Two old sayings were once again verified in today's races, second day of the Alicante Trophy. First, consistency pays, as proved by Dean Barker's Bribn and Terry Hutchinson's Quantum Racing. Second, don't count out the new boats and there is no better proof than the 62-year old Peter de Ridder who helmed the brand new Mean Machine to two victories out of three. Wind conditions varied, getting better as the day progressed. The initial start was given under cloudy skies and a breeze of around 6-7 knots. The first sun rays had started poking through the clouds and the breeze built up at 10-11 knots when the second start was given. Finally, the 16-strong TP52 fleet went off the starting line for the third time under sunny skies, choppy seas and 14-15 knots of southern breezes. Read below the report and photos from each race. Peter de Ridder, Skipper and Helmsman of Mean Machine Yesterday we were pretty disappointed and we had a good chat about our strategy and tactics, and tried to do better today. We were already very happy with the 5th and it got better with two firsts. We had a good start and we liked the right; that gave us an edge on the other boats. Most of the time in that situation you just stretch ahead, and we were clear, so were comfortable. I think picking the right, the tactical decision was important; it wasnt boat speed, but a better strategy plan executed. Nothing changed boat handling-wise it all came together thats all. Alicante Trophy / Provisional standings after 5 races Race 1 It looked as if we were about to go through a repeat of yesterday's scenario but it fortunately didn't turn out to be that way. The race committee fired the starting gun right on time when there were 6-7 knots of southern breeze. The fleet opted for the pin end with CAM and Desafo crossing the line early and getting penalized. The right hand side of the course paid off handsomely for the boats that chose it. Despite a mediocre start, Bribn, helmed by Dean Barker, managed to work its way up the fleet and lead at the top mark. Platoon, the German boat crewed by sailors of the America's Cup German challenger, squeezed in at the top mark between Bribn and Matador. The right side of the course remained the favorite one throughout the race and the top 3 leadership was not altered. There was an intense battle between Artemis and Mutua Madrilea in the fourth spot, but last year's champions prevailed in the second beat. Vasco Vascotto's boat opted for the wrong side of the course and slipped 5 positions.  read more »

The winning streak continued for Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine boat. Fresh from yesterday's two victories, Mean Machine won Wednesday's coastal race, after having crossed the scoring gate ahead of the fleet. Still, with Quantum Racing and TAU Andalucia just a couple of points behind them, the Alicante Torphy is open for grabs. After a short-lived postponment ashore, the race committee had to go further to the south in order to find some stronger breeze. The starting gun was fired with just a half an hour delay and the 16 TP52 boats went off heading southeast towards the first mark. The right side of the course was the favorite one and Mean Machine, TAU Andalucia, Quantum and Artemis opted for it. In what was probably the worst tactical decision that cost them their leadership, Bribn decided to go furthest to the right, getting trapped in less pressure. Dean Barker tacked just twice in the first leg, resulting in a 14th place at the first windward mark. It was game over from that point for the then leader. Mean Machine rounded the top mark first, closely followed by Quantum. Peter de Ridder's boat was able to hold on to its lead while behind them, Artemis and TAU Andalucia were fighting with Quantum. After rounding the leeward gate the TP52 fleet started a long upwind race to the island of Tabarca. Again the right paid off and the four leading boats sailed well, aided by the breeze that had picked up, reaching 12 knots. There were hardly any changes in the order they crossed the first scoring gate. When the fleet went behind the scenic island, Mean Machine had a third consecutive win in the pocket. When the fleet reappeared and started a long downwind stretch to the "Butano" buoy nobody could expect what was about to happen. Half way through, the breeze started dropping and shifting noticeably and the problems sprang up for the tacticians. At the buoy, the race committee was signaling a 60 degree shift that would cause upheaval in the fleet. The dying breeze was nowhere to be found except as close as possible to the coastline, unless of course you were Caixa Galicia. While Mean Machine, TAU Andalucia, Artemis and Quantum racing almost entered Alicante's port in their search for the slightest puff, Caixa Galicia found more pressure as far as possible from it and managed to climb from 8th to finish 3rd. The rest of the fleet that chose to go in between stalled, especially Matador and AUDI Q8.  read more »

While one Cup is in limbo here in Valencia, another one visited the city for the first time ever. The iShares Cup held this weekend their first ever event in the host city of the America's Cup, even if it was officially called a training regatta.

The iShares Cup is a circuit of five European events, raced aboard the Extreme 40 catamarans. This year, nine teams will participate in the circuit and without any doubt the spotlight will be on newcomers Alinghi as well as British America's Cup challenger Team Origin.

