Audi Settimana delle Bocche at Yacht Club Costa Smeralda - Day 4
by Soto40 Media Team 14 Sep 2013 08:12 BST
10-14 September 2013
Everything to decide
After spending the day ashore yesterday because of a strong 35 knots wind, today the fleet completed three races that didn't help to define the results, nor the Settimana delle Bocche neither the European Championship.
The wind was the main character of the day and it caused many course changes in both direction and distance between the legs.
The first warning signal for race 3 took place at 11:25 am. The boats started the race with a 15 knots wind (280 degrees that then changed to 300) but in the half of the first leg the wind change became evident and Dominique Tian's "Glen Ellen" ended with disadvantage, although at the beginning it seemed like its team was taking a perfect decision.
When reaching the windward mark, "Estampa del Viento" (the Chilean Soto40 property of Miguel Angel Gonzalez) took the leadership, followed by Hendrik Brandis' "Earlybird" and Pedro Mendoça's "Bigamist", both fighting for the first position. In the end "Bigamist" won with a good tactic in the stern. After the Portuguese boat arrived "Earlybird" and "Estampa del Viento".
The second race started with a wind established at 300 degrees and a reach of 1.9 nm which has to be shortened in the middle of the course.
"Glen Ellen" achieved an important position after the start, but once again the French team lost it and the Soto 40s "Estampa del Viento" and "Bigamist" became the leaders of the fleet, taking more and more advantage from the rest of the crews.
In the end the triumph was for "Estampa del Viento", helmed by Iñaki Castañer, who is coming back to the class (hopefully constantly).
"Estampa del Viento" made a bad start but the Chilean crew managed to recover and cross the finish line in the first position, followed by Stefan Jentzsch's "Black Pearl".
Tomorrow is the last day of the Settimana delle Bocche and the Soto 40 European Championship and it will start with a dead-heat in the race and a "Bigamist" with a little advantage over "Earlybird", enough to keep the Portuguese alert tonight. It's a perfect opportunity to follow the races in real time with the tracking system sponsored by Marina Port Vell.
Results after Day 4: (five races)
1. Estampa del Viento (ESP21) - 1/5/3/1/1 - 11pts
2. Bigamist (POR30) - 4/1/1/2/3 - 11pts
3. Earlybird (GER19) - 2/2/2/4/4 - 14pts
4. Glen Ellen III (FRA22) - 3/3/5/3/5 - 19pts
5. Black Pearl (GER27) - 6/4/4/5/2 - 21pts
Everybody can watch the races of the Audi Settimana delle Bocche in real time. The links to follow them are available on our website www.soto40.org/posicionadores.php. First warning signal for tomorrow is scheduled at 12 pm (Sardinia time).