Sweden´s Artemis, new RC44 world champion at the championship held in Lanzarote

Image of Artemis celebrating the title. FOTO: Nico Martínez

Peninsula Petroleum and Ironbound completed the podium, while Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, after colliding with the Committee in the first start of the day, finished in fifth position.

Torbjorn Tornqvist´s Artemis from Sweden is the new RC44 world champion in Puerto Calero, thus taking over from Larry Ellison’s Oracle –winner in 2010- with Daniel Calero at the helm. Thus Tornqvist continues winning world titles, having already won in the TP52 class in 2007.

David Murphy´s Ironbound, from the United States, took second place while John Bassadone´s Peninsula Petroleum, from Gibraltar, the big revelation of the championship, finished in third place, achieving its best qualification in RC44 history.

Daniel Calero’s Islas Canarias Puerto Calero could not maintain podium positions, after claiming podium spots on the three previous days, arriving as co-leader to the last day; a collision with the Committee at the start of the ninth race left them without options. The protagonist of the day was also Gennadi Timchenko’s Katusha, after claiming three firsts in all three races.

Islas Canarias Puerto Calero was the protagonist at the start of the first race of the day –ninth overall-, after it sailed too close to the Committee boat and run into it. Calero’s boat not only started in last position but the crack on the boat complicated things just after the start. As for the rest of the fleet, Peninsula Petroleum started in first position, while the boats that opted for the left side of the racecourse, such as Katusha and Ironbound, made the right decision, as they arrived to windward first, followed by Aleph.

Peninsula Petroleum crossed the mark in sixth place and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, still having problems, crossed in eleventh place. The wind shifted and there was a first change in the racecourse for the leeward gate, where the first three boats kept their positions while Peninsula Petroleum climbed one place, crossing the mark in fifth place. At the last windward mark, the top positions remained the same, while Peninsula Petroleum still sailed in sixth position and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero continued climbing places to reach seventh place. Katusha won the race, followed by Ironbound and Aleph. Peninsula Petroleum came in seventh and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, which had to evacuate mainsail trimmer Leonardo Armas, who was ill, finished in eighth place.

In the second race, No Way Back was the first to cross the start line. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, Katusha and Ironbound followed behind. The American boat was the first to cross the windward mark, followed by Artemis, Synergy and Peninsula Petroleum, while Islas Canarias Puerto Calero crossed in eighth place. Peninsula Petroleum and Katusha crossed the gate by the left side and Artemis and Ironbound by the right side, thus opening a new race. Katusha claimed victory in the end, followed by Artemis and Synergy. Peninsula came in sixth and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, tenth. This left the final open for third and fourth place, which would be decided in the last race, the boats from the Canary Islands and Gibraltar arriving on equal points. RUS7 abandoned the race due to problems with the mast.

The third race would decide the new world champion, as the boats arrived with options for final victory as well as for the rest of podium places. Katusha crossed the first windward mark in first position, followed by Ironbound and Peninsula Petroleum; Islas Canarias Puerto Calero did so in seventh place, while Katusha sailed the last stretch in first place, Ceeref in second, Ironbound in third, Peninsula Petroleum in fourth and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero in seventh place. Katusha won the last race, with Ceeref claiming second place, Ironbound third and Peninsula Petroleum fourth; Islas Canarias Puerto Calero finished in sixth place, beating Artemis on the finish line; although this was not enough to reach a spot on the final podium.

John Bassadone was really happy about reaching the podium in the RC44 World Championship: “This is fantastic, if someone had told me this one week ago I wouldn’t have believed it, but the crew has done a perfect job and we’re really happy with everything we’ve experienced. We began in this class a year ago, here in Puerto Calero, and it’s been great, to be able to fight to win until the last day has been exciting.” As for the future, he commented that “in two month’s time we’ll come back to Lanzarote, we are eager to begin the 2012 tour, especially after this final.”

Daniel Calero was resigned, but happy at the same time with their participation in the world championship: “We have reached podium positions every day, but all kind of things happened to us on the last day, we collided with the Committee at the start, we had to evacuate a crewmember… but anyway, this is how sailing works and we must accept it.”  As for the championship, he explained that “to arrive to the last day on equal points with the leader is something we just couldn’t imagine could happen. We could summarise it by saying that we’ve done a great championship, but we’ve had a bad last day.”

As for the RC44 Championship Tour, Chris Blake is the overall winner of the 2011 season. The British boat had already arrived to Puerto Calero as virtual winner, followed by Artemis Racing and Oracle Racing.

FINAL RANKING OF THE PUERTO CALERO-LANZAROTE RC44 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

1st Artemis (SWE), 4-5-1-1-4-8-12-1-4-2-7, 49 points
2nd Ironbound (USA), 9-3-5-4-10-1-4-5-2-5-3, 51 points
3rd Peninsula Petroleum (GBR), 2-2-4-12-3-9-3-6-7-6-4, 58 points
4th Katusha (RUS), 8-11-2-8-5-3-9-10-1-1-1, 59 points
5th Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), 3-1-7-7-8-4-2-4-8-10-6, 60 points
6th No Way Back (NED), 1-12-3-3-7-2-10-12-6-7-5, 68 points
7th Ceeref (SLO), 6-10-8-5-2-12-5-8-9-8-2 (+2), 77 points
8th Aqua (GBR), 7-8-10-2-1-10-6-3-10-9-12 (+2), 80 points
9th Aleph (FRA), 14-4-12-11-6-13-1-2-3-11-9, 86 points
10th Nika (RUS), 10-6-13-6-11-5-8-13-5-13-10, 100 points
11th Synergy (RUS), 12-9-6-9-9-7-11-11-11-3-13, 101 points
12th AEZ (AUT), 5-7-9-13-12-11-13-14-12-4-8 (+1), 109 points
13th MAG Racing (POL), 11-14-15-10-12-6-14-9-13-12-11, 129 points
14th RUS7 (RUS), 13-13-11-14-13-14-7-7-14-15-15, 136 points