ORC Worlds Trieste 2017 - Day 4
by ORC Media 7 Jul 2017 06:24 BST
30 June - 8 July 2017
In another light air day of flat water and breeze never exceeding 8 knots, inshore racing resumed for the second day at the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017. Only one race was held due to the light air, and yesterday's series leaders continued to show their prowess in these conditions and no net change in leadership at the top of Classes A, B and C.
In Class A the top three teams are all Italian, with Vincenzo Onorato's Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino earning their first win of the series to grab the runner-up position in the standings. Yet Maurizio Poser's Swan 42 Sheraa Yacht Club Hannibal is still dominating the class in corrected time with a 3rd today and a 9 point lead ahead of the pack of 17 boats in this class. On having finished 4th today, Sandro Paniccia's Scuderia 50 Altair 3 remains in third overall one point behind Onerato.
In Class B, Nube, Diego Zanco's X-41 from Croatia remains firmly in the lead, but Renzo Grottesi's Swan 42 Bewild has reached second place and leaves behind their sistership Swan 42 Selene Alifax skippered by Massimo De Campo thanks to their first race win today.
Among the Class C contenders, Alessio Querin's Farr 30 Mummy One Lab Met is still at the head of the standings, but behind then is Giacomo and Franco Loro Piana's fellow Farr 30 Sease, with Aivar Tuulberg's Arcona 340 Katariina II having come up on the lowest step of the podium.
On the water, the easiest starts are in Class A, with 17 boats on the line, but in Class B it took three tries to tame the fleet of 49 boats on the line.
Even for Class C, the Race Committee had to endure four attempts to finally make the start of a 50-strong fleet of boats from which Cesare Bressan's Melges 32 Airis was the winner for the second consecutive race.
Bressan, Airis's tactician said: "Our presence at this World Championship is a challenge and the boat (Melges 32) is behaving very well despite being optimized for wind around 10 knots. Until the end, it will be a tough battle with the Mumm 30. We are in a very special position: we must constantly give the maximum at every moment of this regatta, because the reward in winning is not given easily."
Niccolò Bianchi, tactician of Katariina II said: "We had the race of our lives by earning a good start at the pin and then holding back our opponents who are faster in these light airs. Our boat is performing best in winds above 12 knots and here we are suffering not too little. We have a watchful eye on the entry of the scrap (with the completion of 7 trials, the worst result of the day for the classification of the rankings is discarded), which will undoubtedly destroy the cards."
Tomorrow is expected to be another day of light air and for this reason the Committee decided to postpone the start at 1:00 PM, trusting in the more reliable afternoon winds.
More info including live-streaming from the race courses, tracking from TracTrac, photos, videos and more at www.orcworlds2017.com.
The Organizing Authority of ORC Worlds Trieste 2017 is led by
Yacht Club Porto San Rocco and the Offshore Racing Congress along with Yacht Club Adriaco, Triestina della Vela, Circolo della Vela Muggia, Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano, TPK Circolo Nautico Triestino Sirena and Yachting Club Portoroz, Slovenia.
The event is sponsored by Mureadritta, Porto San Rocco, Ingemar, Afi Curci, IronFX, Ocean Team, Montedoro, One Sails, Arimar, Paul Picot, and B&G.
For more information on ORC and its rules, classes and events, visit www.orc.org.