This Sunday, the Puerto Calero Gold Cup RC 44, the last event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008, concluded in the waters of Lanzarote, with clear dominance of the Slovenian boat Ceeref in both match race and fleet racing.
The event also served to crown Ceeref as the 2008 circuit champion in match race and Banco Espirito Santo in fleet racing.
The world-class sailors who gathered at the event experienced a spectacular week in Puerto Calero, to the point that, as noted by Banco Espirito Santo owner Patrick de Barros, "this has probably been the best event of the year".
Russell Coutts, three-time America's Cup champion, agreed, saying that "it has been a wonderful week of sailing, it couldn't have been better", both for the magnificent wind and for the welcome in Puerto Calero.
Puerto Calero will also open the 2009 Circuit, from February 24 to March 1, in a spectacular competition in which the best sailors in the world compete in authentic speedboats of the water.
The final battle
The Ceeref of Slovenian Igor Lah, skippered by Australian James
Spithill, has added to his victory in match race the first place in fleet racing, after taking advantage of the benefits of some overwhelming first days.
The second place, five points away, went to the Banco Espirito Santo of Patrick de Barros, with New Zealander Russell Coutts at the tactic, while the third was the Dubai-based Team Aqua of Chris Bake and Camperon Appleton.
The only Spanish boat in competition, the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero of Daniel Calero and José María Ponce, finished in sixth position, demonstrating that it can be on equal terms with the best, even achieving a second place in the DHL Trophy that rewards the winner of the coastal race.
The last day was again characterized by a wind that exceeded 20 knots of intensity and allowed the Committee to start the three scheduled races, thus ending the week without any race suspended due to weather conditions.
Thus, in the first race of the day, he reached the finish line third, together with the Ceeref that arrived in fourth position, but at the same finish the judges penalized the Canary boat for not leaving space for the Slovenian. The race was won by Banco Espirito Santo, followed by Aqua and Ceeref.
In the second race of the day, the winner was Team Aqua, who knew how to stay ahead, which allowed him to win and practically secure a place on the podium. Second was Banco Espirito Santo and third was BMW-Oracle of Larry Ellison, who improved significantly compared to the first race. The Islas Canarias Puerto Calero was fifth ahead of the Artemis of Torbjorn Tornqvist and Dean Barker, who in this leg broke the spi at the beginning of the last stern.
The third race was that of Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, the boat
skippered by Daniel Calero demonstrated its potential and led the fleet in the first three sections, in the last stern it went towards the land edge together with its immediate pursuers Banco Espirito Santo and Aqua, while the Ceeref and the BMW-Oracle, sought the surprise going by the other edge and finally succeeding. While Islas Canarias, BES and Aqua fought each other, the other two took the opportunity to arrive free to the finish line, crossing first the Slovenian, second the American and third the Portuguese. The Islas Canarias Puerto Calero was finally fourth, but finished the race with a magnificent taste in its mouth. "We have enjoyed and learned a lot this week," said Daniel Calero.
In this way, the circuit was closed with the premiere of Puerto Calero as organizer and competitor in this elite circuit that next year will experience an important boost, with the arrival of 6 new boats to the competition.
FINAL CLASSIFICATION PUERTO CALERO GOLD CUP RC44- FLEET RACING
1 Ceeref (SLO), Igor Lah/James Spithill, 1-1-2-1-4-4-3-4-1, 23 points
2 Banco Espirito Santo (POR), Patrick de Barros/Russell Coutts,
5-4-3-3-3-1-3-1-2-3, 28 points
3 Aqua (UAE), Chris Bake/Cameron Appleton, 2-2-4-4-1-6-5-2-1-5, 32 points
4 BMW-Oracle (USA), Larry Ellison/Mark Mendelblatt, 4-3-1-2-5-2-6-5-3-2, 33
points
5 Artemis (SWE), Torbjorn Tornqvist, 3-(DNC)-(DNC)-(DNC)-4-3-1-4-6-(DNC), 49
points
6 Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), Daniel Calero/José María Ponce,
6-5-5-5-6-5-2-7-5-4, 50 points