May 15, 2008
by Mean Machine Sailing Team
15 May |
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Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine sets an AUDI MedCup 2008 record with 4 consecutive wins on the scoreboard and dominates the fleet.
The general standings are on fire as Mean Machine tops the scoreboard with Quantum lying just one point behind and Tau Ceramica two points away after 7 races
A couple of days ago the Mean Machine crew docked at the pontoon in Alicante with somewhat downcast faces, fruit of a day’s racing with a tail end result on the scoreboard. Spirits were low and it looked like Alicante didn’t have Mean Machine’s name written on it. With the brand new Judel/ Vrolijk design the team logged a respectable 7th but a disappointing 16th (last) place on the leaderboard at the end of Day 1.
...but the team including 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup winner Ray Davies and sailing legend Peter de Ridder wasn’t going to give up that easily: not even in a million years… some people set the challenge for themselves, and the moment had come for the Mean Machines to pull out all the stops and go full throttle ahead.
Day 2 was a veritable feast of MedCup action with three windward-leeward races adding a generous handful of spice into the mix. Positions shifted and the breeze picked up from 5 to 12 knots throughout the tough day’s racing. Mean Machine pushed upwards to get a fifth in Race 3 of this first event in the 2008 AUDI MedCup and then stunned the competition and showed everyone what a Mean Machine is made of by taking first place in both of the races to follow, pushing up from 11th to 5th place in the general rankings. It seemed Mean Machine was set to make a mark on Alicante after all…
Day 3 of this event which finishes on Saturday 17th May has marked a page in Mean Machine history. The 16-strong MedCup TP52 fleet set off on an offshore course to the island of Tabarca and back. Mean Machine’s performance in today’s two leg coastal race was a display of true sailing prowess, and testimony to the skill and experience of a team passionate about what they do. De Ridder’s TP52 crew took all of the marks in the first leg in the leader position and held off every attempt at an attack from other boats in the fleet, such as Swedish entry Artemis with Torbjorn Tornqvist and John Kostecki. The team docked at the port of Alicante with two more wins under their belts, a top position in the provisional rankings and a MedCup 2008 record to boot (4 consecutive wins this event).
It’s a well known fact that until the fat lady’s dulcet tones can be heard there’s no safe bet in this game… but if there’s a horse to be backed, we’d recommend one with pink flames sparking off her hooves.
Quotes: Peter de Ridder, Skipper and Owner of Mean Machine: It’s been a perfect day: we haven’t made a single error, the start was good and we’ve had a good sail. As you can imagine, we’re really happy. The end of the race was really hard; the breeze dropped almost entirely and everything got quite tricky, but we managed to hold the competition off.
I don’t know if it’s that there’s something special about this event (the Alicante Trophy) but we did win the offshore race here last year as well… but then offshore racing is one of our strong points, and it’s always nice to win a coastal race here.
Four consecutive firsts is unusual in such a compact fleet, but hey, it’s a great birthday present for me, as it’s my birthday on Sunday. Last year we broke the North Sea Race record and this year we get four consecutive wins… great presents, but winning the Alicante Trophy would be even better!
CITY OF ALICANTE TROPHY.
Position, Name, Designer, Skipper, R1,R2,R3,…Total
1 Mean Machine, Judel/Vrolijk 2008 (Peter de Ridder). 7+16+5+1+1+11= 32
2 Quantum Racing, Botin & Carkeek 2008, (Terry Hutchinson) 4+5+9+3+2+4+6=33
3 TAU cerámica, Judel/Vrolijk 2007, (Pichu Torcida). 1+1+6+9+9+3+5 =34
4 Bribon , Judel/Vrolijk 2007 (Jose Cusi/HRH Juan Carlos). 3+3+1+4+4+12+9 =36
5 Mutua Madrileña, Judel/Vrolijk 2008, (Vasco Vascotto).2+4+8+8+3+6+12 =43
