Nov 17, 2019, Day 4 (final day of racing): It was supposed to be a heavyweight bout between Chris Bake’s Team Aqua and Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika. These two, among the oldest, most successful teams in the high performance one design monohull class, started the 44Cup Palma, the final event of the season, separated by just one point at the top of the 2019 44Cup leaderboard. Behind them Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF went into the 44Cup Palma five points off the lead with Aleph Racing of Hugues Lepic a further point behind.
However this non-discardable final event of the season was to prove surprisingly dire for both the leaders who, against all expectation, began today’s final day of racing in last place. Meanwhile, two other teams were excelling – Nico Poons’ Charisma, the 2018 defending 44Cup champion, and Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF, winner in 2016-17, who prevailed once again.
Day 3: 44Cup Palma 2019 - CEEREF Could Turn 44cup On Its Head
Nov 16: If Charisma and Aleph were the stand-out teams yesterday, today, the penultimate day of the 44Cup Palma, belonged to Igor Lah's Team CEEREF. In a return to their 2016-17 season-winning form, the Slovenian team won both of today's races. This elevated them to second overall astern of Nico Poons' Charisma which had another solid day leaving them with a six point lead going into the final day.
Day 2 44Cup Palma - Two Bullet Day for Charisma, but Aleph Leads
44Cup Nov 15, 2019: Yesterday racing was canned with the breeze gusting to 40 knots. Today, despite a large residual swell, conditions appeared more sailable, but for almost two hours the wind failed to settle, its direction pulled around due to the giant clouds crossing the Bay of Palma race area. Although light to moderate, the wind randomly shifted between southwest and northwest and back before finally settling close to the former when, on their fifth attempt, the race committee was able to lay a course successfully.
DAY 1 44Cup
Nov 14, 2019: Winds gusting up to 40 knots and a heinous seastate out on the Bay of Palma, kept the 44Cup fleet at the dock on the opening day of the 44Cup Palma. The wind began veering and dropping mid-afternoon but the left-over sea state precluded the deciding round of the 2019 44Cup from getting underway.
“We had a steady 23-25 knots of wind, but the sea states was such, coming from various directions, that it was basically like a cauldron,” reported PRO Peter Reggio. “That combined with the velocity being at the upper end means it wouldn’t have been good racing at all. Fortunately the forecast for the next few days is looking better than it did this morning."
The secrets behind a tactician and his coach (video) features Artemis Racing's tactician Andy Horton and coach Tom Burnham on what makes their relationship work.See also 44Cup Preview (video).
44Cup Palma, Nov 13 - 17, Real Club Náutico de Palma, Palma de Majorca, Spain. The grand final is in Palma, Majorca, the fifth and final event of the 2019 season. Expect to see a a heated fight for the podium between the top three teams. Chris Bake’s Team Aqua currently leads the fleet, after the World Championship win in Marstrand Sweden during the summer which they followed up with a win in Cascais, Portugal last month. Having been at each other’s throats for the entire season Team Aqua’s biggest threat is Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika with three second place event finishes this season and desperate to take an event win.
Official website 44cup.org and official results & rankings.44Cup Cascais 'Best Shots' video:
The best moments from the 44Cup Cascais. See also 44Cup Cascais 2019 highlights video (Oct 3-6), as Team Aqua mastered the large Atlantic swell to take their second event win of the season. For more on Cascais: 44Cup Cascais Oct 3 - 6, Cascais, Lisbon District, Portugal.
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Aleph Racing (FRA17)
Artemis Racing (SWE44)
Bronenosec Sailing (RUS 18)
Charisma (MON 69)
Peninsula Petroleum (GBR 1)
Team Ceeref (SLO 11)
