Archive for the ‘MedCup’ Category

AudiMed Cup Cascais (Portugal) – Sailing Competitions

Friday, April 30th, 2010

audi-medscupThe world’s top sailors in Cascais

AudiMedCup_m3924_MedCup_cascais_0404b

For the fourth consecutive year, the Audi MedCup Circuit, the world’s leading regatta circuit, returns to Portugal. The Audi MedCup Circuit is the world’s leading regatta circuit. The Circuit is made up of five events that take place over five months in four countries over southern Europe.

The most hard fought and closely matched circuit featuring the cutting edge TP52 and GP42 Series will compete between the 11th and the 16th of May, for the Portugal Trophy at the first Audi MedCup Circuit of 2010.

AudiMedCup_m3923_MedCup_Bigamist_0948After three very successful years in the Algarve, the Portuguese stage of the Audi MedCup Circuit visits Cascais.

The only Audi MedCup event on the waters of the Atlantic will take place at a world class sailing venue, which has hosted many World and European Championships including the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

2010 OPENING EVENT: AN EXTRA INCENTIVE
The Portugal Trophy will be the first of the five events which comprise the Audi MedCup Circuit this season.  As the curtain raiser for  for the 2010 season, Cascais will be the first venue to feature the modified TP52, which has undergone key changes which were designed to enhance the performance of this already exciting, demanding class.
Emirates Team New Zealand (TP52) and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero ( GP42), the Audi MedCup 2009 winners, will try to carry on their winning momentum into the new season, starting in Cascais:

Nacho Postigo (ESP) Audi MedCup Circuit director commented: “We are seeing a rise in the level of the competition and the quality this year, particularly due to the three new America’s Cup entries.  Cascais is getting the sailors nervous, many know the race area from previous events and realise that they will need to very agile to control the boat.  The boats are more powerful with the modifications that have been introduced since last year.  The changes have made the boats faster and that is what you have to control with one less crew member. It is guaranteed to be quite a spectacle and I encourage all the people in the region of Lisbon to come and enjoy all this in Cascais.”

“Last year’s fleet was difficult to beat. The teams improved race by race. In 2010, three new teams, TeamORIGIN, ALL4ONE and Luna Rossa,will make things even more difficult for us. We didn’t have much time to train on our modified NZL380 and we are looking forward to coming to Cascais, so that we can test our performance level with the rest of the fleet”, says Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand.

Ten TP52 and five GP42 have registered for the Portugal Trophy, among them a total of two America’s Cup crews new to the Audi MedCup Circuit: Britain’s TeamORIGIN and Italy’s Luna Rossa, which has Brasilians Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt on board, two of the world’s most important sailors, who have a very good knowledge of the race area of Cascais.

The host nation Portugal will be represented by Bigamist 7, of Pedro Mendonça. The Portuguese TP52 was the circuit’s revelation in 2009, after eight race wins and climbing on to the podium in the last event, Cartagena.

In the Audi MedCup 2010, after being modified, she is expected to improve last year’s performance and be fighting for the final success.

SUPPORT OF INSTITUTIONS
Beyond the cut and thrust of the action on the water, the Portugal Trophy has been consistently acclaimed for the organization, infrastructure and glamour ashore. Such values are keynote to the Lagos Sports brand, the event organizer together with the Clube Naval of Cascais, the Marina of Cascais, and World Sailing Management with the support of Turismo de Portugal and Turismo Estoril/Camara Municipal of Cascais.

BAY OF CASCAIS: THE SHOW GOES ON
The Portuguese event of the Audi MedCup 2010 starts competition on the Tuesday 11th of May and runs until the Sunday the 16th. Each day up to three races will be held, as well as a spectacular coastal race scheduled for Saturday, the 15th: the fleet starts from Cascais heading to Cabo da Roca towards Cabo Espichel, and heads back to Lisbon where it turns at Ponte 25 of Abril to reach the finish off Cascais.

The competition will be based in the Marina of Cascais and includes a Race Village, a Press Room, the Race Office of Clube Nacional of Cascais and an area in the Bay of Cascais which will allow visitors a live and exciting experience of the event, with a big screen which will relay racing with live images enhanced by the virtual tracking system, as well as leisure activities, a merchandising area and food and beverage options.

The AudiMed Cup: Preview


Photos:

© Carlos Rodrigues/Joao Lagos Sports
© Richard Walch / Audi MedCup
 Trofeo Quebramar - Chrysler © Nico Martinez
© Joao Casanova/PortugalVela

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Audi MedCup Circuit Photos

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

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The ‘Emirates Team New Zealand’ wins Marseilles MedCup Trophy

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Emirates Team Zealand win their first Audi MedCup Circuit Regatta comprehensively while Roma Mk 2 strike GP42 gold.

