http://lamp6.ocvision.co.uk/index.php en Jessica.Gray@intotheblue.biz Copyright 2012 2012-04-01T18:19:00+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/fight_for_the_podium_in_portugal http://www.rc44.com/news/view/fight_for_the_podium_in_portugal#When:18:19:00Z The Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 has thrown everything at the fifteen competing RC44 teams in Portugal from boat breaking conditions to light sea-breeze, sun, a storm and even a couple of hours of torrential rain. The Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 has thrown everything at the fifteen competing RC44 teams in Portugal from boat breaking conditions to light sea-breeze, sun, a storm and even a couple of hours of torrential rain. Katusha (RUS) went into the final day of racing with a strong 13-point lead. Race one didn’t start quite as planned with the Russian flagged team, driven by Steve Howe (USA) this week, being called over the line early along with AFX Capital (ITA), No Way Back (NED) and Team Nika (RUS). The question was, could Team Aqua take advantage of their error and close the gap, to put the leaders under pressure going into the final race. Team Aqua (GBR) rounded the windward mark in seventh with Katusha back in twelfth; Chris Bake’s team needed separation. By the finish Aqua had taken just one place, finishing sixth with Katusha climbing to ninth. However, Team Aqua are renowned for their come-back’s and weren’t about to give up the fight. They won the final race of the event, but Katusha were just three places behind again, crowning Katusha the winners of the inaugural Cascais RC44 Cup 2012. It was Russell Coutts, tactician this week on Katusha, first RC44 event since Rovinj, Croatia in October last year, but enjoyed his return to the fleet. “It’s been a great event here in Cascais. Today wasn’t our prettiest a few mistakes but we did enough to win, so that feels good.” The fight was now on for third place. With just nine-points separating Peninsula Petroleum in third from sixth place Synergy Russian Sailing Team everyone needed to sail their own race and hope they came out on top. You wouldn’t have betted against Peninsula Petroleum (John Bassadone/ Vasco Vascotto) retaining their place on the podium; the team from Gibraltar had shown such consistency over the past two days of fleet racing. But the team didn’t get off to the best of starts, rounding the windward mark second to last, but with rivals CEEREF behind them, Ironbound one place ahead and Synergy in sixth they were still on the podium. It wasn’t until the final metres into the finish, line where Peninsula got themselves trapped between Aegir (GBR) and CEEREF (SLO), that it was all over, they went from twelfth to fifteenth and handed Synergy the final place on the podium. Synergy’s consistent second and third place in the final two races had put Valentin Zavadnikov’s team on the fleet race podium for the first time since they joined the circuit in 2010. It was the second RC44 event for the team’s new tactician Ed Baird who is excited to see the team’s progress up the rankings. “We had a great day today, it was very exciting and I think we probably had the best day, which was a surprise for us as much as anyone. In the second race we had the question of what jib do we use as the storm came through, the wind got a little stronger so we changed for our smaller one but then the wind died as we started to race so we really struggled, the guys did a great job changing sails downwind and then we gained a boat place on each leg after that which was a really great job by the crew.” Ed Baird, tactician, Synergy Russian Sailing Team. In the overall standings Team Aqua retains the golden wheels with just three-points from the first two events, their closest rivals Artemis Racing and Peninsula Petroleum, both on nine-points. The next stop on the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour is the RC44 Austria Cup on Lake Traunsee from 30th May – 2nd June. 2012-04-01T18:19:00+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/calm_descends_on_cascais http://www.rc44.com/news/view/calm_descends_on_cascais#When:19:17:22Z In contrast to yesterday’s foam up, the penultimate day of racing at the Cascais RC44 Cup was spent wishing for wind. In contrast to yesterday’s foam up, the penultimate day of racing at the Cascais RC44 Cup was spent wishing for wind. The fleet were held ashore until 13:00 BST in the hope the sea breeze would kick before motoring three miles west of Cascais, where the sea-breeze is more prevalent, racing eventually got underway at 15:30 in a light 7 knots breeze. Event leader Katusha (RUS) showed the fleet the way in the first race, starting at the committee boat tacking immediately towards the shoreline, obviously wanting the right hand side of the track. Peninsula Petroleum (GBR) and Team Aqua (GBR) had the same plan and the trio rounded the windward mark ahead of the fleet.  