Vasco Vascotto's TP52 Pisco Sour not to race in Sardinia Trophy

Vasco Vascotto seems to be, unfortunately, another victim of the worldwide financial crisis that has also affected the sport of sailing. After five successful years in the TP52 Med circuit, the legendary Italian sailor took the decision to put his project temporarily on hold. Pisco Sour will not race in Cagliari, according to an article published by our friend Juanpa Cadario, bowman of Pisco Sour and South America's most influential blogger.

Vascotto's Pisco Sour took part in the first two event of the 2009 AUDI MedCup, in Alicante and Marseille but the absence of a sponsor makes it impossible to continue. The boat's modifications last winter as well as the campaign this year has been entirely financed by Vascotto himself. The boat will remain in Sardinia, in case a last-minute sponsor signs up.

Unless there is some last-minute addition there will be 10 TP52 yachts in the starting line in Cagliari, unfortunately, less than exactly 4 years ago when, in their maiden year, a total of 11 TP52 boats raced in the Copa del Rey in Palma.

Maybe in that spirit and in an effort to impose even stringer cost-cutting measures, the AUDI Medcup made it clear last week that they would even modify the sailing instruction of the next events in other to put a lid on practices that increase costs and widen the gap between the haves and have-nots of the Med sailing circuit.

Both Alicante’s historic Castillo Santa Barbara and Marseille’s Romano-Byzantine Notre Dame de La Garde basilica which built by the architect Esperandieu, sit atop their own iconic mountains which overlook the race course areas, great vantage points for the casual spectator, but there have been widespread rumours of teams using these for purposes other than sightseeing, studying architecture, prayers, or strength and fitness work. An e-mail is being circulated to teams asking them to behave responsibly, backed up by changes to the notice of race. Cagliari was a venue where there were obvious overtures to have support RIBs dedicated to weather information:

According to Nacho Postigo, "it is still a problem. An e-mail has been circulated to the teams effectively asking them to please behave and a modification will be made on the sailing instructions for the next events, penalising the teams which are using a system. Of course it is very difficult to prove and to control. Now that such rules will be in effect and someone takes a picture or video of someone on the top of a mountain speaking on the phone, it could be very compromising. So I hope that teams will react positively and say ‘right, let’s not play this game, because anyone else can play this game and it just becomes an extra cost for everyone. I hope."

It is more than obvious that Postigo refers to the following video, produced by Quantum Racing's media team, that shows the team's shore crew going the extra mile in Alicante. From now on you can only visit hilltop churches if you want to pray..