Lake Uri (Lucerne) laid on different conditions for the penultimate day of the 44Cup World Championship out of Brunnen, Switzerland. After two lively sea breeze days, Saturday started off with two races in the same northerly, both in sub-10 knot conditions before the wind shut down. The nine RC44s were sent home and just when it seemed like the day had concluded, a mighty southerly filled in and PRO Maria Torrijo made the call to send the fleet back out. Back on the race course the class was greeted with 20+ knot winds and white caps but instead of blowing up the lake, the wind was plummeting down diagonally across the lake from between the giant Gitschen and Wissigstock mountains.

The conditions in the first two races seemed complex but both races were won by the boats that got ahead on the first beat. In the first Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing came out of the start well, second from the pin, led back from the left and then defended well to the finish, scoring her first bullet of the event. 

“I think we were in control all the way,” reflected Törnqvist afterwards. “We could choose our lanes. It was more or less flawless. We were in the right position to the nearest boats. We just had to check their positions - we tacked when the nearest boat tacked and gybed when they gybed. It was classic…”

 Although Törnqvist lives in Switzerland and has never previously visited Lake Uri/Lucerne, but he is a big fan. “I love racing on the lake - it is different. As a class we should do this every year. It adds diversity. This is a really nice spot for many reasons. I hope we come back.”

Similarly in the second race Aleph Racing made the best job heading out to the right and then clung on to score her first bullet of this World Championship.  Tactician Michele Ivaldi explained: “We were fighting for the pin and lost, but our plan B worked well! We found a nice gap on the way out on port and once established on port we were basically pointing at the top mark in a nice lefty that kept getting stronger and stronger. So we did one tack on the layline.” 

Standing in for Aleph Racing’s regular owner-driver Hugh Lepic is once again Pietro Loro Piana. He added: “This is a very complicated venue and our tacticians are doing the best they can as always, but it is a bit of roulette. Our pace is there and the team is doing an amazing job and we are sailing quite well, but in the second race of today everything came together and we were able to pull one off. We’re very happy it did.”

Based between Milan and London, Loro Piana has not visited this part of Switzerland before but is impressed: “I was not expecting such a beautiful place - I am absolutely stunned by the beauty of this lake and I'm pretty sure everybody is. Besides the unpredictability of the of the wind, it's a beautiful venue, and we're very happy to be here in sailing here with the best sailors in the world.”

Despite the northerly dying, the fleet being sent ashore only to return into the teeth of a lively southerly, Loro Piana, Ivaldi and the crack Aleph Racing crew had clearly found their swing. In the day’s third race, the wind was dropping come start time causing crews to scrabble to plug in their larger J2s. Out of the blocks Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika led but out to the right Aleph Racing and Chris Bake’s Team Aqua found some favourable shift and holding the right as they tacked up the middle of the course the French team nosed in front at the top mark and defended well from there on, to claim their second race win.  

“It was very weird,” explained Ivaldi. “We thought it was super windy. There was 20-21 knot when we went out and we all put our J3s on, but then it started dropping. There was a cruising boat out to the right of us which was getting massive righties, so we decided to start to the right and played the right side where there were a few shifts to play with and it came out good. On the second beat it was getting really dodgey at the top - we missed the last shift and Nika almost overtook us. Then the last downwind was luckily okay. We rounded with a big leftie and then thanks to that we were in control.” 

Two bullets has pulled Aleph Racing up to third, pushing event host Christian Zuerrer and his Black Star Sailing Team down to fourth, now three points short of the podium. However helping line up what will definitely be an exciting final day on the water tomorrow, Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF Vaider and Team Nika are tied on points with Lah’s Slovenian team ahead on countback. 

To ensure at least three races are held tomorrow, the start of racing has been advanced to 1100.