Breitling MedCup Castellón - Race 6: Mutua Madrileña wins the coastal race, Warpath in second and Fram in third place

A steady recovery from the dark depths of the fleet culminating in a bold call on the final long run of today’s 25 mile long inshore keeps Eamon Conneely’s Siemens, the TP52 class global champions, atop the leaderboard with just one final race to be sailed at the Trofeo Ciudad de Castellon, the second event of the Breitling MedCup TP52 series.

Siemens, with double Olympic medallist Ian Walker steering and Dee Smith as the tactical decision maker, leads by seven points over Peter de Ridder’s Mutua Madrileña which is just one point ahead of Alessandra Pirera’s Italian boat Orlanda and Fred and Steve’s American boat Warpath. But, as Walker cautioned later, any one of six boats can still win this regatta.

With the influence of conflicting breezes – an offshore gradient wind and the building seabreeze - the one long inshore race of this regatta proved a comprehensive test of boats, sail inventories and precision crew work. The breeze fluctuated between 5 and 8 knots for the first upwind-downwind circuit, later building to 12-13 knots as the thermal boost arrived.

Upwind there were gains to be made and losses to be incurred on both sides of the beats and the downwind legs, and the race committee did an excellent job in providing a sensible array of leg lengths and directions.

And for a grand finale the 19 boat TP52 fleet’s finish line was set not just inside the harbour but within a matter of metres of their marina berths and the grand prix ‘ team pit lane’ to provide some final heart stopping moments and the boats slowed across the finish line.

While several of their main opposition suffered their own problems or had to fight back through from the middle or back of the fleet, de Ridder’s J&V designed Mutua Madrileña sailed something close to a text book race, winning for the first time this regatta.

King Harald’s Farr designed Fram lead at the first mark. Mutua Madrileña in fourth seized the opportunity presented at the top of the second beat when Warpath fouled Fram.

An uncharacteristic error from Warpath’s think tank – tactician Terry Hutchinson and navigator Kevin Hall – had them planning on a port rounding. Infringing Fram meant they had to extricate themselves as best they could and make penalty turns immediately, leaving them to watch as the pink spinnaker of Mutua Madrilena pulled away in first.

“It definitely let Mutua Madrilena away. It cost us both. We completely took them (Fram)” Confessed Hutchinson, “Everybody passed the dummy for about five minutes after that but we got back into it. All credit to the guys in front of the wheel today their crew work was flawless and that really helped pull us back into the race.”

A good windshift on the run got Warpath past Fram and their second looked secure until the kite sheet shackle blew unexpectedly on the long reach back to the harbour mouth. Again showing their crew dexterity and speed they had a replacement iconic red war-painted spinnaker up before they lost a place.

“We just keep chipping away. We did not sail well at all yesterday and only tomorrow will be know whether that will come back to bite us. Today we spoke before the race about keeping an eye on the overall Breitling MedCup standings, but you can only go out and try to sail a clean race, to go for a top five, and then it is all down to how the chips fall.”

Siemens’ recovery from 16th at the first mark to sixth today gives them a decent cushion going into the final race. On the long final run they took two good successive windshifts, gybing away to the left of the fleet then picking a good shift to return on which yielded them another two places to seal their sixth.

“We kept getting trapped under Balearia and we had a hard time with Orlanda then got a nice little shift away and another to get back. There was no gain to be made where we were and were, we rolled the dice and it worked. But we had some incredibly good crew work today. We did a couple of spinnaker gybe peels at the marks which gained us boats, not everybody did. Pulling these two off made me look a little better because we had a few problems on the first beat. We had a good second beat. The breeze was flicking quite a bit and I felt it was the first time that we could play the shifts for ourselves.” Said Dee Smith, Siemens’ tactician.

Finishing third, their best result yet of the Breitling MedCup series Fram’s tactician, Norway’s Soling Olympic medallist Herman Horn Johanessen explained:

“When Mutua Madrileña rolled us and we had our trouble with Warpath then it took us a little bit of time to clear our heads but after that I think we sailed a good race thereafter.”

Start of the sixth race of the Breitling MedCup Castellón regatta. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Start of the sixth race of the Breitling MedCup Castellón regatta. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Warpath rounding the first mark placed second. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Close situation rounding the first mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The bottom of the fleet at the second beat. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Warpath leading the race at the approach of the second mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Warpath rounding the second mark in first place, followed by Fram. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Yet another close situation at the second mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Platoon had great difficulties with the spinnaker at the second mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Warpath and Fram approaching the third mark from the wrong side. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Warpath and Fram carrying out their penalty for rounding the third mark from the wrong side. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mutua Madrileña rounding the third mark in third place. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Part of the fleet approaching the third mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Part of the fleet at the fourth beat. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mutua Madrileña rounding the fourth mark at first place. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Fram rounding the fourth mark ahead of Lexus, Bribón and Warpath. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The leaders of the fleet approaching the fifth mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mutua Madrileña kept its leadership at the fifth mark. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Close rounding of the fifth mark between Bambakou and Aifos. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mutua Madrileña approaching the sixth mark comfortably ahead of the rest. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Fram rounding the sixth mark in second position. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Warpath rounding the sixth mark in third position. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Lexus rounding the sixth mark in fifth position. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The TP52 fleet on the final beat to the finish line inside the port. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mutua Madrileña entering the port, follwed by Warpath. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mutua Madrileña crosses the finish line inside the port and wins the coastal race. Castellón, 7 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing