Offside Trimmer
Stu Bettany (NZL) - Pit
Anders Ekstrom (SWE) - Grinder
Piet Van Nieuwenhuijzen (NED) - Bow

BLACK STAR SAILING TEAM (SUI027)
Christian Zuerrer (SUI) - Owner / Driver
Cameron Dunn (NZL) - Tactician
Flavio Marazzi (SUI) - Main trimmer
William Alloway (GBR) - Headsail Trimmer
Grégoire Siegwart (SUI) - Offside Trimmer
Simon Johnson (IRL) - Pit
Guy Endean (NZL) - Grinder
Nick Zeltner (SUI) - Bow

CEEREF POWERED BY HRASTNIK 1860 (SLO1)
Igor Lah (SLO) - Owner / Driver
Adrian Stead (GBR) - Tactician
Dirk de Ridder (NED) - Main trimmer
Javi De La Plaza (ESP) - Headsail Trimmer
Tine Lah (SLO) - Offside Trimmer
Andreas Axelsson (SWE) - Pit
Jelle Janzen (NED) - Grinder
Matteo Auguardo (ITA) - Bow

CHARISMA (MON69)
Nico Poons (NED) - Owner / Driver
Hamish Pepper (NZL) - Tactician
Chris Hosking (AUS) - Main trimmer
Ross Halcrow (NZL) - Headsail Trimmer
Dimitri Simmons (NED) - Offside Trimmer
Ryan Godfrey (AUS) - Pit
Robin Jacobs (NED) - Grinder
Ivan Peute (NED) - Bow

PENINSULA RACING (GBR1)
John Bassadone (GBR) - Owner / Driver
Giles Scott (GBR) - Tactician
Robin Imaz (ESP) - Main trimmer
German Panei (ARG) - Headsail Trimmer
Mikel Pasabant (ESP) - Offside Trimmer
Matthew Barber (GBR) - Pit
Facundo Olezza (ARG) - Grinder
Gonzalo Morales (ESP) - Bow

TEAM AQUA (GBR2041)
Chris Bake (NZL) - Owner / Driver
Cameron Appleton (NZL) - Tactician
Andrew Estcourt (NZL) - Main trimmer
Christian Kamp (DEN) - Headsail Trimmer
Aaron Cooper (GBR) - Offside Trimmer
Jonas Hviid-Nielsen (DEN) - Pit
Ben Graham (GBR) - Grinder
Juan Marcos (ARG) - Bow

TEAM NIKA (MON10)
Vladimir Prosikhin (BUL) - Owner / Driver
Francesco Bruni (ITA) - Tactician
Sean Clarkson (NZL) - Main trimmer
Pierluigi De Felice (ITA) - Headsail Trimmer
Mitja Margon (SLO) - Offside Trimmer
Pietro Mantovani (ITA) - Pit
Iztok Knafelc (SLO) - Grinder
Jeremy Lomas (NZL) - Bow

Ireland's Simon Johnson is in the pit of Switzerland’s Black Star Sailing Team when the crew joins the 44Cup for the second event of the 2022 season in Cascais, Portugal, over 11-15 May.

As regular Afloat readers will recall, the former crew on Anthony O’Leary’s Ker 39 Antix showed he was in peak physical condition in his then new role with the British-owned RC44 Championship Tour mainstay, Aqua back in 2017 here

Led by passionate amateur sailor Christian Zuerrer, Black Star Sailing Team will be running their 44Cup programme alongside their successful GC32 Racing Tour campaign, in which they finished third overall in 2021. In Cascais, the team will be racing on the class’s own RC44, which is available for potential owners to try, before their new boat, which only came out of the factory last week, is ready to race.

RC44 Racing

Some old and new faces will join Black Star Sailing’s crew. RC44 veteran, New Zealand’s Cameron Dunn, will be calling tactics and guiding the new team through the challenges of racing their lively, high performance yacht against the fleet of eight other RC44 one designs and their highly experienced, competitive crews. Dunn brings with him onto the team fellow Kiwi, Emirates Team New Zealand grinder Guy Endean and experienced RC44 pitman Simon Johnson, from Ireland.

Transferring over from Black Star Sailing’s GC32 crew will be mainsail trimmer Flavio Marazzi, trimmer Will Alloway and Swiss sailors, offside trimmer Grégoire Siegwart and bowman Nick Zeltner.

Founded in 2019, Black Star Sailing Team initially set out as a campaign to promote amateur sailors. Owner/driver Christian Zuerrer explains: "The 44Cup's pro/am rule, the simplicity of the one-design boat and the highly professional racing circuit allows me to achieve my goal of providing a pathway for young sailors into the world of professional racing. It is the perfect platform to understand what goes into an international regatta of this level".

Despite having two teams unable to compete due to the World Sailing sanctions, the 44Cup still has at least eight regular teams confirmed as being on the start line at each of its five events this season, plus there is a ninth, the RC44 class boat, booked out for potential owners to get a taste of RC44 racing.

One of the few professional sailing classes that maintained its full schedule of racing in 2021; plus the continued devotion to the class of it enthusiastic owners’ group and considerable interest from new teams wanting to join the 44Cup, on top of a fleet of at least nine boats – the 44Cup is bucking the trend and enjoying a period of growth, despite these troubled times.

BLACK STAR SAILING TEAM CREW LIST:

• Christian Zuerrer (SUI) - Helm
• Cameron Dunn (NZL) - Tactician
• Flavio Marazzi (SUI) - Main
• William Alloway (GBR) - Trimmer
• Grégoire Siegwart (SUI) - Offside trim
• Guy Endean (NZL) - Grinder
• Simon Johnson (IRL) - Pit
• Nick Zeltner (SUI) - Bow

After a zero wind opening day of the 44Cup Calero Marinas in Lanzarote, forecasts indicated day two might repeat this. In fact, after an hour’s delay, an easterly filled in and built to 12-14 knots, allowing three good races to be held.

Chris Bake’s Team Aqua sent a strong reminder of why their RC44 is fitted with the leader’s ‘golden wheels’. They came out of the blocks strongly in the opening race and, in an immaculate display, took the first bullet of the 2022 44Cup season, from Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika.

“We had the boat set up well and got a clean start with a decent amount of area around us,” recounted Bake. “We got on to the right side of the course and managed to stay bow ahead of everyone, got around the top mark and managed to hold on.”

The first race had seen a phenomenal performance by Igor Lah, tactician Adrian Stead and the crew on Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860, when, after being over early and restarting, they had fought their way back up the 10 boat fleet to finish third. Their hard work was further rewarded in the next race, when, with Team Aqua on track to scoring a second bullet, Ceeref overtook them on the second upwind and went on to win the race from John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing.

After their strong start, it was Team Aqua’s turn to be OCS in the third race and, with Ceeref getting caught in traffic, Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing made the best start, led around the top mark and on around the rest of the course, coming out on top ahead of Nico Poon’s Charisma.

“It is great to come back here to Lanzarote,” said Törnqvist. “It didn’t look like we were going to sail this morning, but then it all changed, with perfect timing, for three high-quality races.” He continued: “The boat feels good. We obviously got a wake-up call last time we were here [they were second last in November] and we have done a great deal of work to improve our speed in the light winds.”

Tactician Andy Horton added of their third race: “We had a good start and were going fast up the correct side of the course. Only Peninsula Racing and us had a J2 up so we were able to point a bit higher and get around everyone. Then we did an awesome jib change on the run to the J1 so we were good for the second beat. It was pretty tricky out there.”

Leading by a point at this half way stage is Ceeref, a mere point ahead of Team Aqua. “It was cool – a very nice day,” summarised Ceeref’s Igor Lah. “We enjoyed the sailing. The guys' handling was great and Ado [Stead] did a good course. In the first race [after our OCS] we were prepared for a worse result because we messed up the start, but in the end it came out really nice. We have been together so long, that the guys know exactly what to do.”

 

However this being the opening day of the season, and because of the ever-elevated competition on the 44Cup, the scoring was generally high: six teams managing podium finishes, but most also had deep results. For example after their strong place in race one, Team Nika’s results deteriorated. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli America’s Cup skipper Francesco Bruni, who is calling tactics this season, explained: “It wasn’t too bad. We started very well in the first race, but then had a couple of issues – a penalty turn in race three for tacking too close. In the second we were second at the gate but the second upwind was really bad for us and we were sixth at the top mark. It was a little bit painful, but otherwise I am happy with the team and the atmosphere on board.” Bruni previously was tactician on Artemis Racing. “It is great to be back. The racing is so close: There is not one leader, it changes all the time. You make the smallest mistake and you pay for it. That is the nice thing…”

The owners are enjoying sailing in the enlarged 10 boat fleet: “I think it is nice to have new teams out there. The whole class is trying to be as supportive as we can,” said Bake, Törnqvist adding: “There is a lot of interest around the class now, which is good to see. Having 11 or 12 boats would be fantastic.”

For the last two days of the competition the wind is forecast to fill in from the north or northeast, the direction of the trade winds, for which Lanzarote and the Canary Islands are famous.

44CUP CALERO MARINAS RESULTS
(after 3 races)

1. CEEREF powered by Hrastnik 1860 - 3 1 5 - 9
2. Team Aqua - 1 3 6 - 10
3. Artemis Racing - 6 5 1 - 12
4. Peninsula Racing - 10 2 3 - 15
5. Charisma - 4 9 2 - 15
6. Team Nika - 2 6 7 - 15
7. Aleph Racing - 5 4 9 - 18
8. Atom Tavatuy - 8 7 4 - 19
9. ArtTube - 7 8 10 - 25
10. La Pericolosa - 9 10 8 - 27