The current Audi MedCup champions proved they have lost nothing from their competitive edge as they both opened their respective 2010 season with resounding wins in the Portugal Trophy, Cascais.
After another day of muscular breezes which produced fantastic racing conditions off Sintra, just to the west of Cascais, Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) and Puerto Calero (ESP) had both set up unassailable regatta leads, clinching their respective trophies with a race to spare.
Emirates Team New Zealand racing at the Portugal Trophy Cascais - Audi MedCup.
Through the five events of the 2010 Audi MedCup season, regatta trophies are a bonus, and this is Emirates Team New Zealand’s fifth successive regatta title in a row, but the dominant Kiwi crew will be even more content to leave Portugal with a comprehensive lead of 20 points over Franco-German Circuit newcomers AudiA1 powered by All4ONE.
Emirates Team New Zealand Celebrations
AudiA1 powered by All4ONE may have finished with a sixth in the final race of the regatta, but the team which is headed by four times Olympic Jochen Schuemann (GER), finished consistently in the top half of the fleet through the second half of the regatta to prove they have the talent and the tools to be podium contenders. It is Schuemann’s best podium finish on the Circuit, bettering his third in Puerto Portals in 2008 with Platoon Powered by Team Germany.
The tough conditions produced a typically bruising final day which placed big demands on crew work and equipment. Emirates Team New Zealand proved, once again, a cut above the rest in the breeze but there were gennakers shredded again today and several teams not managing to convert on the final day, due to mechanical or sail failures, whether or not they were the product of crewing errors.
The British America’s Cup crew lost their gennaker sheet under the boat during the first race to finish 10th. For some of the time today Ben Ainslie (GBR) and the TeamOrigin (GBR) crew looked like an truly exceptional unit, leading again during the first race of the day, but they still have a speed deficit downwind which needs rectifying.
And Artemis (SWE) who were challenging Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE for second overall damaged their bowsprit when they tussled with TeamOrigin (GBR) on the start line of the second race today and lost the use of their gennaker for some of the time.
For the local team on Pedro Mendonca’s (POR) Bigamist 7 (POR) there was a boost to their morale when they won the first race of the day, heading Emirates Team New Zealand across the finish line to win, Race 9, the Cacscais based team’s ninth Audi MedCup win since getting Bigamist 7 last year.
Racing at the Portugal Trophy, Cascais
So, too, the 2008 Audi MedCup TP52 champions Quantum Racing (USA) leave Portugal with their belief restored that they can be serious contenders this season, not least by winning the last race of the regatta.
The absence on Thursday and Friday due to injury of skipper helm Terry Hutchinson (USA) tells its own story as Quantum Racing won Wednesday’s first and today’s last race of the regatta.
Without question Cascais on its first time on the AudiMed Cup Circuit has delivered as one of the best venues yet on the Audi MedCup Circuit offering a full programme of 10 races for the TP52 Series and nine races for the GP42 in winds which must have averaged over 15 knots.
GP42 Puerto Calero wins first battle in the war
Showing yet another display of near-flawless sailing in stronger breezes, Puerto Calero (ESP) scored a first and second on the final day to win this first battle in the five regattas long war that is the 2010 GP42 Series.
Their consistency, speed and error-free sailing in the challenging 20-25 knot conditions seem suited to this Canarias-based team.
Puerto Calero’s wide-body 2009 Botin & Carkeek-designed hull design was perfectly suited to the fresh breeze.
Madrid-Caser Seguros (ESP) won the last race today and finished this regatta as runner-up.
The GP42 fleet was cut down by one in today’s racing by the unfortunate damage sustained by Peninsula Petroleum (GBR) when their masthead crane snapped within an hour prior to the start of the first race.
Nonetheless, the racing among the remaining four was still intense, with AIRISESSENTIAL (ITA) making great starts and progress upwind to always round the top marks in second, but then struggling a bit downwind in the fresh conditions, and the whole pack within seconds of each other at each turn.
The next regatta on the Audi MedCup Circuit is the Marseille Trophy from June 15th to 20th.
