Soto 40 World Championship at Real Club Nautico Valencia - Practice Race
by Soto40 Media 7 Jul 2014 16:30 BST
6-12 July 2014
Warming up
Today the boats completed a practice race in Valencia waters, in which Luis Martín Cabiedes' Noticia IV finished first position. The official races will start tomorrow at 1 pm.
The start of the practice race was scheduled at 1 pm but it finally started at 1:25 pm (CEST), after two practice starts. The boats set off with an 18 knots E wind and short waves. In the first leg they sailed tight but then Luis Martin Cabiedes' Noticia IV and Tony Buckingham's Ngoni started a fight for the leadership. The British boat managed to cross the leeward mark in first position, followed by Noticia IV and the German Earlybird property of Hendrik Brandis, which decided to leave the race after this mark.
Then the wind moved to the 85° and the Race Committee had to change the course and also the windward mark's position. The first to cross this new mark was Ngoni, followed by Noticia IV. Both boats continued fighting until the finish line, where Noticia IV was able to jibe in the bow of the British boat. After the Spanish boat arrived Ngoni, Bigamist, Alegre, Glen Ellen XXII and Santander. The Portuguese boat Uon suffered a technical issue and stayed ashore to prepare the boat for tomorrow.
After the race, José María "Pichu" Torcida, Noticia IV's helm, explained: "We had good results in the race but the competition will be heavy, it's been really tight, everybody is making good maneuvers, which reveals that the boats are in an equal level, even when there are crews that haven't been sailing together since a long time ago. Today we got good results and the fight against Ngoni was fun. The truth is that the race was really fun".
In addition, Mark Lamy, Ngoni's skipper expressed: "There was a good close racing and great conditions as well. This championship is going to be really close and really tight. There's a very high standard, you can see. So it's such a good fleet to be involved this week".
The Soto 40 World Championship will continue until July 12th. The competitors are Alegre (IVB), Bigamist (POR), Earlybird (GER), Glen Ellen XXII (FRA), Ngoni (GBR), Noticia IV (ESP), Santander (CHI) and Uon (POR).
Tomorrow the official races will start at 1 pm and you'll be able to follow them with the links available at www.soto40.org/soto40worlds
Schedule:
- Sunday 6: All boats moored at their designated spaces. Measurement & inspections. Registration (09.00 h – 19.00 h)
- Monday 7: Measurement & inspections. Registration (09.00 h – 19.00 h). Practice Race (13.00 h). Skippers briefing (17.30 h). Welcome Cocktail (tbd)
- Tuesday 8: Races W/L (13.00 h)
- Wednesday 9: Races W/L (13.00 h)
- Thursday 10: Races W/L (13.00 h)
- Friday 11: Races W/L (13.00 h)
- Saturday 12: Races W/L (13.00 h). Prize Giving Ceremony (tbd)