News

July 22, 2007

De Ridder’s crew show their winning potential by taking victory in the last race

Caixa Galicia is the overall winner of the Breitling Regatta and Artemis take second place overall and victory in the Corinthian category.

The 13th Breitling regatta has drawn to a close with medium breeze conditions and two windward – leeward races. Victory went to Chuni Bermudez de Castro and Caixa Galicia and Torbjorn Torqnvist and Artemis in the Corinthian category.

Despite the disqualification on day three of the four-day event, Mean Machine hit the water with a positive outlook and the will to win.
That seems to have paid off, as the boat sponsored by the Valle Romano Golf Resort made an excellent start, allowing them a certain flexibility when planning their sailing strategy.

Yet again Ray Davies and Tom Dodson fine tuned a strategy that meant Peter de Ridder’s crew were at the head of the fleet for all of the windward leeward legs, with Irish boat Patches with Ian Walker almost half a minute behind them and Parada’s Siemens more than a minute and a half away.

Caixa Galicia are leading after this second event in the Medcup Circuit, followed by Artemis and Bribon. Mean Machine Valle Romano are in 6th place overall, just 42 points away from the Spanish leaders.

A total of 8 races have been sailed in the 13th Breitling Regatta; 7 windward – leeward races and one offshore race, including doble points. The wind hasn’t tipped the mark above 10 knots for the entire week.

Chuni Bermudez’s Caixa Galicia has been the clear leader throughout, notching up 3 firsts and being the most consisitent of the mighty Medcup fleet. Artemis, with Russell Coutts calling tactics came second overall and was one of the true stars among the 24 entries. They also managed three firsts, but didn’t manage such a consistent scorecard.

Third overall was Guillermo Parada’s Siemens just 20 point away from the leader.

The disqualification of Mean Machine Valle Romano in the offshore race cost the team dearly, as they finished in second place. This meant De Ridder’s crew missed out on the 25 points in each of the legs scored, which has meant a rupture in the normally consistent scorecard (including two firsts) for the team.