Thursday, August 06, 2009

Alfa Romeo leads IRC class in Copa del Rey, BellaMente takes coastal race

Today it was the turn for the IRC,TP52 and Swan 45 classes to race in the Bravo area, the setting for the coastal races at this 28th Copa del Rey. The three fleets had to sail a course of about 28 miles through an intermediate scoring mark in just nine to twelve knots of unstable and shifty southerly breeze.

This was the last chance for those lagging behind on the leaderboard to reduce their deficits.

The biggest surprise was provided by the Mini Maxi class, where "BellaMente" won followed by "Alfa Romeo". The American 70 footer caught "Alfa Romeo" in the first part of the course, and so both were tied on points at the first scoring mark.

Even with her coastal race win, "BellaMente" is still 7.5 points behind Alfa Romeo, which seems to be in good shape to take the Copa del Rey trophy home this year. But Neville Crichton's Mini Maxi "Alfa Romeo" will not be able to leave Palma with an undefeated record, such a perfect scoreline as was set last year by the Spanish Navy's IRC Optimised TP52 "Aifos", which won all his races in last year's edition. "BellaMente" and "Container" tussle for second place, but the discard favors Hap Fauth's BellaMente.

Highlights from the 4th day of the Copa del Rey. Palma, 6 August 2009. Video copyright Copa del Rey

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