The top three places didn’t change, Katusha taking the win, Peninsula Petroleum second and then Team Aqua. The Russian flagged team was extending their overall lead on the fleet. Race two started with a general recall, Race Officer Peter Reggio was quick to hoist the black flag with new boys Aegir (GBR) and RUS 7 being called over and disqualified from the race. Katusha and Peninsula Petroleum headed right off the start line again, but this time it was Team Aqua that popped out of the middle of the pack to lead at the windward mark. Peninsula Petroleum was next to round. As much as the team from Gibraltar pushed, but they couldn’t catch Team Aqua who sailed the perfect race, their second race-win of the event. Steve Howe and Russell Coutts on Katusha followed their race win with a fourth place giving them a 13 point cushion going into the final day of racing. Team Aqua stays in second overall, reducing the margin by one-point and are clearly not giving up on the event win just yet. “Katusha have got a pretty healthy lead over us at the moment but everything is possible and we will defiantly try to catch them tomorrow.” Chris Bake, owner/driver, Team Aqua. Peninsula Petroleum put in another incredibly consistent set of results after their two wins yesterday this time in very different conditions, they move-up into third overall on equal points with Igor Lah/Michele Ivaldi and the Slovenian CEEREF team. “I'm very proud of the guys, we've sailed unbelievably again today. To come out today and back up yesterday’s good day was important. I’m very happy with boat speed and tactics so hopefully we can keep it going for one more day,” Peninsula Petroleum owner John Bassadone (GBR). The class have the great honour tonight to have their gala dinner at the Presidential Palace in Cascais, the first time a private event has been given permission to use the Palace. Racing at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 concludes on 1st April. The action kicks off at 12.00 (BST) with no warning signal allowed after 1500 on the final day. Follow the racing and see who will win the second event of the RC44 Championship Tour on the live blog at www.rc44.com. 2012-03-31T19:17:22+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/breeze_on_in_cascais http://www.rc44.com/news/view/breeze_on_in_cascais#When:18:56:55Z The forecasters had said the wind would ease, but instead torrential rain bought stronger winds which tested all 15 boats and teams competing at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012. Sailing with their big masthead spinnakers in the first race of the day the wind increased to 28 knots, by the final run a number of the team’s fell foul to some spectacular broaches. The forecasters had said the wind would ease, but instead torrential rain bought stronger winds which tested all 15 boats and teams competing at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012. Sailing with their masthead spinnakers in the first race of the day the wind increased to 28 knots, by the final run a number of the team’s fell foul to some spectacular broaches. One team that relished the conditions was Peninsula Petroleum (GBR). They chose their favourite spot at the leeward end of the start-line in each race and went on to win the first two races before posting a solid fifth in the third, moving John Bassadone, Vasco Vascotto (ITA) and the Gibraltar based team up to fifth overall. Owner and the man at the helm, John Bassadone, was pretty pleased with their day on the water. “It was pretty scary today, actually very very exciting! We had unbelievable results and all sailed really well managing to control the boat, the crew did amazingly.” Katusha (RUS) led the opening race of the day upto the final run before losing their spinnaker tack-line, which led to a dramatic spinnaker blow-out. With the halyard wrapped around the mainsail they couldn’t hoist their second kite and had to two-sail to the finish. “We were lucky to lose only three points on that run,” was guest helmsman Steve Howe’s synopsis after racing. The rest of the day proved less eventful, a solid second and third place followed leaving Katusha at the top of the overnight leaderboard, with a 14-point lead. Team Aqua slotted in two sixth and a fifth to move up into second place overall whilst Artemis Racing (SWE) recovered from an average start to win the final race of the day. The team suffered two broaches right before the finish line of race one. The first was helped by a luff from Katusha, which saw the Swedes penalised for not keeping clear and incur a penalty turn. The second came on the last gybe and resulted in the spinnaker wrapping around the keel. Morgan Larson (USA) tactician on Artemis Racing explained the conditions on the race course. “It was really tough out there today obviously windy and rainy but good action and the boats were perfect. The wind was top end for the boats but good, it would have been fairly under control if you had been sailing around on your own but when you start racing, sailing higher upwind and faster downwind with boats around you it gets pretty wild, with waves coming over the bow and into the boats, they get heavier and then you start breaking sails which is what you saw out there today.” Racing at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 concludes on 1st April the action kicks off at 12.00 noon daily. 2012-03-30T18:56:55+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/compact_racing_for_the_rc44_fleet http://www.rc44.com/news/view/compact_racing_for_the_rc44_fleet#When:19:10:28Z A full on day of racing in every sense saw four different winners from four races and a very compact fleet competing for every inch around the race course at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012. A full on day of racing in every sense saw four different winners from four races and a very compact fleet competing for every inch around the race course at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012. The steady easterly breeze averaged 15 knots throughout the day and produced some very close one-design racing. With 15 boats now competing on the RC44 Tour, all with very even boat speed, mark rounding’s have become very congested. Picking the port lay-line can be a risky manoeuvre with the prospect of a 180 metre duck if you get it wrong. One who fell foul of this today was Patrick de Barros (POR) and Mathieu Richard (FRA) on Team Cascais. The local team found themselves having to duck the entire fleet at the first windward mark of race three after finding no space to squeeze into. Igor Lah and the team of CEEREF (SLO) had the most consistent day, their worst result was a sixth, their best a win in the fourth and final race of the day. The team managed to stay incident free but it wasn’t all as serene as it looked as owner owner Igor Lah explained. “Today was an excellent day, the conditions were fairly stable and anything could have happened at any moment. In one race we came from almost last up to second or third place. Every moment mattered today so you had to be very careful with how you performed, but Michele (Ivaldi) was calling very good tactics and the crew members were excellent, it really paid off.” Katusha (RUS) helmed this week by Steve Howe (USA) with Russell Coutts (NZL) calling the shots finished the day one point off the lead with a 3,7,1,4 score-line. Steve Howe’s reaction to the racing: “Thank god for comebacks! Today’s racing was so close.” Chris Bake and Cameron Appleton had an up and down day by their own high standards. They started with an eighth and bounced straight back to win the next. Despite having their wind instruments ripped off the top of their mast by Team Cascais in race three, they slotted in a third followed by a ninth leaving Team Aqua (GBR) third overall, seven points off the lead. Synergy Russian Sailing Team started where they left off yesterday winning the opening race of the day, however a port starboard incident with AFX Capital (ITA) saw the team lose their crash box. Valentin Zavadnikov with Ed Baird calling the shots finished the day in fourth overall – 10 points off the leader. New to the fleet is Brian Benjamin (GBR) and his Aegir team who are more used to Maxi boats, after two days racing in the RC44 he gave his thoughts on the new venture. “Today was fantastic, we had an easier run of it today compared to yesterday, we got beat up a bit in the match racing! We had some really good races; the conditions were great it wasn't quite as windy as yesterday. Compared to the Maxi's I’m pretty surprised by how close the boats are. It's not quite like the Maxi races, it’s a lot more aggressive and there are a lot more boats, probably a lot more fun as well.” The wind is due to ease slightly tomorrow for the second day of fleet racing at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 racing concludes on 1st April. Racing kicks off at 12.00 noon daily, following the racing on the live blog at www.rc44.com. 2012-03-29T19:10:28+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/synergy_on_match_race_form_in_portugal http://www.rc44.com/news/view/synergy_on_match_race_form_in_portugal#When:19:39:01Z Cascais delivered a cracking first day of sailing for the RC44 fleet in the second leg of the 2012 Championship Tour. Two Russian teams and one representing Portugal made the most of the conditions, which saw a few spinnaker blow outs in the morning as the breeze topped 20 knots. Cascais delivered a cracking first day of sailing for the RC44 fleet in the second leg of the 2012 Championship Tour.  Two Russian teams and one representing Portugal made the most of the conditions, which saw a few spinnaker blow outs in the morning as the breeze topped 20 knots. Ed Baird (USA) joined the RC44 Tour at the start of the 2012 season and his presence seems to have had an immediate effect on the match racing results of Valentin Zavadnikov’s Synergy Russian Sailing Team. After finishing seventh overall in the 2011 RC44 match race rankings, the team didn’t lose a match today and now sit on top of this year’s standing, having dropped just one match in the series so far. It was not an easy ride for the Russian team, who took advantage of their opponents mistakes, having to fight back in two races Baird described as being “seriously behind and having  to push hard to catch up.” All credit went to the team of young Russian sailors on-board. “The guys on Synergy have really been working hard on their boat speed and boat handling, they do a great job and it was nice for all of us to be rewarded a little bit today.” Looking onto tomorrow’s fleet racing, Baird was however setting expectations. “Fleet racing tomorrow is a different challenge I am still learning about the boat, we are all still learning about the class we know we have a lot of work to do to be strong in the fleet races but it’s always nice to have a good day.” Local expert Patrick de Barros (POR) has taken over the helm of the French Aleph Team for the week and renamed the boat Team Cascais after the city playing host to the 15 RC44 teams. After three year’s out of the class, Patrick