Islas Canarias Puerto Calero arrives as leader to the last day of the RC44 World Championship

Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, leading the fleet. PHOTO: Nico Martínez

Artemis, on equal points with the Canarian boat, Ironbound and Peninsula Petroleum, will also fight to claim the world title in Lanzarote.

The last day of the RC44 World Championship, which is taking place in Lanzarote, arrives full of excitement after Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis, from Sweden, and Daniel Calero’s Islas Canarias Puerto Calero reached the top of the overall ranking on equal points. The ranking is still open, since David Murphy’s Ironbound and John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum, third and fourth, also have options for final victory, as they are only five points behind the first two.

In the first race of the day –fifth overall- there was a strong 20 knots wind. The boats sailed fast and the first to head for the windward buoy were Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika, Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and David Murphy’s Ironbound. Chris Blake’s Team Aqua was leading the fleet at the first windward mark, followed by Igor Lah’s Ceeref, Gennadi Timchenko’s Katusha and Peninsula Petroleum, while Islas Canarias Puerto Calero crossed the mark in eight place. 

The wind shifted and the course changed, Aqua and Ceeref repeated positions at the leeward mark and Peninsula Petroleum arrived in third place. Aqua and Ceeref held on to their positions in the second beat, while Katusha Peninsula Petroleum recovered third and fourth place, respectively. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero climbed one place and entered the last windward leg in seventh place. Meanwhile, Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back began a spectacular recovery, climbing from fourteenth position to sixth, where it finished. Team Aqua won, followed by Ceeref and Peninsula Petroleum. Islas Canarias crossed the finish line in eighth place.

The start of the second race of the day was delayed because a heavy shower made the wind shift and drop in intensity; the ten knots breeze was enough to allow sailing for the rest of the day. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero started well, defended itself well at the head of the fleet and arrived second to the windward mark, just behind Ironbound, while Katusha crossed the mark in third place. Then the group divided, on the left were Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, Artemis and Katusha; on the right, Ironbound and No Way Back. Halfway through the racecourse the boats on the right benefited, with the American boat crossing the leeward gate in first place, followed by the Dutch, the Russians, who were third, and the Spaniards, fourth. Positions changed little from then on, with Ironbound claiming victory, No Way Back finishing in second place, Katusha in third place and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero in fourth place. Peninsula Petroleum only managed to come in ninth.

Islas Canarias Puerto Calero began well the third race, taking the lead, which enabled it to dominate and reach the windward mark in first place, followed by Aleph, Team Aqua and Peninsula Petroleum. The French boat overtook the Canarian boat in the first windward leg, and they came in first and second, respectively, at the leeward gate, while Peninsula Petroleum came in third. The first three positions remained the same at the last windward mark and at the finish line, with Aleph coming in first, Islas Canarias Puerto Calero second and Peninsula Petroleum third, which again placed Daniel Calero’s boat at the top of the provisional overall ranking.

The wind kept blowing at nine knots at the start of the fourth race of the day, eighth overall. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero started with AEZ, but it did not manage to keep up with the leading group this time and reached the windward mark in thirteenth place. Team Aqua crossed it in first place, followed by Peninsula Petroleum and Ironbound. At the leeward gate the first three positions remained the same, while Islas Canarias Puerto Calero climbed three places, crossing the mark in tenth place. The wind shifted and there was a change in the course for the last leeward mark, where the boats that were sailing on the right, such as Artemis and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, dominated the situation and began to recover, while those on the left, Katusha, Ironbound and Synergy, followed behind. Aqua came in first at windward, Artemis second, Aleph third and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero fourth, thus completing a great beat and recovering sixth place. In the last windward leg Artemis overtook Aqua, which had problems hauling the spi, and so did Aleph, which finished in second place, and Islas Canarias, fourth, with Peninsula Petroleum arriving in sixth place.

Daniel Calero commented on arriving to the port that “we’re fighting to be at the top; the truth is that if someone had told us this before beginning we wouldn’t have believed it. There is still one day to go and anything can happen, but we’re confident in our possibilities and we will fight for victory, as hard as ever.” John Bassadone explained that “we are in the best moment of the season, the crew is excellent and to arrive to the last day with possibilities is the best gift. I have a top-class crew.” The start of Sunday’s races will happen earlier than scheduled, at 11:30, so that three races may be completed and some of the races that could not be completed on Friday may be recovered.

RANKING:

1st Artemis (SWE), 4-5-1-1-4-8-12-1, 36 points
2nd Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), 3-1-7-7-8-4-2-4, 36 points
3rd Ironbound (USA), 9-3-5-4-10-1-4-5, 41 points
4th Peninsula Petroleum (GBR), 2-2-4-12-3-9-3-6, 41 points
5th Aqua (GBR), 7-8-10-2-1-10-6-3 (+1), 48 points
6th No Way Back (NED), 1-12-3-3-7-2-10-12, 50 points
7th Katusha (RUS), 8-11-2-8-5-3-9-10, 56 points
8th Ceeref (SLO), 6-10-8-5-2-12-5-8, 56 points
9th Aleph (FRA), 14-4-12-11-6-13-1-2, 63 points
10th Nika (RUS), 10-6-13-6-11-5-8-13, 72 points
11th Synergy (RUS), 12-9-6-9-9-7-11-11, 74 points
12th AEZ (AUT), 5-7-9-13-12-11-13-14 (+1), 85 points
13th MAG Racing (POL), 11-14-15-10-12-6-14-9, 91 points
14th RUS7 (RUS), 13-13-11-14-13-14-7-7, 92 points