A total of five boats took part in the three-day official training event that took place from Friday to Sunday. The Defender of the 33rd America's Cup entered two teams, Alinghi White and Alinghi Black, that were joined by Holmatro, iShares and Volvo Ocean Race. Alinghi White's crew was Ed Baird (helmsman), Rodney Ardern (mainsail), Lorenzo Mazza (trimmer), Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen (bowman) and Peter Evans (5th man). Alinghi Black's crew was Murray Jones (helmsman), Warwick Fleury (mainsail), Nils Frei (trimmer), Jan Dekker (bowman) and Pierre-Yves Jorand (5th man).  read more »

It is a tough choice deciding who to congratulate after the last race of the Alicante Trophy. Should it be Mean Machine, winner of the event with five consecutive bullets, or Bribn, helmed by Dean Barker, that finished second, just a mere point behind, and sailed an excellent final race?  read more »

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Paolo Cian and his Shosholoza crew were the winners of the 5th edition of the Open de Espaa - Soria Natural, the ISAF Grade 1 match racing event that took place from April 8th to 12th in Calpe. It is Spains most important match racing event and the only to have the newly-established title of qualifier regatta for the World Match Racing Tour. These events, although not forming part of the circuit, play a significant role since the winners are invited to one of the World Match Racing Tours official stages. Each WMRT stage can have up to two qualifier events, and Calpes Open de Espaa Soria Natural winner gets a slot to the starting line of the Saint Moritz Match Race , held in the Swiss city, from September 2nd to 7th. Unfortunately, todays racing took place under very difficult and demanding conditions, very similar to Thursday and Friday. There was a constant fight between the sea and land breeze that resulted in constantly fluctuating and shifting winds. These trying conditions put race officials at test and forced them to cancel racing twice during the day. The semifinals started at around 12pm and Cian faced Russian Andrey Arbuzov whom he beat without great difficulty 3 to 0. In the other semifinal, Presti had to face the young up-and-coming Australian, and last year's winner, Torvar Mirsky. After losing the first race, Presti finally prevailed over the young Australian by 3 to 1. A penalty at the 3rd race and unforgivable crew errors at the 4th one cost Mirsky the spot in the finals of the event. Presti continued his winning streak into the first race of the finals. After a close prestart, he crossed the starting line two boatlenghths ahead of Cian and never lost his lead. Cian was unable to pass him and lost the race. In the following two races, Cian demonstrated his excellent match-racing skills and the reason he's third in the ISAF Match Racing rankings. He had a plan, to force Presti to commit errors and get penalties and he stuck to it. Presti received two penalties, one at the top mark of the second race and another one during the prestart period of the third and last race. Although Cian never managed to gain a great lead, the late-afternoon excruciatingly light conditions (as seen in the photos) meant it was impossible for Presti to make up the lost distance after offloading his penalties. In addition to Cian, Shosholoza's crew consisted of Teva Plichart, Pierluigi de Felice and Pierluigi Fornelli. During the 32nd America's Cup, Plichart was grinder with Areva Challenge while de Felice was a trimmer at Mascalzone Latino.  read more »

In the new rule book (RRS 2009-2012) the old rule 18, about rounding and passing marks and obstructions, has been split into two rules: 18 dealing with MARK-ROOM and 19 ROOM TO PASS AN OBSTRUCTION. I have had some inquiries and comments on what the effect will be of the new wording in rule 19, particularly for boats on the starting line. Let's first look at the rule(s): Rule 19.2(b) States: 'When boats are overlapped, the outside boat shall give the inside boat room between her and the obstruction, unless she has been unable to do so from the time the overlap began' Definitions: Obstruction; An object that a boat could not pass without changing course substantially, if she were sailing directly towards it and one of her hull lengths from it.  read more »

The 8 champions and their crews taking part in this year's edition of the Trophe Clairefontaine took possession of their boats and carried out their first test and training session, inside Port America's Cup Port in Valencia. Wind conditions during the training session could be defined as acceptable. Throughout the morning, a constant and quite strong breeze was blowing throughout the America's Cup race course as well as inside Port America's Cup. Unfortunately, training started a little bit late, we suppose later than what was initially planned. The 8 boats docked out past 5:30pm and at that time the thermal breeze usually has already started to die down and there the was probably 6-7 knots of wind. There is no doubt that racing will be spectacular once the breeze kicks in. One shouldn't forget that the race course is right inside the basin and yachts have to sail two legs (one upwind and one downwind) inside the canal, meaning that at times they get extremely close to its edges, as seen in the photos. Let's say, I could have almost grabbed Ed Baird's helm if I wanted!!  read more »