Islas Canarias Puerto Calero climbs one place and is second on the podium of the RC44 World Championship

Artemis and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, first and second, sailing downwind. PHOTO: Nico Martínez

Daniel Calero’s boat climbs one place in a complicated day, as only one race could be completed due to scarce, gusty wind.

Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis, from Sweden, is the new leader of the RC44 World Championship, after overcoming a really complicated day, with scarce, gusty wind. Artemis best managed an end of race with practically no wind, finally taking the lead, and taking over from John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum. The boat from Gibraltar, which did have a tough time with the scarce wind and lost its privileged position on the podium, is now fourth.

The wind was indeed the first protagonist of the day; the regatta committee decided to move the race course from the area of Playa Quemada to that of Playa de Guacimeta, where the wind was blowing with greater strength and seemed to be steadier. Yet the races did not begin until two hours after the scheduled time, with a 8-10 knots southern breeze, which ended up dropping entirely.

Artemis wanted to show that it went to Puerto Calero to win the World Championship, and from the beginning of the first race of the day –fourth race overall- it sailed in first position. At the beginning, Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika, from Russia, and John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum, from Gibraltar, followed behind. At the first windward mark, Team Nika arrived first, followed by Artemis, Hughes Lepic’s Aleph, from France, and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero. Artemis regained the lead at the leeward gate, followed by Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and David Murphy’s Ironbound, from the United States. Peninsula Petroleum began to improve and climbed from twelfth to fourth position.

The last downwind leg was dramatic, with the fleet arriving very tight. The wind began to shift and drop, a real trap for some boats. At the last stretch positions changed a lot and only Artemis managed to hold on, ending up winning the fourth race of the World Championship and leading the overall ranking. Chris Blake’s Team Aqua finished in second position, while Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back, from Holland, came in third.

Islas Canarias Puerto Calero dropped several places and finished in seventh position, while Gibraltar’s Peninsula Petroleum, previous leader, crossed the finish line in twelfth position. The arrival at the finish line was tough, especially for Peninsula Petroleum, AEZ, Ironbound and RUS7, which were dragged near the committee boat at the moment of the arrival after the wind dropped completely and due to the current.

Since the wind gave no options and ended up dropping, the committee, seeing the instability of the racecourse, decided to bring the day to a close; thus, none of the RC44 tour regattas have been cancelled because of weather conditions.

Daniel Calero was really happy about entering the podium area: “Today the best conclusion is that we have climbed one position in the overall ranking;” as for the complicated end of the single race that was sailed, he commented that “we were in second position at less than fifty meters from the finish line; when the wind dropped completely and we were left practically anchored, we dropped from second to fifth place”.

RANKING
1 Artemis (SWE), 4-5-1-1, 11 points

2 Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), 3-1-7-7, 18 points

3 No Way Back (HOL), 1-12-3-3, 19 points

4 Peninsula Petroleum (GBR), 2-2-4-12, 20 points

5 Ironbound (GBR), 9-3-5-4, 21 points

6 Aqua (GBR), 7-8-10-2, 27 points

7 Katusha (RUS), 8-11-2-8, 29 points

8 Ceeref (SLO), 6-10-8-5, 29 points

9 AEZ (AUT), 5-7-9-13+1, 35 points

10 Nika (RUS), 10-6-13-6, 35 points

11 Synergy (RUS), 12-9-6-9, 36 points

12 Aleph (FRA), 14-4-12-11, 41 points

13 MAG Racing (POL), 11-14-15-10, 50 points

14 RUS7 (RUS), 13-13-11-14, 51 points