Iberdrola and leaders in Marseille XXII / Audi MedCup

Today was a long day in Marseille, France . While TP52 completed the first round of the day in North Rada, the S40 had to wait to take the start scoring the first race of Marseille Trophy , the second stage of the Audi MedCup 2011 .

[RACE # 1]

The Organization decided to postpone the game as the wind dropped, waiting for the arrival of the TP52 and move the court race to the South Rada, where the wind was a little more firm and constant. The five teams in four countries waited until after 16:20 local time, for the first race was long. With all the teams very anxious, there have been some situations of encounter missing a few seconds to go, where the Spanish ship News IV was penalized for what he had to be rehabilitated by a 360 ° and crossing the line almost a minute later than its rivals .

The first tight with light winds and borneantes was very tactical and a court without a marked predilection, the fleet was divided, with the Black by Patagonia , Iberdrola and Ngoni on the left, and XXII Marseille and Notice IV slightly to right of way. There, the English team with owner Tony Buckingham at the helm, managed a small lead that led him to mount the first windward mark, closely followed by the XXII Marseille and Iberdrola . A little behind thePatagonia by Black and Notice IV , did not lose hope.

The first leg was a stern very strong local team, the successful Figaro sailor Nicolas Berengercommand, confirming that these boats are relatively easy to carry and a new computer a few hours on board, can battle. That was how XXII Marseille could exceed the Ngoni forcing the boat to drift without losing speed in the difficult conditions of light winds that were sailing at that time.

The second beat, kicked off with XXII Marseille the lead, but Ngoni , Iberdrola andPatagonia followed him very close and nothing was said, meanwhile, IV News could not recover from poor start and was behind the fleet, a it would be impossible distance shortened.To this tranche, the wind was much more uneven, with gusts that reached to 12/15 knots in some areas and very marked wells of calm, cold air and some fog. There, Kevin Sproul , tacticalNgoni , managed to overcome their rivals and stay in the corridor of steady wind, leaving his followers in a tough duel delayed tacking.

In the last downwind leg, the Ngoni bent over backwards to keep the tip in a wind plummeted, but the very fast XXII Marseille was overcome by a few meters, crossing first the finish line.Finally, the positions were: XXII Marseille , Ngoni (+0:09), Iberdrola (+0:15) by Patagonia Negra (+0:55) and Notice IV (+1:33).

[RACE # 2]

The TPs marched to port having completed the second set, and the race committee decided to give warning signal for the Soto 40 at 18:10 local time, in conditions similar to those of the first game. In a long relegated in which not a single one meter, the Iberdrola managed to get a small difference during the first few meters of the route, which led him to derive the first windward mark ahead of the fleet. They decided to move all the ships stern leg for the left side of the court, without too many options for changes occur posts. Green was again the Spanish ship that luffed first downwind, with the IV News behind (+0:06) and the Black by Patagoniavery close (+0:16), while the Marseille XXII and Ngoni ( made all the stern with the Asymmetric raffled) shutting out about 40 seconds behind the leader.

S40 fleet in the first day of racing (Copyright Francesco Ferri_Studio Borlenghi / Audi MedCup)

With wind and more stable, there were no sufficient Borneo as for tactical play and try to begin to overtake its rivals, although the News IV was the most risked going to the left end of the court and letting the rest of the floats right. The Iberdrola therefore limit their task to defend the position from the front, with a slight advantage since it emerged as winner.

For the last downwind leg, the wind dropped a bit and tested the tactical helmsman and trimmers, leg where Iberdrola remained ahead, with the boat crew Argentino Uruguaya back and the French local permanent siege, while the last two teams, the Spanish News IV and English Ngoni , began a relentless fight for fourth place. Finally Iberdrola confirmed the favorite because he won the first series of the Audi MedCup in Cascais , crossing the finish line first with a lead of +0:14 on Patagonia by Black , who could not be overcome by debutant team in Class the XXII Marseille . Closing the classification, the Spanish boat led by Iñaki Castañer and Gustavo Doreste in tactics, IV News came +0:54 seconds behind the leader, and a few lengths ahead of English Ngoni (+1:02).

40 Series
Results after 2 races

1. Iberdrola Team 3 +1 = 4
2. XXII-Marseille 1 +3 = 4
3. By Patagonia Negra 4 +2 = 6
4. Ngoni 2 +5 = 7
5. News IV 5 +4 = 9

(Copyright Francesco Ferri_Studio Borlenghi / Audi MedCup)