Bank Sarasin – RC44 Portoroz Cup

It was another beautiful day in Portoroz with 14 to 8 knot winds and plenty of sunshine.

On Katusha, we began the day in fourth place in the fleet racing, with the goal of staying there to win the overall series (with our first place from the match racing portion and a fourth in the fleet racing). Artemis had a fifth in the match racing and they were in first in the fleet racing.

So, we had three windward leeward races today with the wind still from the northeast and plenty shifty.

In the first one, the shift went against us right before the first mark and we went from 2nd to last in one minute. We managed to pass two boats to finish 9th. At this point we were 5th in the fleet racing and therefore in second overall.

The pressure was on. We hit the right upwind in the second race and it came good for us in a big way and we won that race rather comfortably. Behind us there was plenty of mixing in the scores.

In the final race, we had a great start and got to the windward mark second. Up the second windward leg, Sea Dubai got to our right and passed us. Team Aqua was comfortably in the lead. We finished third and thought we had won the event overall.

Unfortunately, BMW Oracle had a rather bad day including a 9th in the last race while No Way Back had a series of 3rds and 4ths and quietly snuck past BMW Oracle for the fleet racing. In so doing, they tied us for the overall with a 3, 2. In this class, as the emphasis is on the owner driver aspect, the tie breaker goes in favor of the fleet racing.

So, with a bit of dispointment, we finished second overall and Artemis was third. Still, it was a great first outing for Katusha. Our owner was extremely pleased. He has not been a big sailor in the past but he seems truly bitten by the sport. He was onoard with his family at the end of the day, sailing the boat back to the dock with his friend Torbjorn Tornquist closeby on Artemis.

The next RC44 event is the last week of November in Dubai.

Right now, some of the Katusha team and I are in a van going to the Trieste airport to fly to Palma tonight. Tomorrow morning we are on deck with Artemis the TP 52 preparing for that World Championship.

Reports from Palma will start on Tuesday.

For complete results go to www.RC44.com