let match racing expert and the team’s tactician Mathieu Richard (FRA) take the helm and was impressed with both how the class has evolved and his newly adopted team. “The level of racing in the last three years has gone very high, it’s really impressive. Today’s racing was great, all the crew is excellent, they really are top class.” Team Cascais finished the day with five wins from seven races, taking the team up to third on the overall match race rankings. Cascais also delivered on some excellent sailing conditions, native de Barros maybe biased but all the teams echoed his sentiments. “The sailing today, it was Cascais at its best, it was not the prevailing wind but I think Cascais showed once again it is one of the best places in the world to sail and for the rest of the week I hope for good wind, good competition and a lot of fun.” The second Russian team to relish the conditions was Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika. With tactician Tomislav Basic (CRO) on the helm for the day, owner Vladimir took to the grinders. They won five from seven races. Now in their second season with the RC44 class, Vladimir is looking forward to the fleet racing and the team hope to improve on their seventh place in Lanzarote last month. “We have been training hard and are determined to do better at this event.” The last word has to come from Russell Coutts, back in the class for the first time this season and at the helm of Katusha today. “It was great to be back in a monohull, we had fantastic conditions out there, a real good fun wind.  This is actually my first time helming a boat since Rovinj in Croatia last year, but it still feels just as comfortable, it’s like riding a bike!” After two events Katusha are second overall on the match race leaderboard. With the strong easterly breeze set to stay for tomorrow, the fleet racing phase of the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 begins on Thursday 29th March and concludes on 1st April. Racing kicks off at 12.00 noon daily with three races planned per day, following the racing on the live blog at www.rc44.com.   2012-03-28T19:39:01+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/one_new_team_and_a_former_rc44_champion_join_the_tour_for_portugal http://www.rc44.com/news/view/one_new_team_and_a_former_rc44_champion_join_the_tour_for_portugal#When:09:21:10Z Patrick de Barros, one of Portugal’s most celebrated entrepreneurs and sportsmen, is hoping for a jubilant return to the RC44 class on his home waters of Cascais for round two of the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour Patrick de Barros, one of Portugal’s most celebrated entrepreneurs and sportsmen, is hoping for a jubilant return to the RC44 class on his home waters of Cascais for round two of the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour. A new team will be testing the waters in Portugal, Brian Benjamin better known in the world of Maxi Racing will be racing in Portugal with his Team Aegir at the Cascais RC44 Cup 2012 (28 March – 1 April). In what is the Tour’s first ever visit to the famous Portuguese sailing city; de Barros will be helming Aleph Sailing Team. He is taking over from Hugues Lepic for the event and renaming the boat Team Cascais for this one-off occasion. Aleph’s regular young French crew, with Mathieu Richard as tactician, will race with de Barros. Patrick de Barros at the helm of Team Banco Espirito Santo. Photo credit: RC44 Class/MartinezStudio.es de Barros last competed in the RC44 Championship in the 2008 season when his Team Banco Espirito Santo crew clinched the Tour title. An accomplished sailor he was twice chosen as Portugal’s Olympic flag bearer for both the ‘84 and ‘88 Games and is looking forward to his return to the class in the Bay of Cascais, de Barros said: “I’m lucky to substitute on an excellent boat, with a great crew, which finished second in the first event of the 2012 Tour in Lanzarote this February. I am looking to have a good race. “Cascais is recognised as one of the best places in the world for yachting and I am delighted to be sponsored by the Cascais City Council for the event. Cascais has a tradition in holding major events, which are very important for the promotion of tourism and international exposure for Portugal.” Also joining the fleet for the first time in Cascais is the Brian Benjamin-owned Team Aegir (GBR), better known in the world of Maxi racing. With Benjamin at the helm, Aegir first came to prominence in 2010, winning the Mini Maxi Cruiser Yacht World Championship. His latest yacht, the head-turning 82’ Maxi built by Carbon Ocean Yachts took line honours in every race at the 2011 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Brian Benjamin at the wheel of Carbon Ocean 82. Aegir. Photo credit: Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi Benjamin is recognised as a successful, self-made entrepreneur. After leaving school he became a Private in the British Army and through this association Team Aegir proudly supports Toe in the Water, the tri-service initiative inspiring men and women who have sustained injuries serving their country. Guy Barron (GBR), is the team manager for Team Aegir and former Platú 25 World Champion and multiple Spanish match racing champion, Manu Weiller will be on tactics. Benjamin said: “Taking on world class teams and sailors in the RC44 circuit is an ideal way to improve performance for Aegir’s 2012 Maxi season. Racing identical yachts, on tight courses is a perfect platform to hone starting procedures and boat-on-boat strategy.” 