Warpath scores comfortable victory in coastal race at Athens Trophy

[Source: Breitling MedCup] On the penultimate day of racing at the Breitling MedCup’s Athens Trophy victory in the short, sharp coastal race went to Steve and Fred Howe’s Warpath but there may have been a certain hollow ring to it since Peter de Ridder’s Mutua Madrilena finished second to extend their overall lead in the regatta to 10 points over Vicente Tirado’s Caixa Galicia.

Caixa Galicia, with John Kostecki as tactician, have only once finished outside of the top five at this regatta and now have two points in hand over Cristabella which slipped to third today.

With the SW’ly wind at a promising 11 knots at the start Warpath were sharp at the pin end of the line to win the favoured left side of the course. A relatively safe start again from Mutua Madrilena still found them good speed and into a clear lane quickly to see them second around the windward turn of the seven mark, 20 mile course on the Saronic Gulf.

It proved another course that pressed the crews sail handling and trimming for speed – another Code Zero test – but it lacked upwind and downwind tactical opportunities.

Start of the coastal race at the Athens Trophy. Athens, 25 August 2006. Photo copyright Jorge Andreu / Breitling MedCup

There was just one opening 2.4-mile beat and a short downwind run, which limited the passing opportunities after the initial shake-ups. And even the breeze started to lose interest after a while, dropping back to 7-8 knots. Starting the day with a deficit of just two points behind Mutua Madrilena, it was not the day that the Cristabella crew wanted. They could not get to the left of the course and rounded the windward mark in the depths of the pack in 11th. They did not have a good run and at one stage in the race lost their Code Zero in the water when the halyard broke, to finish 13th, leaving Mutua Madrilena with the prospect of a relatively straightforward task for the final day.

With their acknowledged edge under Code Zero reaching conditions Warpath were never pressurised by Mutua Madrilena finishing 1 minutes 33 seconds behind.

“It was a good day to get a good start.” Recalled Warpath’s Kevin Hall, Warpath’s navigator. “I think things got pretty comfortable for us as soon as we were on the Code Zero. It was a nice course to be leading on and pretty tough to be behind on. The square run we had was only a mile long.”

“We had a tough first day and we would have liked to see it have gone a little better. But we are sailing reasonably well but there are a couple of boats ahead which are sailing really well, especially Mean Machine.”

Warpath, winner of the coastal race at the Athens Trophy. Athens, 25 August 2006. Photo copyright Jorge Andreu / Breitling MedCup

“The whole series we have our work cut out, but it is still just one good race to us and a bad race to them, it is not time to panic, but we know we have to sail well. They have been sailing great and have some pace and there is not a lot of room for error behind them.”

“Lately they have been starting more and more conservatively. I think that maybe as a group the rest of the fleet will make something of that. They seem to have a high mode which no one else has, Siemens might have it a little, but I think the tiller might help a little with that but Peter is doing a fantastic job certainly.”

In the overall Breitling MedCup standings Mutua Madrilena now leads by 16 points with Caixa Galicia third 54 points behind with Siemens, who finished seventh today, fourth 79 points behind Mutua Madrilena.

“We are very happy.” Said Peter de Ridder, dockside, "It couldn’t have gone better. We are only losing one point in the general general standings to Warpath, and I think we have ten points on Caixa Galicia so tomorrow with one or two races a good start is key and then I think a top five at the weather mark and from there on it is no risks."

Part of the TP52 fleet downwind during the coastal race at the Athens Trophy. Athens, 25 August 2006. Photo copyright Jorge Andreu / Breitling MedCup

“It was a tough day for us. It was a race you had to be able to go left and we just didn’t get off the line and did not sail a very good run, and then there just wasn’t any passing lanes after that.” Explained Charlie McKee, Cristabella’s tactician, “In this fleet reaching around in this fleet there is just not much opportunity to pass. We are certainly in the hunt for a podium position and just need to rally back and sail well. This is a great bunch of guys to sail with, a good team.”

Consistency has certainly been the key to Caixa Galicia’s success: “We have had some good days, but we have been starting really well, especially in the distance races. And if you are near the top at the first mark it is much easier. After two seasons we are getting to know the boat really well. We did a few changes to the sails, but especially good tactics good luck and good starts,” commented Antonio Piris, Caixa Galicia’s boat captain.

“I think that we are very far away from the two leaders. Third place is our goal, and even Siemens was catching up real quick and decided to come here, but they have not had a good championship so far, which is good for us to hold on to third place, which is our basic goal for the season,” Piris concluded.

Mutua Madrileñna, second at the coastal race and overall leader of the Athens Trophy. Athens, 25 August 2006. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Mutua Madrileña