Trofeo Pirelli-Copa Carlo Negri
Santa Margherita (ITA), May 1-4

Giraglia Rolex Cup
Saint Tropez (FRA), June 8-10

Rolex Trofeo de la Reina
Valencia (ESP), July 10-13

Copa del Rey AUDI Mapfre
Palma (ESP), July 26 - Aug 2

Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler
Cascais (POR), Aug 28-30

Trofeo Cesar Manrique
Puerto Calero (ESP), Oct 16-18

News

Italians dominate opening day of Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler under exciting wind conditions

Thursday, 30 August 2007: One couldn't have asked for better wind conditions on the opening day of the Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler. After a short-lived postponement ashore, the eight-strong GP42 fleet hit the waters in Cascais in an aggressive race mode fueled by the northwestern breeze that stayed between 15 and 20 knots for the best part of the day, with peaks reaching 23 knots.

Undoubtedly, the biggest story of the day was the excellent performance of the two Italian boats, Roma and Seawonder 007, that sailed clearly better than the rest of the fleet, with the only exception being the spinnaker mishap Seawonder 007 suffered in the second race at the leeward gate. Just like Santi Lopez-Vazquez, tactician aboard Quebramar-Chrysler, predicted earlier in the morning, the testing conditions in Cascais would favor the teams that committed the least number of errors. His team committed a number of them and was unbale to repeat the spotless performance of the previous two events.

After today's three races, Quebramar-Chrysler is still leading the overall racing circuit, Seawonder 007 consolidated their second place while, more significantly, Roma is now third, overtaking Zurich that had a mediocre day.

The first race was the best example of how errors can cost victory. Quebramar-Chrysler was clearly leading the fleet for three legs, although Seawonder 007 and Roma were close behind, looking for the slightest opportunity. That chance came after the Portuguese rounded the last mark. An "hourglass" spinnaker hoist slowed them down and allowed the two Italians to pass and claim the first two positions.

The second race could also be an Italian-dominated one if it weren't for the spinnaker mishap Seawonder 007 suffered in the leeward gate. Roma lead from the beginning, followed by Quebramar-Chrysler and Seawonder 007. Halfway through the race, the fog that started appearing earlier on the horizon, descended upon the race course. The GP42 fleet was fortunately not affected as much as the IMS fleet, a couple of miles to the west, where visibility was limited to 50 meters at some stage. The Portuguese boat could not hold on to their second place and were overtaken by Canarias Puerto Calero. Zurich finished fourth due to a penalty for crossing the line early. Finally, Fermax had to abandon racing for the rest of the day, after her mainsial was torn right after crossing the starting line.

The third and final race of the day took place under considerably weaker conditions. The race committe had to raise the postponment flag, waiting for the fog to dissipate, but when the sky finally got clearer it had to move the race course 1 mile to the north and closer to the coast, in search of stabler winds. When the starting gun was fired at around 5pm the breeze had fallen to around 14 knots. Once again, the two Italian boats, Roma and Seawonder 007, had an excellent start while Canarias Puerto Calero and Quebramar-Chrysler followed behind. Nevertheless, the Portuguese boat, through clever tactics, rounded the top mark in lead. Still, crew work resulted in Quebramar-Chrysler dropping to fourth while Seawonder 007 and Roma finished, again, first and second, respectively, while the breeze was hovering around 10 knots.

Three more races are scheduled for Friday, starting at 1pm local time.

 

Quotes

Flavio Favini, helmsman of Seawonder007: It was a great day for Seawonder 007 and the Italians in general. Roma had a spotless day while our biggest errors took place at the first run of the second race. At the start of the run we gybed without any speed and stalled while close to the leeward gate we wanted to recover the lost time and kept the spinnaker much longer than normal. As a result, it was too late to drop it and the only option we had was to cut it loose, dropping in the meanwhile a couple of places. We are happy with our overall performance but we have to make sure we don't repeat this kind of errors.

We have consolidated our second place in the general circuit standings but it will be impossible to pass Quebramar-Chrysler. They sailed well today but committed some errors. They could have very well won the races we won.

Wind conditions were fabulous today, especially in the first two races and the GP42 boats perform in a great way in strong winds.

 

Photos

Check the photos from the first day of the Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler here.

 

Provisional Classification after 3 races

1. Roma 2+1+2 5 points
2.Seawonder 0071+5+17 points
2.Canarias Puerto Calero5+2+310 points
4.Quebramar-Chrysler3+3+410 points
5.Zurich4+4+513 points
6.Quum Marketing7+6+619 points
7.Fermax6+9+924 points
8.AA-HPB8+7+924 points