15 teams will fight it out for the Cascais RC44 Cup, after defending Tour champions, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua (GBR), got their 2012 campaign off to the perfect start with opening round victory in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote last month. RC44 class founder Russell Coutts will be back with the class in Portugal, replacing Brad Butterworth on Gennadi Timchenko’s Katusha (RUS) for the event. Clube Naval de Cascais is no stranger to hosting global yachting events, including the America’s Cup World Series in August 2011, the Med-Cup, the Dragon Gold Cup, the TRANSAT Classic and many more, due to the reliable nature of the wind conditions and challenging race area. 2012-03-21T09:21:10+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/on_the_move http://www.rc44.com/news/view/on_the_move#When:11:23:35Z Follow the RC44 fleet as they pack up and travel from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote to Cascais, Portugal Sunday, 26 February, the Nordic Stani was loaded with the RC44 fleet ready for the journey north from Arrecife, Lanzarote to Lisbon, Portugal. The fleet will arrive in Lisbon on the 28th and spend a few day clearing customs before being transported by truck to Cascais on Monday 5th for the RC44 Cascais Cup 28 March – 1 April 2012.  Wednesday 29th, the RC44 fleet arrive in Lisbon ready for the second round of the RC44 Championship Tour, well wrapped as ever!   Thursday 8th March, the RC44 fleet arrives safely in a sunny Cascais, Portugal ready for the RC44 Cascais Cup, 28 March - 1 April. 2012-02-27T11:23:35+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_take_the_first_event_of_the_rc44_season1 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_take_the_first_event_of_the_rc44_season1#When:18:58:30Z A three hour wait for the breeze to fill in delayed proceedings on the final day of the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, AEZ took their second race win in Lanzarote, but Team Aqua were not far behind giving them their first event win of the 2012 season. A three hour wait for the breeze to fill in delayed proceedings on the final day of the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, AEZ took their second race win in Lanzarote, but Team Aqua were not far behind giving them their first event win of the 2012 season. Puerto Calero has shown to be a real test for the 14 teams competing in the first leg of the RC44 Championship Tour. After their winter break it was the reigning champions who showed they could change gear in the wide range of conditions in Lanzarote. Chris Bake and the crew of Team Aqua (GBR) started the week slowly with a 10th and 13th, but quickly got in the groove slotting in four wins, a second, third and fourth to give them victory by 11 points over second placed Aleph Sailing Team (FRA). The team will retain their golden wheels for another event but are wary of the competition for the rest of the season. “Every boat out there is a concern, they all have the capacity and they all have their days,” said Bake, however the team were chuffed with their first win of the season. “For the team obviously every win is a great win, especially in this class where the teams really give you a run for your money, as you saw the first few days. It’s easy to make a mistake and once you do that its game over, so all in all its really appreciated by all the team that we were able to pull out another great event.” For the young French team missing an eighth place in the final race secured them second overall, exceeding their own targets for the event as the team’s tactician, Mathieu explained. “It’s a fantastic result for us second place, we couldn’t expect such a good result so it’s great. The team is improving at every event. We had a good first year and I think this year the team is pretty strong.” Artemis made up the podium, just two points adrift of the French, Torbjorn Tornqvist teaming up with Artemis Racing’s CEO, Paul Cayard for Lanzarote. AEZ seemed to excel in the lighter shifty conditions, the team from Austria clinching the final race of the series, adding to their win from the previous day and taking them up to fifth overall. Rene Mangold’s team have been a regular on the Tour since 2009, over the winter they bought in new tactician, Markus Weiser (GER) who has high expectations for the season. “The last two days have been very good for us, they worked out really well, we had a shocker in the second day, we were second to last after four races and we were really disappointed, we had a few boat handling problems but recovered quite nicely. We have a few new sails for the next event which will make us a little more competitive.” The fleet will now head to Cascais in Portugal the second round of the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour, with the racing being hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais from 28th March – 1st April. 