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Incident packed day at the RC44 Oman Cup

by Times News Service
February 02, 2013 , 10 : 45 am

Boats in action curing the second day of the RC44 Oman Cup race at The Wave Muscat, yesterday. Pic: Supplied

Muscat: Muscat produced some perfect sailing conditions for the start of fleet racing at the RC44 Oman Cup at The Wave Muscat yesterday. The sea breeze clocked in at 12 noon and continued to build from 9 to 15 knots throughout the afternoon bringing with it a big rolling swell.

The condition didn't seem to separate the fleet of 13 RC44s who seemed to all arrive at the windward mark in unison, causing for some interesting mark rounding's that kept the on the water umpires very busy.

Katusha (RUS) were on fire and dominated the day winning the first two races and making a great recovery in the last to finish third, even after picking the un-favoured left side up the first beat and being buried at the top mark.

Steve Howe is at the helm of Katusha this week, standing in for owner Gennadi Timchenko, he put their day into perspective. "Yesterday was a good day and we tried to keep the same plan for the fleet racing today, get a good clean start, sail the shifts and get around the race course ahead of the fleet.

"It's one design sailing at its best, you have your good days, your bad days and it's going to happen when you have a bad race like we almost had in race three, but you just have to focus and minimise the risk."

Chris Bake's Team Aqua (GBR) was hot on Katusha's tail, finishing second in both the opening two races and sixth in the third. But a collision in the final race resulted in a dramatic end, seeing the American team's scoop rip away from the hull. A protest was lodged by Ironbound's new tactician Paula Goodison and after much debate in the protest room, Team Aqua were disqualified from race three and given three additional penalty points, dropping them from second to sixth overall.

Ironbound was awarded redress leaving them third in the overnight standings. Artemis Racing won the final race of the day after what had been an indifferent start for Swedish team. They had picked up a penalty in the first race for missing the offset mark and again in the second for trying to squeeze inside MAG Racing at the leeward gate.

Sitting in second place overall after Aqua's disqualification is Brian Benjamin's Aegir Racing. The team from England came 13th in Croatia last October and are clearly enjoying their guest tactician, Russell Coutts, valuable input this week. In a further incident between Team Italia and RUS 7 the Italian team were given three penalty points for damage caused to the Russian team.

Racing at the RC44 Oman Cup presented by Oman Shipping Company continues Sunday.

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