RC44

Despite local advice, Race Director Peter "Luigi" Regio sent the six strong RC 44 fleet out on the water for the second Round Robin of the Dubai RC 44 Cup. A wise choice as the teams could sail six matches, allowing the Committee to establish a final ranking based on 21 matches. "You won't get anything if you don't try", he commented with a smile at the end of the day.

The winner of the event is Igor Lah's Team Ceeref, with James Spithill at the helm. "It's a great start to our season", he commented. "Yesterday, we were not happy with our sailing. We made a lot of little mistakes and lost matches that we could have won. We all wanted to do better today and that's what we did."

Equally happy with his performance was Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano's pro helmsman Sebastien Col: "It all goes down to a couple of meters at the right moment", he explained. Yesterday, we could have won all our matches but we lost two of them because of tiny mistakes. We had a thorough de-brief in the evening and the difference was clear today. All the guys on board realised how important every single meter is. They were hiking better, our tacks were better, we focused well on what we were doing and the result is there: we had two excellent matches."

Russell Coutts' Team ES Bankers completes the podium with victories against Cro-A-Sail and Team Sea Dubai this afternoon.

Four teams were sharing the lead after the first round robin. Team Sea Dubai, leader of the provisional ranking after day one, lost its advantage today, regressing to the fourth place. As for Team Aqua (Cameron Appleton), penalised by a collision yesterday and sailing below its usual level, it finishes fifth, ahead of Cro-A-Sail who only won one match.

The team owners will be back at the helm tomorrow for the fleet racing event. The weather forecast is good, with North-Westerly winds of up to 20 knots expected.

Dubai RC44 Cup

The day couldn't have started better for the local team Sea Dubai, representing the organising club Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC). Sea Dubai dominated its match against Team Ceeref - with James Spithill at the helm - to take a first victory that was going to be followed by two more and result in victory in the first round robin.

A former Flying Dutchman and Dragon sailor (amongst others), Marcus Wiser, the team's helmsman, was obviously satisfied with his debuts in the RC 44 Class. "We were helped by the light winds", he explains modestly. "But we are obviously very happy. A lot of credit goes to our tactician Michael Hestbek, who was strategist on board the German entry during the last America's Cup."

The light (6 to 8 kts of wind) but fairly stable conditions allowed for fifteen matches to be sailed today, under a nice sunshine and on flat water. Most races were very close, and the overall results confirm that the teams are becoming closer from each other by the day.