2012-02-12T18:58:30+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/bertrand_favre_rc44_class_manager_talks_to_vsail_info http://www.rc44.com/news/view/bertrand_favre_rc44_class_manager_talks_to_vsail_info#When:11:18:03Z The RC44 one-design yacht, conceived and created by Coutts, is weathering the crisis very well with a fleet that fluctuates between 14 and 16 boats, a very respectable number. We caught up with Bertrand Favre, the RC44 Class Manager, and talked about the present and future of the class. One might or might not approve the way Russell Coutts is managing the America’s Cup but there is one area, in my opinion, where we must unanimously agree. The RC44 one-design yacht, conceived and created by Coutts, is weathering the crisis very well with a fleet that fluctuates between 14 and 16 boats, a very respectable number. We caught up with Bertrand Favre, the RC44 Class Manager, and talked about the present and future of the class. VSail.info: We have 14 boats on the starting line here in Puerto Calero, a very respectable number if one takes into consideration the current crisis affecting the world economy in general and the sport of sailing in particular. What, in your opinion, makes the RC44 Class and its championship resilient? Bertrand Favre: I think that one of aspects that is very important for the boat owners and their teams is the one-design as well as the fact costs are reasonable and controlled. VSail.info: Why are costs reasonable and how are they controlled? Bertrand Favre: We have very strict limits on the number of sails we validate each year and a rule that limits the number of professionals onboard. Since it’s a one-design class there are no costs associated to boat development. One season costs approximately 500,000 euros and it’s very difficult to spend more than that unless, of course, you want to fly to the venues in first class and stay in five-star hotels. VSail.info: How much does an RC44 yacht cost? Bertrand Favre: A new boat, without any sails, costs 425,000 euros while a boat ready to race with a complete set of sails costs about 520,000 euros. It’s very interesting to point out that a second-hand boat, four years old, sells for approximately 300,000 euros. As you see, thanks to the one-design aspect of the class, the old boats don’t lose their value in such a dramatic way. Obviously, everything devalues but unlike other classes second-hand boats are not worthless. On the contrary, we still have old boats that are very competitive. For example, AFX Capital Racing, the new Italian team, bought the former Mascalzone Latino boat, our seventh boat to be built, and has a very respectable performance in the middle of the fleet and already makes some of the more established teams worry. VSail.info: Has any owner sold his old boat and built a new one? Bertrand Favre: The only one to have done it is Chris Bake, owner of Team Aqua. He has a new boat now and the old one has been bought by RUS 7. In fact whether you own the RC44 yacht number 2 or number 20, you will have identical boats, with the obvious differences that the older one has been used more or might have suffered more accidents or breakages. VSail.info: Has the RC44 yacht changed since her creation? Bertrand Favre: We have evolved the boat by introducing various modifications but always throughout the entire fleet at the same time. This year we introduced a bigger mainsail, 2.50m2 bigger than the previous one, we added a jib cunningham and a system to adjust the checkstays. Our philosophy is to slowly evolve the boat in a one-design manner. VSail.info: Are there any potential owners knocking on your door? Bertrand Favre: We have a number of people that are interested and this is a continuous process. We have potential owners with whom we are in discussion and another one that will charter the Polish boat MAG Racing in the Cascais regatta. As you see, this is a continuous process and in Cascais we will have 15 boats. We are a class that has been conceived with the owners and their teams in mind. The owners pay an annual fee of 15,000 euros, much smaller compared to other classes, and they are provided with a wide range of services. We offer them a service, we have a technical team ready to solve any problem the boats might have during an event, we take care of the shipping and transport. They must pay for the shipping and transport but we take care of it and when you negotiate prices for 35-40 containers you, obviously, get much better prices than you would get for just one or two containers. We have owners that come and others that go but that’s normal and it happens in all yacht classes and circuits. At the end of each season you have changes. VSail.info: So, are you a class primarily geared towards wealthy owners? Do any owners try to find sponsors and will sponsors get any return on their investment? Bertrand Favre: I think that our strongest point is our hospitality program and the onboard guest position. Sponsored boats have the possibility to offer their partners a very good platform. Right now we have five sponsored boats and quite often there exists a privileged relation between the owner and the sponsor but the hospitality side of our circuit is clearly very attractive for all sponsors. VSail.info: You have also made changes to the race format and match racing forms now a small part of the schedule. What was the logic behind that decision? Bertrand Favre: Yes, we have taken off one day from the match race part and we don’t do an overall result for each event. The owners like