Yet another victory by Vasco Vascotto at the Breitling MedCup

The fleet of 10 TP52 vessels opened the 11th Breitling Trophy Regatta with a coastal race on Thursday.

The 11th edition of the Breitling Regatta commenced on Thursday with a coastal race which covered a course of over 34 nautical miles, taking the fleet of 10 boats to the areas of Begana and San Juan de Dios, to then pass a marker positioned to the southwest which took them back to the start-line, in front of Puerto Portals. The winds were light, at about 8 knots, but varied in force during the entire race.

The Transpac 52 fleet witnessed after an upwind stretch of 5 miles, Aifos, the Spanish Royal Navy boat, was leading thanks to a great tactical decision, followed by Chieffi’s Orlanda-Olympus and then by Cristabella, driven by John Cook, who were enjoying the improved performance after the modifications made to the boat.

Behind this group of four, Siemens, Caixa and Bambakou were turning past the first marker in that order, followed by three of the strongest competitors, Atalanti XV with world champion Paul Cayard, and Lexus in this case skippered by emirates Team New Zealand skipper, Dean Barker. Bribon, who were leading in the Corinthian class had to make do with the tail positions in the race.


Leche Pascual. Photo copyright: Jorge Andreu - Medcup

Once at the Sech marker, and again later near the area of Calanova, the four leading boats maintained their positions, whilst the fifth place was Bambakou’s, to the detriment of Caixa Galicia, who couldn’t quite hold it. Caixa Galicia fought a tough battle with Coumantaros’ Bambakou and Tomasso Chieffi’s Orlanda-Olympus throughout the whole race.

At the halfway point of the race, at the San Juan de Dios marker, Vasco Vascotto’s Leche Pascual managed to snatch victory away from the hands of Aifos, who were sailing a spectacular regatta, and were ahead roughly one and a half bow-lines from their rivals as the took the lead. Cristabella owned by John Cook, and Orlanda-Olympus with the America’s Cup veteran skipper Tomasso Chieffi plus Bambakou all fought hard in the second group in the fleet, passing the marker in that order. Caixa Galicia were sixth at this point and weren’t able to pass their adversaries, followed by Atalanti, Bribon and Lexus, who, despite having a good part of Team New Zealand onboard, managed to lose a few positions due to having 4 men overboard due to a broken stanchion.

At the finish line, Leche Pascual gave us an impressive victory, with Aifos speeding behind in second place.


Photo copyright: Jorge Andreu - Medcup

Quotes
Vasco Vascotto, skipper of Pisco Sour Leche Pascual: “It’s been a beautiful race, we have done the whole race inside the Bay of Palma, one of my favourites, because the coastal races here are really tactical. The wind has been fantastic, although really hot, a great race. At the beginning there was no chance to pass Aifos, who was leading with a good distance, but we were happy because our direct rivals for the Breitling MEDCUP general ranking were far behind, so we were ok in that aspect, but then we got the chance to pass Aifos and luckily we could pas them and win the race.”

Tito Galnares, helmsman Aifos: “This is the first time I ever sail on a TP52, and the feeling has been absolutely new and great, it’s a superquick, superlight boat, with a speed acceleration that I still can’t believe. We decided to start on the left side of the start line and as usually happens, when you take the good side, and go with good speed, you win. We have kept the distances in the following legs, but then the wind went lighter and then Pisco Sour Leche Pascual came really fast and passed us. We have to congratulate the winner who have done a really good race.”