Adecco Maxi OD - Estoril Grand Prix Day 4

OVERALL VICTORY FOR EUROPE - LAST DAY WINS FOR FRANCE AND SOUTH AFRICA

CASCAIS, PORTUGAL-It was a calculated move by Ludde Ingvall in Skandia (EUR) which determined the outcome of the Cepsa Estoril Grand Prix. In the first of the final day's races, he 'hunted' Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghimax (SUI) at the start and was able to hold him out past the lay-line to the first mark. By so doing, Ingvall ensured that both boats had a bad result, one which he could afford to discard, but which might count for the Swiss.

It meant that in the final race, he had only to finish within one place of Bertarelli to take the Grand Prix which marked the end of the season's racing for the Maxi One Design class. Once again, Ingvall stayed very close to Bertarelli and forced him beyond the pin end of the starting line and then was able to start ahead of him and control the race. It was hard and calculating racing in these exciting and equalised performance boats.

In ideal conditions, the first race began in 12-14 knots of wind and with Alinghimax and Skandia heading off to the left on starboard tack, the other five boats all went the favoured way, to the right. When Skandia instituted the tack back towards the weather mark, it was obvious that she had gone too far left and Alinghimax could do nothing but trail in her wake as they reached for the buoy.

The rest of the fleet passed in front of these two with Pierre Fehlmann in Team Henri-Lloyd (FRA) leading from Hans Bouscholte's Synphony (BEL) and Guido Maisto's Seac Banche (ITA). Geoff Meek's Rainbow Magic (RSA) made big gains on the downwind leg of the three leg, windward/leeward course to be third at the final mark, but a messy spinnaker drop lost her some of her gain.

With Skandia and Alinghimax firmly at the back of the fleet, Fehlmann made no mistake and loosely covered the Belgians to the finish to take his first victory in this series. The South Africans recovered their composure after the leeward mark and just crossed the line ahead of the Italians for third place with Afonso Domingos' PGA Portugalia Airlines fifth.

After a delay for fog and for the wind to settle again, the final race started in 20 knots of wind. Again Skandia chased Alinghimax away from the line and was successful. By the time those two were back in the race, Rainbow Magic had stolen a march on them. At the first mark, the South Africans were 35 seconds ahead of Skandia with PGA Portugalia Airlines hard on her stern.

The two leaders pulled out a little on the run by better judgement of the time to gybe for the leeward mark, where Alinghimax was fifth behind Team Henri-Lloyd. But the French team had been early with their start and their placing would not count. It was safe enough for Skandia and knowing that it would be risky to try to tackle the South Africans for the race win, the European team settled for second place and covered the Portuguese to the finish to take the overall first prize.

Results:

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

Race seven:
1. RSA
2. EUR
3. POR
4. SUI
5. ITA
6. BEL
OCS  FRA
DNS  NZL


OVERALL
1. EUR  42
2. SUI  35.5
3. POR  32
4. ITA  29.5
5. RSA  27
6. FRA  26
7. BEL  15.5
8. NZL  0