44Cup Marina Jandía 2025 - Preview
by 44Cup 19 Nov 2025 20:16 GMT
19-23 November 2025
The 44Cup teams are now set up and ready to race the final event of their 2025 season - the 44Cup Marina Jandía.
Located near the southern tip of Fuerteventura, this is the latest marina to be created by Calero Marinas, who are the hosts of the 44Cup Marina Jandía with Puertos Canarios and the support of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Fuerteventura and Pajara town.
Going into this, the maths favours Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika. Having scored bullets at the last three events and discarding a third from February's 44Cup Nanny Cay, Team Nika tops the 2025 44Cup leaderboard on just three points. Four points behind in second is Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing with Marcus Törnqvist's GeMera Racing another four back in third.
Immediately below this the leaderboard is tight with Igor Lah's Team Ceeref Vaider, Nico Poons' Team Charisma and Torbjörn Törnqvist's Artemis Racing all within two points of the podium. Meanwhile Chris Bake's Team Aqua and John Bassadone's Peninsula Racing are within two points of Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team in seventh, while Mehmet Taki and Murat Edin's WOW! Sailing Team and Jan Scholtes's Warp 5 are within five points of event host Daniel Calero with his Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team in 10th.
While it might appear that Team Nika has won the season with a race to spare, this is not the case: under 44Cup rules neither the World Championship (which took place in August in Scheveningen, the Netherlands) nor the final event of the season can be discarded.
Team Nika's British tactician Nic Asher observes that their four point advantage over second place going into the last event is the same scenario as in 2024. "I'm not going to count our chickens, but we're in good shape.We just need to be top five, basically. If we're fifth and they [Aleph Racing] win, we still get it as the Worlds becomes the tiebreak. But we're not focussing on that: we'll just go out and do what we know we can do."
Like almost everyone taking part, this is first time in Fuerteventura for Team Nika's Vladimir Prosikhin: "I thought that Lanzarote was like the moon but this place seems even more dry! The beaches are very good here. I tried the ocean - it's nice and warm."
Of Team Nika topping the leaderboard at present, Prosikhin adds: "Our position is great, but we have to defend. It's difficult to stay at the top - everyone knows that. That the last event is not discardable is a very good idea because it keeps intrigue to the very end which is motivating. We will enjoy the sailing and see how the results fall. It's tricky here - extremely shifty, because the wind blows through the mountains. But that will make it even more interesting..."
Asher agrees about the conditions: "It's got that same feel to it as Lanzarote. The land's a little higher, so it's a little bit crazier if it's offshore. We went a long way out yesterday. The next couple of days are still from the north and lighter. Then it goes to the right, into the northeast which should make it a bit steadier but also windier although I am not sure how windy it will be."
Tactician on Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing, Michele Ivaldi hopes that they might be able to get a piece of Team Nika this week. "They've been solid in all their main areas - very good speed, very good starts, very good crew work and the ability to be consistent. So it will be hard, but we'll do our best, and then we'll see at the end of the week."
Given the RC44s are approaching their 20th birthday, it is remarkable that a team can still have an edge. Ivaldi shares his views: "There is something in the sails, but these boats are so tricky to sail, that the sailors make the most difference. The RC44 is still one of the few boats where having good sailors makes the difference.Team Nika has been particularly good this year, but, as we've said many times before, in this class anybody can win an event. With a few 3rds, 4ths and 5ths, you'll be in good shape at the end of the week."
This morning, a press conference was held to mark the opening of the 44Cup Marina Jandía attended by Juan Luis López, Director of Puertos Canarios; José Calero, President of Calero Marinas; Ignacio Solana, CEO of Gesprotur, representing Canary Islands Tourism; Alejandro Jorg, Mayor of Pájara and Lola García, President of Fuerteventura Council as well as RC44 Class Manager Bertrand Favre.
Favre commented: "We started our conversation with the Calero family two or three years ago. They showed us their project here in Marina Jandía and we immediately got interested. It's a new destination for us. With the 44Cup we travel around and try to visit two or three new places each year. Here you have beautiful beaches, good wind, so it ticks all the boxes. Thank you for supporting us for this regatta, especially the local fishermen who allowed us to use their boatyard that was a big support and Club Nautico members because we are using all their facilities."
After practice racing today (Wednesday) racing proper at the 44Cup Marina Jandía starts tomorrow and continues until Sunday. Follow live at www.44cup.org.