Despite an unpromising forecast, Tortola came good for the opening day of the 44Cup Nanny Cay with PRO Maria Torrijo and the race team from the Royal BVI Yacht Club laying on three races, held in 6-14 knots from the east to southeast.
It was a tough day for the 2024 44Cup leader and holder of the circuit’s ‘golden wheel’s - Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika, who ended the first day of the last event of the 2024 44Cup in a disappointing seventh place. Two fifth places sandwiched a ninth in the second race, after they and others were locked out behind the race committee boat, starting late.
Although there are three days of the 44Cup Nanny Cay to go, all eyes are on the results, Team Nika and Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref Vaider, the latter needing to finish here five places ahead to relieve Team Nika of the 2024 title. At present Lah’s team is third while Team Nika is seventh.
Star of the show today was the 44Cup’s defending champion, Nico Poons’ Charisma. The Dutchman’s team podiumed in all three races today, winning the first two ending the day three points clear of Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing.
Poons stepped ashore in Nanny Cay, but was not ready to count his chickens this early. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t – today it worked,” he mused. “I like more wind, but it is what it is. So far so good. Let’s see on Sunday!” This season Charisma has not been her usual consistent self, winning in Marstrand but otherwise posting mid-fleet results, leaving her fifth overall at present.
In the first race Charisma trailed Artemis Racing into the top mark. However Poons gybed off as the Swedish RC44 held on starboard for longer. As Artemis Racing was caught in traffic, Charisma led into the leeward gate ahead of John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing. Choosing the favoured left up the second beat she had extended marginally at the top mark as Artemis Racing and Team Ceeref Vaider fought it out for second. Charisma cruised home 1 minutes 12 seconds ahead of Artemis and Ceeref, separated on the line by just one second.
In the second race the trio starting at the pin and heading left did best, including 44Cup newcomers, Mehmet Taki’s Wow! team from Turkey. At the top mark Team Ceeref Vaider led Charisma with Christan Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team, Wow! and Artemis Racing fighting for third.
On this occasion Team Ceeref Vaider gybed early as Charisma remained on starboard. When Charisma did finally gybe, she was able to soak down, ultimately needing just a short hitch on starboard to lead at the gate. From here Charisma led Team Ceeref Vaider and Black Star Sailing Team for the next lap to win by 31 seconds.
“We didn’t make any big mistakes,” commented Charisma tactician Andy Horton. “We didn’t lead either race at the top mark, but we just chipped away. There is usually enough sailing to be done when it is puffy and shifty that you don’t have to win the start.”
In the third and final race, Aleph Racing started and headed left but gained on her long starboard back across the course. This was enough to give her a small advantage at the top over Artemis Racing and Charisma, with Wow! a worthy fourth. These positions held for the next lap with Artemis Racing doing an exemplary job in preventing a charging Charisma from rolling them at the finish.
This was a fine end after two disappointing race for Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing, on which Pietro Loro Piana is steering here. “We had difficulties – my mistakes make life for my crew a lot more complicated than it already is on a shifty day like this one,” admitted Loro Piana. “In the first start I was too deep I was not able to come up as quickly as Michele Ivaldi ]wanted me and in the second Vasco [Vascotto on Peninsula Racing] pushed us and Nika out. But we kept on pushing and the crew did an amazing job to steal a couple of points at the score line.”
Finally it came good in the third race. “Michele did an amazing job with a couple of shifts and Paul [Wilcox, mainsail trimmer] got us through a couple of moments of excitement. The boat is fast, and the crew is doing an amazing job as always.”
As to the British Virgin Islands venue, Loro Piana commented: “Back home it is 3°C with fog and snow. So being here with 32°C and white beaches and some beers waiting for us - I could not ask for anything better. I hope the usual trade winds arrive on Sunday.”
Michele Ivaldi added: “It was super tricky, very patchy and with lanes of pressure and shifts. There was a big long oscillation in the breeze today and we had a couple of big right puffs that lasted for half the race before it went back. It was 80-85° to as much as 120°.”
To make best use of the breeze, racing will start an hour earlier tomorrow with a first warning signal at 1100 Atlantic Standard Time (UTC -4).