Puerto Calero
The big favorites have not given an option in this first part of the Round Robin, in which the 12 participants will have to face each other individually between today and tomorrow.
The Frenchman Pierre Antoine Morvan, who starts as a favorite, is currently the only undefeated in this start of the competition with three victories out of three matches. The Gaul beat Dani Maestre, Javier Aguado and José María Ponce.
Today, Thursday, the Regatta Committee hopes to complete the full Round Robin consisting of 17 flights.
This year the match race regatta, which has already become one of the references in Spain along with those held in Bayona and Calpe, seeks to take a further leap in quality, it is already grade 2 of the ISAF and a test for the National Match Race Circuit. The objective of the Puerto Calero Sea Club is to be able to complete the circle and be able to close a grade 1 for the 2009 edition. In total there will be seven countries participating in the IV Puerto Calero Match Race Trophy: Spain, Russia, Argentina, Slovenia, Monaco, France, Portugal and Italy.
For this, this year half of the international crews and the other half of the national crews will attend, and among them several that occupy the first positions in the world ranking. It is an invitation regatta, with which it has been sought to have at least three crews classified among the top 20 in the world ranking.
The Frenchman Pierre Antoine Morvan is fourteenth in the world ranking. In 2008 he has won three regattas, all three in French territory in Saint Quay Portrieux, Morbihan and Saint Cast. In the last one he participated in the Master of Spain in Bayona he was second and in the Marseille Y's Cup and in the Slovenia Match Race, third.
The Russian Andrew Arbuzov is the sixteenth in the world, this year he has been on the podium four times with victory in the Sails of White Nights held in St. Petersburg, second in the Sopol Match Race in Poland and third in the Algarve Cup in Portugal, in the Bayview International Cup in Detroit in the United States.
The Slovenian Jure Orel occupies the eighteenth position in the ranking. In the current season he has climbed to the top of the podium three times, in the Wasa Match in Finland, in the Slovenia Match Race Cup and in the Slovenia National Open. He was second in the Open Match Race Cup in Austria and third in the ISAF Nations Cup in Ireland.
Precisely the Mallorcan Manu Weiller, who has an impressive progression, occupies the twenty-second position in the world ranking, in addition to having been proclaimed this year runner-up in Europe in Match Race precisely in the land of Arbuzov, in Russia; which made him climb to twenty-second place, his best position and surely he will not stay there. Weiller is today the Spanish match racer of the highest level and the results corroborate it. This year he was also second in the Algarve and in the ISAF Nations Cup in Brindisi (Italy) and third in Bayona, Jávea and Trapani.
After the four big favorites, some of the Spanish crews will try to surprise, especially the one representing the Club de Mar de Puerto Calero, led by José María Ponce, who is out to defend the title won in 2007. Ponce participates in the National Match Race Circuit where this year he was second in the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in Jávea and fifth in the Master of Spain in Bayona: In the only international regatta in which he has participated, the Trapani Cento Cup, he finished seventh.
The fleet is completed with the Spaniards Gustavo Martínez Doreste, Daniel Maestre, Javier Aguado, Pablo Villar, the Portuguese Pedro Das Neves, the Argentine Axel Rodger, the Italian Simone Ferrarese and the Monegasque Michele Perris.
The competition is held with one-design boats of the J80 class, in which Puerto Calero is one of the leading places in Spain, an ideal boat for this type of boat-to-boat competition. The organization will provide the eight boats that will be drawn for each flight, so that there is maximum equality between the twelve participating crews.
The competition system is the classic one in match race regattas on the world circuit, with Round Robins, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
