Puerto Calero (Lanzarote).- The Swedish Artemis of Torbjorn Tornqvist is the new leader of the RC44 World Championship after overcoming a very complicated day, with very little wind, shifty and capricious.
The Artemis was the one that best survived a finish with hardly any wind and that helped him to become the leader, taking over from the Gibraltar-based Peninsula Petroleum of John Bassadone, who did suffer with the little wind and lost his privileged position on the podium, now he is fourth.
Meanwhile, the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, of Daniel Calero, managed to withstand the pull and maintain the third place on the podium that it has occupied since the first day.
The wind wanted to be the first protagonist of the day. The Regatta Committee opted to move the regatta course from the Playa Quemada area to the Playa de Guacimeta area where the wind was blowing with somewhat more intensity and seemed more favorable. Even so, the start of the trials did not take place until two hours after the scheduled time, with a south breeze between 8 and 10 knots, until it dropped completely at the end of it.
The Swedish Artemis of Torbjorn Tornqvist wanted to demonstrate that he has gone to Puerto Calero to win the World Championship and from the beginning of the first race of the day -fourth of the global- he sailed in the lead. At first he was followed by the Russian Team Nika of Vladimir Prosikhin and the Gibraltar-based and first leader, Peninsula Petroleum of John Bassadone. In the first windward leg, Team Nika arrived ahead, followed by Artemis, the French Aleph of Hughes Lepic and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero. At the leeward gate, Artemis regained the lead, followed by Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and the American Ironbound of David Murphy. The Peninsula Petroleum began the recovery and went from twelfth to fourth position, thus specializing in comebacks.
The last downwind was dramatic, with the fleet very tight. The wind began to shift and drop in intensity, which became a real trap for some. The last section caused a great dance of positions and the only one that managed to withstand the pull was the Artemis, which would end up winning the fourth race of the World Championship, and which would also serve to place him leader of the general classification. The British Team Aqua of Chris Blake came in second position and the Dutch No Way Back of Pieter Heerema, third.
The Islas Canarias Puerto Calero lost several positions and entered in seventh position, and the Gibraltar-based Peninsula Petroleum -until now leader- crossed the finish line in twelfth position. The arrival was very hard especially for Peninsula Petroleum, AEZ, Ironbound and RUS7 that due to the total drop of wind and the current dragged them on the boat of the Committee at the time of arrival.
The wind did not give option and after falling in intensity and seeing how unstable the regatta course was, the Committee decided to end the day and save it, in this way it was still complying with what was marked this season that in none of the regattas of the RC44 circuit has had to be suspended due to weather conditions.
Daniel Calero: we were second less than fifty meters from the finish line, when the wind dropped completely and we were practically anchored, we went from second to fifth place. Today the best conclusion for us is that we have moved up one place in the general classification
John Bassadone :we were almost on the finish line when the wind dropped and we were trapped between the AEZ and the RUS7 and we all ended up on the committee boat. It was a shame because we could continue in the top of the table, but well, tomorrow will be another day and we hope that the wind blows stronger
CLASSIFICATION (After four races)
1 Artemis (SWE), 4-5-1-1, 11 points
2 Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), 3-1-7-7, 18 points
3 No Way Back (ESP), 3-1-7-7, 18 points
4 Peninsula Petroleum (GBR), 2-2-4-12, 20 points
5 Ironbound (GBR), 9-3-5-4, 21 points
6 Aqua (GBR), 7-8-10-2, 27 points
7 Katusha (RUS), 8-11-2-8, 29 points
8 Ceeref (SLO), 6-10-8-5, 29 points
9 AEZ (AUT), 5-7-9-13+1, 35 points
10 Nika (RUS), 10-6-13-6, 35 points
11 Synergy (RUS), 12-9-6-9, 36 points
12 Aleph (FRA), 14-4-12-11, 41 points
13 MAG Racing (POL), 11-14-15-10, 50 points
14 RUS7 (RUS), 13-13-11-14, 51 points
