Rolex Swan Cup, Earlybird campione del mondo Swan 45
Rolex Swan CupSwan 45Vela 18 Settembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Rolex Swan Cup – Porto Cervo – Earlybird dell’armatore tedesco Hendrik Brandis è il campione del mondo 2010 per la classe Swan 45. Il podio mondiale vede al secondo posto Blue Nights dell’armatrice Finlandese Tea Ekengren Sauren e in terza posizione Samantaga Duvel degli armatori Philippe Moorgat e Patrick Van Henr. In testa alla classifica overall provvisoria dei Club Swan 42 resta ancora in vetta Kora 4 di Enrico Scerni, che tiene in caldo il risultato in vista di domani, ultima giornata della Rolex Swan Cup 2010 organizzata dallo Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.
Nonostante i soli 5 nodi di vento da sud gli Swan 45 hanno affrontato la loro ottava e ultima prova a bastone di questa edizione. Grande performance per Blue Nights, tattico Jochen Scheumann, che dopo aver dominato praticamente per tutta la gara, ha tagliato il traguardo in testa alla flotta. Sulla sua scia il team di Earlybird del tedesco Hendrik Brandis e Jeroboam Ca’Nova di Vittorio Codecasa.
Il migliore di oggi tra i monotipo Club Swan 42 è stato Kora 4, seguito da Long Echo di Barry Sampson e dall’equipaggio romeno di Natalia. Kora 4 domina quindi il tabellone overall provvisorio davanti a Cuordileone di Leonardo Ferragamo, Paul Cayard alla tattica, e Natalia.
Gara annullata invece, per mancanza di vento, per le tre divisioni che avrebbero dovuto affrontare il percorso costiero e per le quali diventa decisiva l’ultima giornata di domani. Per queste ultime rimane pertanto invariata la classifica overall provvisoria che vede in testa lo Swan 90 DSK Pioneer Investment di Danilo Salsi tra i Maxi, lo Swan 53 Silveren Swaen dell’olandese P.H.J. Bakker tra i Grand Prix e lo Swan 65 Monsoon Jaguar dell’inglese Peter Simon per i Classic disegnati da Sparkman&Stephens.
Il vincitore del Rolex Swan 45 World Championship 2010 sarà premiato questa sera nel corso del Crew Party che si terrà al Colonna Resort. Le altre divisioni verranno premiate domani alle 17.30 durante la cerimonia conclusiva in Piazza Azzurra.
Per consultare i risultati clicca qui.
ROLEX SWAN CUP, A WORLD CHAMPION EMERGE IN PORTO CERVO
[Regattanews Press Release] When we left the Swan 45 fleet in Porto Cervo after yesterday’s race, leader Hendrik Brandis allowed that the top of the leaderboard was still wide open. His words rang true today in the eighth and, what would turn out to be, final race in the Rolex Swan 45 World Championship. The tricky conditions ensured that it was anyone’s race to win or lose.
With the forecast for light winds, the Race Committee struggled to find enough breeze over the whole of a coastal course for the Maxi, Grand Prix and Sparkman & Stephen fleets. After a postponement of over two hours, the Race Committee signaled AP over A “No Racing Today” and was postponed for these classes.
By 13.25, there was enough localized breeze for the Race Committee to get a start off for the Swan 45 and ClubSwan 42 fleets. The fleets were sent on a 4-leg windward/leeward course of 1.4 nautical miles, in a southeasterly breeze of five knots.
At the start, Nico Poons Charisma led from the pin end with Earlybird a boat length behind and to weather. Jochen Schuemann, tactician on Blue Nights put the Finnish boat on the committee boat end heading off on the opposite tack, which was their strategy for the day’s race.
At the windward mark, it was Jeroboam that led Charisma, Samantaga-Duvel, Earlybird, Blue Nights around (and Checkmate, Talj, Ulika, Better Than), but as the breeze went ever lighter, the tacticians were working overtime to wring some boat speed and foresee where the breeze might be.
On the downwind leg, Blue Nights made big gains on the right side and moved up to 2nd place. At the downwind gate, the race committee signaled a course change to 140 and shortened the leg to 1.0nm as a hedge to finish the race before the breeze dropped off further. At the top mark for the 2nd time, Blue Nights gained enough to round first and held her position to the finish, with Earlybird finishing second and Jeroboam in third.
With the eighth race completed a throw-out was in effect, but did nothing to alter the standings. Earlybird finished on 20.50 points, two points ahead of Tea Ekengren’s Blue Nights. Earlybird won the 2008 Rolex Swan 45 World Championship, but with co-owner Christian Nagel at the helm. Brandis said, “Personally for me is the first time. I have a co-owner and we exchange the helm last time he helmed and I was not part of that so now is my turn and it just feels great.”
Brandis continued, “It was great competition this time. We have been leading throughout the week but our distance (in points) to the others was ‘shrinking’ day after day, so today was really final. I think four boats could’ve still made it today. We were more than glad to keep all of them behind us.
“It wasn’t our conditions today, it was too light; we prefer a little bit stronger, however our performance was good and finally we chose the right side of the downwind, and I think that was the right call. We were looking at the three competitors that could make it still so we tried to stay close to them. It was not easy, on the downwind we were forced to gybe away and at the end of the day it turns out to be the right call. I have to be honest it was not even our tactical decision, it was a necessity to gybe out, and that forced us to go to the right side and the right side was the best one, so on the downwind leg we ended up being 50 meters further ahead.”
Blue Nights owner/helm Tea Ekengren was clearly pleased with their 2nd place overall, she said, “We have been working very hard all week and we’ve been on a bit of a learning curve. But the last three days have been just perfect for us. With the light winds we’ve been sailing very patiently, trying to place ourselves in the best spot for the new wind and we succeeded at this. That was our tactic yesterday and today to go to the right and it seemed to be a good tactic. We’ve had good boat speed too. We’ve been trying to sail the boat smoothly and keep it very fast. It’s very challenging to concentrate and try to drive in these conditions. It’s been an emotional week in many ways, we’re very happy with our position and we worked hard and it feels very good to be second, and we think Earlybird sailed very well and they really deserved their win”.
The Swan 42 fleet also managed one race in the light conditions. Paolo Scerni’s Kora 4 was first ahead of Long Echo, Natalia, Cuor Di Leone, and Aella. Overall Kora 4 leads at 7.0 points ahead of Cuor di Leone on 12.50 pts.
The Rolex Swan 45 World Championship prize giving will take tonight at the Rolex Crew Party at Cala Granu. The winner will be presented with the Swan 45 Gold Cup and a Rolex Submariner timepiece.
The ClubSwan 42, Maxi, Grand Prix, and Sparkman & Stephens classes will conclude racing tomorrow at the Rolex Swan Cup. Their prize-giving will be tomorrow Sunday 19 September following racing at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Piazza Azzurra.
To read the ranking click here.
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