Alicante, Day 1

The Audi MedCup Circuit's first ever Swiss flagged team won the opening race of the 2009 season to give their hopes of carrying on through the season the best possible boost at the City of Alicante Trophy regatta.

Marazzi Sailing, the campaign put together by Swiss Olympic Star sailor Flavio Marazzi with Germany’s four times Olympic medallist Jochen Schuemann, seized an early advantage on the first leg of the windward-leeward track when the breeze shifted slightly to the right and went on to lead at each mark to the finish.

It proved to be a long and slightly frustrating opening day to the season. A first attempt to get the opening race away had to be halted when the fitful breeze faded to just three or four knots at the leeward mark when practise race winners Bribon had a clear lead.

But the patience on the part of the competitors and the race officers paid off and the season’s first contest was sailed in 8-10 knots of easterly breeze which offered enough in the way of changes in direction and pressure to develop a typically interesting and challenging early season contest.

The overcast, slightly grey and humid conditions did nothing at all to help the breeze build and only one race could be completed for the twelve competing TP52’s.

Marazzi Sailing, the 2008 Reichel Pugh design Artemis, were always able to keep control of the fleet, extending slightly over Alberto Roemmers’ new Matador which took second place. Recovery of the day was that of the Portuguese team Bigamist 7 which was clearly over the start line early at the extreme left end of the start line. Tactician Hugo Rocha ushered helm Afonso Domingos towards the right flank of the course and they were well placed to also reap the dividend as the small wind shift arrived, going on to finish third.

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) had a spirited joust at times with the current Audi MedCup Champions Quantum Racing (USA), and skipper Dean Barker and tactician Ray Davies kept the upper hand across the finish line to take fourth, 27 seconds ahead of the American boat.

The GP42 class had their practice race, running on the same course, with Islas Las Canarias Puerto Calero taking first gun.

City of Alicante Trophy, Race 1
1.Marazzi Sailing (SUI)
2.Matador (ARG)
3.Bigamist 7 (POR)
4.Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
5.Quantum Racing (USA)

Korea Match Cup

In front of thousands spectators lining the shoreline, Sebastian Col (FRA) and his K Challenge/French Match Racing Team and Ian Williams (GBR) and his Team Pindar each defeated their Quarter and Semi-Final opponents on 14 June to qualify to battle each other in next day's Final round of the Korea Match Cup. The warm dry offshore breeze remained brisk enough for PRO David Tallis to set short multiple-lap courses across the harbor, with the windward mark placed just metres away from the spectator pontoon, giving everyone a front row seat to the mark-rounding action. But later this stability waned, and the shifts and puffs trended right into a light seabreeze by mid-afternoon, before caving in and blowing again offshore. Few leads were safe in these conditions, and even with courses’ short legs and multiple laps there were plenty of passing lanes available for the observant…and lucky. In the Semi-Finals, Col met Jesper Radich (DEN) of the Rudy Project Sailing Team, a tough opponent and former Tour champion, where the Dane took the first win from him after he was given the double indignity of being called over early and given a penalty for not keeping clear. But in the next three matches Col mastered the starts and never allowed Radich to pass, which was a remarkable feat given the shifty conditions on the course. In a fabulous display of match race talent played in front of tens of thousands of spectators at the Korea International Boat Show and live TV beamed to 90 countries, Sebastian Col (FRA). In a first-to-three point Final sailed in shifty, puffy conditions, Col defeated Ian Williams (GBR) and Team Pindar in four tough matches filled at times with collisions, penalties, and numerous lead changes from pre-start to finish.