Emerging with a sixth from a scrappy, difficult final race which was contested in conflicting breezes Emirates Team New Zealand clinched the Marseille Trophy by 14 points, the biggest regatta winning margin on the Audi MedCup Circuit since Mean Machine won in Portimao in 2007.

Winning four races and never finishing worse than sixth in the ten races here, the Kiwi team skippered by Dean Barker (NZL) with past MedCup winner Ray Davies (NZL) as tactician move  16 points clear at the head of the Audi MedCup TP52 Series standings ahead of defending Circuit champions Quantum Racing (USA).

“It feels better here than losing in Alicante.” Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton deadpanned, “And regattas always feel better a couple of days later, and winning is always just a relief that you did not lose. It is really is nothing more than that.”

In the Audi MedCup GP42 Series a third in the final race ensured that the team on Roma Mk2 skippered by Paulo Cian (ITA) leave France with the Marseille Trophy and head for their native Italy with a lead of four points over Alicante Trophy winners Islas Canarias Peurto Calero on the Audi MedCup Circuit GP42 Series standings

Consistency
Four winning guns for Emirates Team New Zealand were supported by a consistent string of scores, reflecting as much their fortitude as a team, able to come back better from their occasional visits to the lower depths of the fleet. Typical of that, they pulled back to sixth today from eighth in a final race which was afflicted by two very different, breezes tussling for supremacy on either side of the course.

But in their de-brief the Kiwi circuit leaders will consider that their current leading margin belies how close the racing has been here, and in Alicante and reflects Quantum Racing’s two premature starts, and third placed Matador’s headfoil failure in the coastal race.  They have no room for complacency.

Race 10, the final in Marseille
Portugal’s Bigamist staged a remarkable come-from-behind victory with two incredible downwind legs to take their second race win this season. Pedro Mendonca’s crew lie fifth overall on the TP52 Series and finished fourth overall in the regatta.
The Portuguese team from Cascais had to make a penalty turn at the first windward mark after they tacked on the bow of Cristabella (GBR). They rounded the offset mark a distant last but recognised the stronger breeze on the left, contrasting with the collapse on the right, and rounded the leeward turn in fifth. The same tactic on the second run allowed them to pip Pisco Sour (CHI) to win in the final 200 metres of the race.

GP42 Series: Islas Canarias wins the battle, but Roma wins the war
In today’s final day of racing in the GP42 Series, a large 8-point spread between series leader Roma 2 (ITA) and runner-up Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) was going to make it hard for the Italian team to lose the regatta. There would have to have been two races with Roma getting last place and Canarias first place in both for Roma to lose.

And as unlikely as that would have seemed, at the bottom gate rounding of today’s first race that’s precisely what was happening, as a huge hole in the wind accompanied by a significant shift in direction completely reshuffled the positions in this highly-competitive fleet. Caser-Endesa (ESP), being last around the top mark having been over early at the start, got vaulted into vying for the lead with Canarias, and Roma got shot out the back to having to fight Swing for fifth.

Yet despite this and yet another big shift and drop in pressure on the last run to the finish, Canarias kept their cool, covered the fleet, and coasted to their third win in the series. Roma was able to dig back to third but not before nearly getting rolled by Turismo Madrid (ESP) in the final few metres of this strange race.

Turns out that third was enough to seal the deal for Roma, as even a last place in any second race would go to them in the tie break, having won more races than anyone else. So when race managers could not set a course for Race 2 due to the irregular breeze, the outcome was a fait accompli, and Roma wins her first GP42 Series stage in the Audi
MedCup Circuit.

General classification of the Trophy  in Marseilles:

.1. Team New Zealand (NZL) 1-3-1-2-1-2-4,5-6-1-6 27,5 p.
.2. Quantum Racing (USA) 8-5-2-6-3-1-1,5-3-8-4 41,5
.3. Matador (ARG) 2-6-4-1-2-5-16,5-4-4-3 47,5
.4. Bigamist VII (POR) 5-4-6-3-10-4-10,5-2-10-1 55,5
.5. Bribon VII (ESP) 6-1-5-10-4-8-7,5-5-11-5 62,5
… Artemis (SWE) 7-2-8-5-5-3-13,5-7-3-9 62,5
.7. Synergy (RUS) 3-9-9-7-6-10-6-1-2-10 63
.8. Valars III (RUS) 10-11-3-4-7-6-3-12(1)-6-7 69
.9, Pisco Sour (ITA) 11-7-7-9-11-9-9-8-5-2 78
10. Audi Q8 (ITA) 4-8-10-8-8-11-12-9-7-11 88
11. Cristabella (GBR) 9-10-11-11-9-7-15-10-9-8 99

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