driving their boats and if you had asked me two years ago whether in 2012 we would still be doing match racing I would have said no because the class is evolving towards fleet racing. However, we now have an increasing number of owners that want to steer in match racing because they love it. They want to do it because they like it but also because they see it as a great tool to train and progress. Even young sailors that train for the Olympics do some match racing because it develops their reflexes and skills. One factor we have to always take into consideration is the time owners can take off their daily business obligations. I think that being outside of their companies five times a year four-five days each time is probably the limit. As a result, we will continue with the current format at least this year. We might make some changes if we have more boats. If you have 18-20 boats you simply can’t have half of the fleet racing while the rest is just sitting there and waiting. We will have to be creative in order to find other solutions. That’s why we have already shortened the prestart down to two minutes. I think we still have a small margin but if the fleet gets much bigger we will definitely have to find other solutions. We might have two separate race areas or we might even have some teams that simply don’t want to match race but desire to have a practice fleet race in another race area. We will see. VSail.info: While the number of boats is increasing, I see that you are struggling to find new venues and this year you will only have five. Do you encounter difficulties in finding more venues? Bertrand Favre: No, on the contrary. It’s a decision taken by the owners not to have more than five events per season, for the reason I told you. Six events are just too many for them. I could even claim that now that our circuit is well established and consolidated, I have cities that directly contact me, interested in our project. VSail.info: I also notice that all venues this year are in Europe. You don’t visit the US or the Middle East. Is that as well a wish by the owners that want to concentrate their obligations in a smaller area? Bertrand Favre: I think there will be surprises in the 2013 calendar. I am now in conversations with various cities and most probably we will go out of Europe once again. I would say that this year it was more of a coincidence the fact we are only in Europe. We appreciate the cities and local organizers, such as Puerto Calero, with whom we have a good relationship. It is also a simple question of timing. The further away you go, the more time you need to move from one venue to another. You have to take those factors into consideration. If it takes you two months to move to the next venue, logistics become very complicated. VSail.info: Is it expensive for a city to host an RC44 event? Bertrand Favre: It depends on the infrastructure already in place. We have a host-city fee, a small one in my view, but we are very demanding in what regards the quality of services offered by the city. Let’s take the example of Valencia. It didn’t cost a lot because they already had the media center, the VIP area, the technical area and didn’t need to build anything. On the contrary, in Marstrand they had to build everything so it cost much more. On average the total cost for a city is around 200,000 – 300,000 euros, including the host-city fee. It’s a reasonable price that reflects the philosophy of our class. It also allows cities to have a good return. Just the amount of money spent by the 16 teams in the local economy is more than that. It’s also the reason very often the cities want to repeat. I discuss with the various potential venues and before I make any binding agreements, I talk with the owners who ponder each venue and tell me what they think. Nevertheless, our first and foremost consideration in choosing a venue are the wind and sailing conditions. Whether they are small or big cities they have to be sailing venues where the probability of losing racing days is very small. Another major priority is to go to places where the marina is located within walking distance from the hotels, the restaurants and the urban area. VSail.info: With the exception of Ironbound, all your owners are also European. If I remember well, Frank Pong from Hong Kong took part one year in the circuit. Do you think it’s impossible to have non-European owners that stay longer. Bertrand Favre: We also had Isao Mita from Japan that participated in two seasons. Even if we want to expand the class outside Europe, the problem for him was that he was spending too much time travelling to the venues. He was spending too much time on the airplane. For that reason, we will return to countries where we think we have a chance to develop the class in the future. We are still in negotiations with potential venues in those areas. VSail.info: Is Asia a target for the RC44 class? Bertrand Favre: No, not yet. VSail.info: Going back to the amateur rule, is there any discussion in allowing more professional sailors in the crew? Bertrand Favre: No, because it’s one of the key elements of the class. It gives owners the possibility to have friends in the crew. Igor Lah sails together with his son and in a number of teams you have young sailors. It’s also a very good opportunity for young sailors to enter the market