Inshore Shuffle at ORC Worlds

Trieste, Italy (July 5, 2017) – The start of inshore racing on the third day of the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017 saw another day of light air – 6-8 knots from the southwest – but racing that was surprisingly close in corrected time. Two races on windward-leeward courses were completed today, with a shortened course in the second race, and new series leaders have emerged in two of the three classes.

Maurizio Poser’s Swan 42 Sheraa Yacht Club Hannibal seems to have chosen the right strategy in being the slowest rated boat in Class A because the are sailing extremely well and have extended their lead in the standings on the strength of their 3-1 finishing record today. Their two closest rivals in second and third place – Sandro Paniccia’s Scuderia 50 Altair 3 and Vincenzo Onerato’s Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino – are 9 and 11 points behind, respectively. The Class A reigning World Champion – Vadim Yakimenko’s TP52 Freccia Rossa – was given a scoring penalty for Races 1 & 2 from the Jury for a small safety equipment issue discovered after sailing, but remains in contention in 4th place.

In Class B Diego Zanco’s X-41 Nube from Croatia had solid finishes of 3-3 today to jump to the top of standings, helped in part by yesterday’s series leader – Sergey Kolesnikov’s X-41 Technonicol from Russia – suffered a 50-point black flag penalty for being over early at the start, a testament to the aggressiveness of the starts in this class. Nube enjoys now a healthy 21-point lead over one of the pre-event favorites, second-placed Massimo de Campo’s Swan 42 Selene Alifax, who in turn is only one point ahead of Nadia Canalaz’s M45 Horus Tempus Fugit. Once the event’s scoreboard reaches 7 races each team may drop their worst score, so this will give Technonicol a chance to come back into the top ranks.

In Class C the racing was especially close, with two teams in the top ranks having to share points for third place. On scores of 5-3 in Races 3 and 4, Alessio Querin’s Farr 30 Mummy One-Lab Met jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a 7.5-point lead over Michael Mollmann’s X37 Hansen from Denmark and another Farr 30, Giacomo and Franco Loro Piana’s Sease. They are 10.5 points ahead of the next nearest rival, Giuseppe Giuffre’s Italia 9.98 Low Noise II, Class C World Champion in 2014 and 2015. The leader after the first two offshore races, Aivar Tuulberg’s Arcona 340 Katariina II, the reigning ORC Class C European Champion, had a tough day on scores of 20 and 16, forcing him off the top of the standings.

Notable for the day in Class C was Cesare Brennan’s modified Melges 32 Airis, who had the best inshore race record of 3-1. If this veteran team continues to sail well and when discards will be allowed (possibly Friday), watch for them to vault up the standings when their 46th in Race 2 is dropped.

Racing resumes tomorrow in the Gulf of Trieste, with another two inshore races planned.

Nine races (2 offshore, 7 inshore) are scheduled on July 3 to 8

Event details – Results – Tracking – Live streaming – Photos

Source: Dobbs Davis