Momo Go Three in a Row, Cuordileone on the Prowl

Only Dieter Schön’s Momo retains the perfect scoreline after winning their third race in a row for the four boat Maxi72 class at 36 Copa del Rey MAPFRE. Their string of victories might have been broken were it not for the fourth race of the series, the second of the day, being abandoned when Momo lay second on the water.

For crews and for the race committee teams alike it was a particularly testing day on the water. All day the unsettled breeze was shifting, clocking more and more right, as thundery, stormy clouds around the western Mediterranean again played havoc with the weather. Most classes achieved one decent race, the exception being the Swan 42s which did not complete a race.

While Momo retained her all-first scoreline, Nautor’s Swan chairman Leonardo Ferragamo and his crew on Cuordileone pricked the bubble for Earlybird which has Jochen Schümann as tactician, the ClubSwan 50 class leaders which won twice yesterday. With Gavin Brady calling tactics for Ferragamo at the new Cuordileone’s first regatta, they were able to lead through the finish line to score their maiden win. Brady smiled,
“You have to fight hard to beat Jochen and the team on Earlybird so it’s a good day today, so we are all gunning for them now. They have shown a weakness and we will be trying to knock them off their perch. They better watch out again tomorrow!”

“I don’t think I have seen a one design class so competitive this early in the piece. Jochen Schümann and the Earlybird team have done a lot of practicing, that is how it goes. Otherwise normally at this stage there would be one or two boats struggling out the back but that is not the case with this class. Any boat in this group could win a race.”

Winning what proved to be the only race for the Maxi 72 fleet Momo extend their lead at the top of the table, Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente having a better day with second. Momo’s strategist Murray Jones, who only joined the programme this season working with tactician Markus Wieser and navigator Matteo Ivaldi, reported,
“It is going well. The boys are sailing the boat well and getting the sails up and down well. Back in Palma Vela it was my first regatta with the boat and we were learning. Now Markus and I work well with a big overlap, it is a continuous discussion – ‘what if they tack?, what if they gybe?’ – it is working well.”
In fact Emirates Team New Zealand’s six times Cup winner Jones had to miss the America’s Cup victory parade to go and race on Momo in Corfu.
Of their Race 3 win Jones added,
“We sailed the first beat well and lead around and then on the second beat we sailed against the fleet, used the shifts and got away a bit more.”

In the Mallorca Sotheby’s IRC class there was a second win from three starts for the French IRC European Champion TP52 Team Vision Future, now leading the class by three points from Paprec Recyclage of Jean Luc Petithuguenin which finished second today. Paprec’s Breton skipper Stéphane Neve admitted that so far his compatriots from the south have been too fast for them,
“The leaders are quick, they are too fast. They are sailing well and have a good TCC. We have to fight. We have been able to stay close with Alegre and Phoenix. It was a tricky race with the wind shifting. It was hard to be on the good side all the time. Normally we expect that left shift on the left side of the bay.”

Winners of the class at May’s Sail Racing PalmaVela regatta Elena Nova triumphed in the MRW Swan 45 class today, alleviating owner-driver Christian Plump’s disappointment at having had a poor opening Monday, “Yesterday we were on the wrong side of the course twice. Today we made the better choices. The race committee did a good job with the set up of the line. It was all perfect. They moved the top mark and the finishing line to stay up with the changes in the breeze. And this class is still very competitive here, there is a good battle on the water and a good spirit ashore.”

Francisco Rizzi’s Negra is the new class leader, taking over from Ange Transparent 2 which finished seventh.

“We did not start very well. We were not fast. But tomorrow we will win both races.” Responded Ange Transparent 2’s tactician with a grin.

Although the King was not on board today, the Spanish Navy’s Corel 45 Aifos still leads the biggest class in the 138 boat regatta, the 35 strong BMW ORC 1. Aifos finished sixth today and leads by just three points. A win for Alexander Laplaza’s Barcelona Sinergia 42 L’Immens-Laplaza Assessors sees them hold the lead in BMW ORC 2 but only on countback. Javier Banderas Dufour 34 Grupo Ceres now leads BMW ORC 3 outright after Scots owner Scott Beattie finished fourth to lie second on the J/97 Just the Job. There is no change to the lead in the Club Swan 42 fleet as they did not race and so Nadir, Pedro Comas, goes into Day 3 on top. And in the very competitive Herbalife J80 Class Les Roches Jeunesse Marbella Team extend with a second win today, three points clear of Bribon Movistar.

The GC32 foiling catamaran class start racing Wednesday. Spanish Olympic medallist and Volvo Ocean Race skipper Iker Martinez and his crew on Movistar lie sixth after two events on the GC32 Racing Tour and will be hoping for a win on a race area which might be considered home waters,
“ We are as good as we can be. We have been training and trying to make our boat better. We have good speed and are manoeuvring well. If we keep it simple, we can be on the podium – that would be super good for us.”

Racing continues Wednesday mostly on the sea.

 
Overall results. Day 2
(Position/Boat/Country/Skipper/Results/Points)
 
BMW ORC 1
1. Aifos (ESP), S.M. El Rey Felipe VI, 2+3+6=11
2. Porron IX (ESP), Axel Rodger, 10+1+3=14
3. Hydra – Marina Rubicon (HKG), 9+8+2=19
… up to 35 entries.
 
BMW ORC 2
1. L´Immens – Laplaza Assesors (GBR), Carlos Rodríguez, 2+4+1=7
2. Maverta (ESP), Jose Ballester, 3+2+2=7
3. Sum Innovation (ESP), Pedro Campos, 6+1+4=11
… up to 21 entries.
 
BMW ORC 3
1. Grupo Ceres (ESP), Daniel Cuevas, 4+1+1=6
2. Just the Job (GBR), Scott Beattie, 1+4+4=9
3. Lanzarote Sailing Paradise (ESP), Alejandro Morales, 3+3+3=9
… up to 9 entries.
 
Maxi 72
1. Momo (IVB), Dieter Schon, 1+1+1=3
2. Cannonball (ITA), Dario Ferrari, 3+2+3=8
3. Proteus (USA), George Sakellaris, 2+3+4=9
4. Bella Mente (USA), Alex Roepers, 4+4+2=10
 
Club Swan 50
1. Earlybird (GER), Hendrik Brandis, 1+1+3=5
2. Niramo (GER), Sonke Meier Sawatzki, 6+2+2=10
3. Ulika (ITA), Andrea Masi, 2+4+4=10
… up to 6 entries.
 
MRW Swan 45
1. Negra (ECU), Francisco Rizzo, 6+1+2=9
2. Ange Transparent 2 (ITA), Valter Pizzoli, 1+3+7=11
3. K-Forze (USA), Jan de Kraker, 3+2+6=11
… up to 8 entries.
 
Swan 42
1. Nadir (ESP), Pedro Vaquer Comas, 2+1=3
2. Pez de Abril (ESP), José María Meseguer, 1+2=3
3. Voloria IV – Regina 2.0 (SWE), Jacob Wallenberg, 3+6=9
… up to 9 entries.
 
Mallorca Sotheby´s IRC
1. Team Vision Future (SUI), Mergui Mikael, 1+4+1=6
2. Paprec Recyclage (FRA), 2+5+2=9
3. Alegre (GBR), 7+1+3=11
… up to 16 entries.
 
Herbalife J80
1. Les Roches Jeunesse Marbella Team (ESP), Eric Brezellec, 2+1+1=4
2. Bribon Movistar (ESP), Marc de Antonio, 1+2+4=7
3. VSA Comunicación (ESP), José María Van Der Ploeg, 3+3+8=14
… up to 20 entries.