and we had a number of them that raced two years as amateurs and then jumped into professional sailing, either here or in other classes. It’s a very good springboard for them. AEZ is one of the five sponsored teams of the RC44 fleet. Puerto Calero, 10 February 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info VSail.info: The RC44 class used to have BMW and DHL as sponsors and partners and I now see Beluga as the only partner in 2012. Bertrand Favre: Yes, Beluga is our partner and they provide us with delicious vodka and some cash. It’s true the class is actively seeking a naming sponsor or at least a major sponsor but, as you very well imagine, the current difficult economic situation makes that more difficult. The entire sport of sailing encounters the same problems but we are lucky to have partner cities and owners that are united in making this a viable and sustainable project without any problems. Obviously, the moment we find that sponsor we will be able to increase the level of what we are doing. VSail.info: Are you happy AUDI stopped supporting the Medcup circuit? Bertrand Favre: No, not at all because it’s not a positive development for the sport of sailing. We never considered them as our competitors. In fact, we had good relations with them and we always tried to avoid any overlaps in our calendars, as much as possible. The TP52′s might have less boats but it is always an important class. Another aspect is that the AUDI Medcup was a very different product from ours. It had much bigger budgets, teams that were 100% professional and a very commercial approach. Again, nobody can be happy when a flagship circuit disappears. 2012-02-12T11:18:03+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_back_on_form http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_back_on_form#When:19:15:29Z Four back to back races at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup shook up the leaderboard on a race track Michele Ivaldi (ITA) described as, “full of traps and important to keep an eye on the pressure to cope with the shifts.” Four back to back races at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup shook up the leaderboard on a race track Michele Ivaldi (ITA) described as, “full of traps and important to keep an eye on the pressure to cope with the shifts.” With lighter winds forecast, the course was moved around the coast of Lanzarote to Puerto del Carmen, in sight of Lanzarote’s capital Arrecife. A weakened north-easterly gradient breeze, with the gusts topping just 12 knots, made for a very different days racing from the strong breezes that had dominated the event thus far. Team Aqua (GBR) was dominant. Three wins and one third place added just six points to the team’s score, taking them from sixth overnight, straight to the top of the leaderboard, five points clear of second placed Aleph Sailing Team (FRA). For the team that missed out on the podium at the RC44 World Championships in Lanzarote last November – the only podium they missed out on last season – it could not have gone better. “Today was a big day, we did a lot of things right and although we had some fairly tricky starts, Cameron (Appleton) was very much in phase with the wind, the teamwork was back on form. It was just a matter of not making any mistakes,” said Chris Bake, owner/driver, Team Aqua after a long day on the water. The only other team to win a race was AEZ, the Austrian team slotted in a 5, 1, 8, 3 score-line moving them from one-off the bottom of the leaderboard to seventh overall. Owner/Driver Rene Mangold was very satisfied with the team’s efforts. “It was a great day for us, we were a little bit unsure of how it would go as we hadn’t used the mainsail in light wind conditions, but it worked really well, much better than we expected. We’re improving all the time. We hope to build for the rest of the season, this is obviously our first regatta with Markus (Weiser), but we hope to keep this configuration and keep the performance and spirit high.” France’s Aleph Sailing Team did enough to stay in second overall. They started well with a second and fourth, before succumbing to their first double figure score of the series, an eleventh followed by a seventh. With no discards allowed at any RC44 Championship events, tomorrow will be all about consistency and the young French team are still well in with a chance of the clinching the trophy. Consistency is something Team Nika (RUS) need to fulfil their obvious potential on the race course. Often at the front of the fleet after the first lap, a penalty and difficult spinnaker drop regularly puts them to the back of the fleet. Owner Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) explained their day. “We had a good first race. The second race could have been better; we got a penalty for tacking too close to the committee boat but recovered really well in to fifth or sixth place, then got another penalty! The third race we had a chance to win, but then lost by maybe five or ten metres, that was a real shame. Then the final race of the day was just bad!” The team finished the day in sixth overall, eleven points off of Artemis Racing in third place. Three races are planned for the final day of racing at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup with the first warning signal due at 11.00 (GMT). 2012-02-11T19:15:29+00:00