Emirates Team New Zealand and Puerto Calero winners of the Portugal Trophy, Cascais - Audi MedCup
Portugal Trophy, Cascais
Overall
TP52 Series
1. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), 6+11+1+1+4+2+1+1,5+2+2= 31,5 points
2. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER), 9+7+4+6+1+5+5+4,5+4+6= 51,5
3. Artemis (SWE), 3+6+7+8+3+7+2+6+6+10= 58
4. Quantum Racing (USA), 1+5+8+2+10+9+8+10,5+5+1= 59,5
5. TeamOrigin (GBR), 4+9+2+4+2+1+7+13,5+10+7= 59,5
6. Matador (ARG), 7+2+5+9+8+12(DSQ)+6+3+3+5= 60
7. Synergy (RUS), 8+1+6+3+5+8+3+15+11+4= 64
8. Cristabella (GBR), 2+8+3+5+9+6+10+12+7+3= 65
9. Luna Rossa (ITA), 5+3+9+10+6+3+9+16,5+8+8= 77,5
10. Bribón (ESP), 10+10+10+12(DNC)+7+4+4+7,5+9+11= 77,5
11. Bigamist 7 (POR), 11+4+11+7+11+10+12(DNF)+9+1+9= 85
GP42 Series
1. Puerto Calero (ESP), 1+1+2+1+2+3+1+1+2= 14 points
2. Madrid-Caser Seguros (ESP), 3+2+3+2+1+4+1+2+1= 20
3. Iberdrola (ESP), 2+5+1+3+3+1+5+3+3= 26
4. AIRISESSENTIAL (ITA), 5+4+5+4+6(DNF)+2+4+4+4= 38
5. Peninsula Petroleum (GBR), 4+3+4+5+4+5+3+6(DNF)+6(DNF)= 40
Quotes of the day:
Dean Barker (NZL), skipper-helm Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
“ It’s been a very difficult first event. The venue is tricky, very hard to understand and the frist day we didn’t really start off too well.
The two first races were well below the standard we expected to sail at. And then the third race of the day we sort of bounced back but really after that I think we sailed a very, very strong regatta.
I think in the remaining races, we achieved everything we set out to do and it was really a case of the other teams having races which dropped them back into the pack a little bit so we just remained consistent, other than that the first day. That’s been the main difference. Without question at every event teams always improve and over the season. The standard here was very high, so it makes it a tougher challenge to keep improving. And we know that fortunately come away from here with a nice buffer for the season long championship. But also to win this event is great but there’s still a lot of races, 40 races to go, we are only a fifth of the way.”
“ I had never sailed in Cascais before, I had sailed once in the river but that was just in a minor event and I had never had the chance to race here. I loved it, beautiful conditions. I didn’t’ realize it would be so difficult, I thought it would be more straight forward but it was great.”
Jochen Schümann (GER), skipper Audi A1 ALL4ONE (FRA/GER):
“ Cascais has been one of the most beautiful Audi MedCups that we’ve had in the last years. We had relatively good weather, every morning some rain but after that a lot of wind, beautiful shifty wind which I think was a beautiful challenge for all of us to get good results in the races. For us a second place is perfect, this has been the perfect Audi MedCup event.”
“ We are very happy, this is more than we had expected.”
“ Today it was important for us to sail well, but we didn’t necessarily have to win, second is more than enough for us.”
“ On the second race we’ve started well at the committee boat and at the first top mark we even had the possibility to be first, but we were second and we had a problem with the first hoist, the spinnaker sheet got hooked under the bowsprit and we had abort the first hoist till and wait till we’ve been able to free the sheet and that has cost us many meters, because in only a few seconds without a spinnaker you fall quickly behind.
Even if we finished sixth that wasn’t too important, what we were looking at is the overall standings, and both races we’ve always been in a safe position ahead of Artemis and TeamOrigin, and that was the most important thing.
For us it was clear that in such windy conditions the important thing is to sail clean races till the end without breakdowns, without disasters, and we’ve managed to do it.”
Jose María Ponce (ESP), skipper Puerto Calero (ESP):
“We are surprised because we didn’t really know what was going to happen and in which conditions the other teams were and at the end we’ve been able to finish with an advantage that we didn’t manage to get in any of last year’s events because every thing was much tighter. It’s clear that what’s happened here is not real, because the teams are still adjusting and I think we are the only team which has remained the same as last year, and the rest of the teams have all done changes so we have a little advantage in that ense, but I think in the next race everything is going to change a lot and it’ll take a bigger effort to be at the head.”
The next regatta on the Audi MedCup Circuit is the Marseille Trophy from June 15th to 20th. Contact us at CharterWorld if you are interested in chartering a luxury motor or sailing yacht during this event.
