Adecco Maxi OD - Grand Prix of Estoril Day 1

WORLD CHAMPION WINS FIRST RACE

CASCAIS - Ludde Ingvall, the World Champion of the Maxi One Design class, took the opening race of the Cepsa Grand Prix of Estoril in a cool and calculating manner which left his opposition trailing in his wake. Sailing Skandia, Ingvall's toll might well have been two wins, had the first race been correctly finished. Instead, it was treated as a practice race, practice as much for the Race Committee as the competitors.

Conditions for racing these 80 foot ocean greyhounds around windward/leeward courses with two mile legs was as near perfect as possible. In sunshine with 12-20 knots of northerly breeze, they provided a spectacle for the spectators who came out to watch them perform. The wind was sufficiently shifty in direction to make the strategy of the tacticians and skippers, together with the slick handling by their crews, the difference between the boats.

That none of the seven crews who competed in the race was a full-on championship unit, was hardly perceptible. The new crew members were readily absorbed by the key crew on each of the boats and all the regular manoeuvres were readily completed.

The race which counted towards the points score for the Grand Prix had a perfect start with all seven boats coming to the line on starboard tack, their bows all crossing within a second of each other. Ingvall's tactician, Ray Davies, had opted to start at the left hand end of the line, believing that there would be a favourable shift from the left hand side not long into the race. He was correct, and when the wind shifted, Ingvall was able to tack and clear the rest of the boats.

Skandia, the European entry, rounded the windward mark 35 seconds ahead of Geoff Meek's Rainbow Magic from South Africa, which in turn was 20 seconds clear of Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghimax for Switzerland, and Afonso Domingos' Team PGA Portugalia Airlines. Then came Guido Maisto's Seac Banche (ITA), Hans Bouscholte's Synphony (BEL) and Pierre Fehlmann, sailing for France, with Team Henri-Lloyd.

Almost as soon as their spinnakers were up and filled, the one on Seac Banche exploded in a gust and the air was filled with shards of nylon. Almost immediately, the one on the Portuguese boat did the same, and when Domingos' crew had further problems with hoisting a jib, they withdrew from the race.

Once in front, there was no stopping the Adecco world champion, Ingvall and his crew drawing away from the opposition by judicious use of the wind shifts. One of these nearly lost Meek his second place. 'On the third beat,' he said, 'we got one shift very wrong, and the Swiss came right up on us.' Alinghimax almost went past, but the South Africans, augmented by Ross Field and a few of his crew from RF Yachting, maintained control to finish second at the end of the third run.

In the first race, which was abandoned when there was an error at the end of the second run, Skandia led all the way round from Rainbow Magic and PGA Portugalia Airlines.

Results:

Race one:
Abandonned

Race two:
1. EUR Skandia Ludde Ingvall
2. RSA Rainbow Magic Geoff Meek
3. SUI Alinghimax Ernesto Bertarelli
4. FRA Team Henri-Lloyd Pierre Fehlmann
5. BEL Synphony Hans Bouscholte
6. ITA Seac Banche Guido Maisto
RTD POR PGA Portugalia Airlines Afonso Domingos