believe it or not, these boats are going over 17 knots

Hi All,

I spent 3 days in Valencia and was able to sail on Deal Breaker with Russell and crew the first day and then watch the match racing the next two days. Valencia put out perfect weather as the first 3 days of sailing was 10-20 knots. Sailing with Russell’s group for a while was a learning experience. It is so easy to sail well as the boat’s balance is as perfect as I have seen in any boat I have ever sailed. It seems new owners to the class are quickly getting up to speed. As you can read from Paul Cayard’s blog below:

RC44 Valencia Cup
Paul Cayard
Sunday, August 01, 2010

The RC 44 Valencia Cup ended with two great races in 12-15 knots of wind on another perfectly sunny day.
Team Aqua put another great performance to win the fleet racing and the overall combined. Torbjorn Tornqvist finished second with his team on Artemis and BMW Oracle 17 was third. Onboard Katusha with Guenaddi Timchenko, we finished 6th in the fleet racing and 6th in the combined. Artemis was second in the combined.
So, it was a very good event for the Artemis Louis Vuitton Trophy team, with strategist Cameron Appleton on Team Aqua, Terry Hutchinson, Noel Drenan, Morgan Trubovich and Andy Fethers on Artemis and Robbie Naismith, Sean Clarkson and myself on Katusha.
Onboard Katusha, Guenaddi did a fantastic job steering in the steep chop and relatively breezy conditions. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he has sailed less than 15 times in his life.
Learning to sail while racing is a fast way to learn but it is also intense. Guenaddi is doing great!
Our next event in the RC 44 will be in Lanzarote in October. This event will be the World Championship for the Class.
The next event for Artemis is the TP 52 Audi Med Cup event in Cartegena, August 24-28.
For complete results go to www.rc44.com
Paul

Believe it or not, these boats are going over 17 knots in this picture….

The boats were both fun to watch and sail in the breeze hitting speeds of over 18 knots while in full match race mode. Racing was very close and there was a lot of smiles on the dock afterwards.

We are still working on getting #22 to San Francisco. We should have details about this soon. Stay tuned…

Now I am in Palma for Copa Del Rey on Bella Mente. We have been looking at new sails and practicing over the last 4 days and racing starts in a few hrs. We have 4 very good boats here, Ran, Container, Alegre and of course Bella. Bella, Container and Alegre rate very close and it is pretty much a boat for boat race. Ran gives up 1 minute 15 seconds an hrs, so has to get away from the other three. We expect a very close regatta.

Cheers
Dee