Charisma wins 2023 44Cup

Dutchman Nico Poons and his Charisma team took overall honors in the 2023 44Cup for a second consecutive year, following their third place finish in the final event of the year – the 44Cup Calero Marinas held November 23-26 ion the Canary Islands.

Charisma had an exceptional season. Second in Oman, they followed this with wins in Marstrand and the RC44 Worlds in Cowes. Had Charisma posted another strong result of Marina Alcaidesa last month, their overall victory may have been secured, but it wasn’t.

Their main competition at the the 44Cup Calero Marinas was Igor Lah’s Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860, winner of the last event, but which struggled in the difficult conditions for the finale and finished sixth.

With Charisma’s third place, and a discard applied, the team won the 2023 44Cup by 7 points to Aleph Racing’s 10 and Ceeref’s 13. This win was not as resounding as last year’s when she won by seven points from Ceeref and Team Nika.

“The season was perfect,” noted Poons. “Winning for a second time and the World Championship… What more can you wish for in such a high performance class like the RC44?”

At the prizegiving he added: “I would like to thank the Calero family, who 10 years ago sold me their boat, which is why I am here with my team. Thanks to the local sailing club and all the others and especially to my team who I had a second very successful season with. I am very happy to come back here for the beginning of next season.”

The 2024 44Cup begins in Puerto Calero with the first event of the season on February 28-March 3.

For Charisma’s tactician Hamish Pepper, it has been a good year, winning the 44Cup again and finishing the 52 Super Series tied at the top of the leaderboard.

“The main objective from this regatta was to close out the season,” said Pepper. “We obviously had an eye on our main competitor, Ceeref. Half way, Aleph became a threat and we had to monitor her.” This week Charisma led after day one, but a few deeper results mid-regatta dropped them to third, but was the top scoring boat on the final day.

“The fleet is strong,” continued Pepper. “We had some really good regattas, but we were never launched from the others. It was always close and we only won them by a point or two. It shows how close this fleet is.”

He paid tribute to their crew: Chris Hosking, Ross Halcrow, Dimitri Simmons, Ryan Godfrey, Robin Jacobs, Flavia Tomiselli, and Ivan Peute – plus shore support boat captain Edwin de Laat and boat builder Craig Thompson, chef Eva Rahl, coach Morgan Reecer, and physio Sandra Sibbert.​

The class act at 44Cup Calero Marinas was Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing on which Louis Balcaen was stand-in helmsman. Under tactician Michele Ivaldi, Aleph Racing has been strong all season, with only one result off the podium. For the 12 races in the Canary Islands, they scored four bullets and avoided the ‘big scores’, never finishing worse than sixth.

Balcaen was pleased with his perfect scoreline in 44Cup racing and thanked Hugues Lepic and the Aleph team. Ivaldi added, “I am super pleased. The crew was on fire this week – we didn’t make any errors and we had very

Series Information – Event Details – Facebook

Final Results:

2023 44Cup Schedule
March 1-5 – 44Cup Oman, Muscat
June 28 – July 2 – 44Cup Marstrand, Sweden
August 9-13 – 44Cup Cowes, UK
October 19-22 – 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina, Gibraltar Straight
November 23-26 – 44Cup Calero Marinas, Canary Islands

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. https://www.44cup.org/

Source: 44Cup