Skunked at RC44 World Championship

Marstrand, Sweden (July 11, 2019) – Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and unfortunately today was the latter for day two of the RC44 World Championship 2019.

At the skippers briefing in the morning, PRO Peter ‘Luigi’ Reggio kept the crews ashore as the race committee set off to the west of Marstrand island to find suitable conditions. However, when there was still no wind at 1530, Reggio pulled the plug on racing for the day.

“Forecast was for 6-7 knots and we never saw over 4 – I don’t think at any given time did we have 20 minutes where we could have been sailing, let alone racing,” described Reggio. “The wind was flicking between 180° and 280° and there was no consistency in the puffs going right and the lulls going left or visa versa. Whatever the direction was, was what it wanted to be… It just wasn’t going to work.”

Down on the dock the sailors were making themselves useful as they patiently awaited the outcome. “There has been a bit of breeze in the harbour and I haven’t been out, but I trust Luigi to take the right decision,” said Michele Ivaldi, tactician on Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing, which currently leads the fleet by three points. “It is true that it is light until 10pm but you have to draw the line somewhere.

“There was one 470 race I did in Kiel may years ago when we had a warning signal at 8pm. But this is a World Championship and it needs to be fair racing with decent breeze. Let’s hope the wind machine switches on tomorrow.”

As to why there was no breeze today, there was been much head scratching. The water temperature off Marstrand is cold while ashore it has been a hot day with brilliant sunshine – in theory the two components required for a sea breeze to develop. And yet it didn’t.

As to tomorrow, Peter Reggio remains optimistic: “It should be a little bit better than it was today.”

44Cup information – Event details – Results – Facebook

DAY TWO RESULTS:

Launched in 2007, the RC44 Class enters its 12th season on the 44Cup, a five-stop international racing tour throughout Europe.

44Cup Events Schedule 2019
44Cup Porto Montenegro – Montenegro – April 10 to 14
Adris 44Cup – Croatia – May 30 to June 2
44Cup Marstrand – Sweden – July 9 to 13
44Cup Cascais – Portugal – October 2 to 6
44Cup Palma – Spain – Nov 13 to 17

About the RC44 boat
Five-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts conceived the design of the light-displacement, high-performance one-design RC44 with naval architect Andrej Justin in 2005.

Created for top level one design racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules, the concept and design features of the RC44 are aimed at the amateur helmsmen with professional crews. For its thirteenth season in 2019, the RC44 Championship Tour was rebranded the 44Cup.

Source: 44Cup