Friday 26th August

After the lightest of breezes which have prevailed through the first two racing days relief seems to be written into today’s forecast for the Audi MedCup Circuit’s Region of Murcia-Cartagena Trophy with the race area expected to offer up to 15kts by the middle of the afternoon and up to 17kts later in the day.
 
A front is expected to influence the weather situation for today and tomorrow, probably bringing in some stronger NW’ly gradient winds by tomorrow, but meantime this afternoon the breeze is still expected to be in the SW.

Bribon head out to the race track holding a one point lead over Synergy Russian Sailing Team with Audi Azzurra Sailing Team lying third only two points off the lead.

In 2008, the first time that the Circuit came to Cartagena, Bribon won the Region of Murcia Trophy on the last race. The iconic Spanish boat arrived here after winning a light wind Copa del Rey, but trimmer and project manager Ignasi Triay (ESP) says he is no so worried about any rise in wind pressure, considering the consensus their 2009 build boat is believed to be one of the quickest in the light going:

“We are leading but that is circumstantial really, it is so close. Yesterday after the first race we were fourth and after the second we were first, but it is so close. But, breeze or no breeze, windy or not, it is how you start, how you race. The people say that Audi Azzurra and Audi ALL4ONE are not very good in light airs, but Azzurra made a beautiful start, sailed good tactics and won the race, so at the end what you have to do is put together a good race, to keep well focused and really, really try not to make nay mistakes, and hope it goes well. But the level is very high.”

“Apparently we do look quite strong in light airs’ but the fleet has not been sailing in light airs at the MedCup but we have just sailed in light airs at the Copa del Rey two weeks ago, so maybe we are a little more used it, but that will be equalised very quickly.”

When it is windy we suffer a little bit upwind but we are very fast downwind.
We like it here because we won the first time we were here. It was a mixed regatta with breeze and then very light on the last day. In fact it was super stressful because Matador was ahead of us on the last run and we passed them to win on the last gybe!”

Two windward-leeward races are scheduled for both the 52 Series and the 40 Series.

Guillermo Parada (ARG), Skipper, Audi Azzurra (ITA): “It seems that we are going to have more wind here, but our strategy´s not going to change. Right now we are sailing well, not making big mistakes. We have to try to reach our real potential and try not to pay a lot of attention to both the event and the general standings. Any mistake can hurt you a lot. You have to be careful and think a lot before you take an approach, because the boat goes slower than usual and every decision is worth a lot more that it is in different conditions. You have to study your next move, because the damages can be a lot worse than the benefits

For more information on the Audi MedCup visit: www.medcup.org/home/

Photo:© Stefano Gattini_Studio Borlenghi/Audi MedCup