Sea, Sail & Surf news
RC 44 Championship Tour
Chris Bake crowned RC 44 champions 2007
Russel Coutts’ Team Omega conquers the Dubai Gold Cup
dimanche 16 décembre 2007 –
Already a clear dominator in the fleet event since day one of the Gold Cup, Team Omega, with Vittorio Codecasa at the helm, got a fourth bullet in the eighth and last fleet regatta, giving his team a comfortable lead over its competitors before the concluding coastal race.
Behind Omega, the situation was particularly interesting with four teams fighting for the second place : Team Aqua, Ceeref, Hiroshi and ES Bankers, just separated by a handful of points.
The coastal race took the eight RC 44’s in the inner waters of the Dubai Palm - a surprising real estate development shaped as a palm. There has probably never in history been a sailing regatta surrounded by so many cranes !
One team wanted to win this coastal race more than anybody else : Chris Bake’s Team Aqua. Based in Dubai, Bake had his family and many friends on the water to look at his passion. No doubt they got the show they were expecting ! Indeed, Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref took a better start and dominated the first part of the race. As he reached the second windward mark, Bake opted for a jibe set and managed to gain a few meters over Ceeref ; just enough to gain the interior at the next leeward mark. Despite Igor Lah and James Spithill’s numerous attacks, the Aqua boys remained in the lead throughout, jumping in the second place of the fleet ranking thanks to this victory ; a result that also allows them to grab the second place overall ahead of Team Ceeref.
As for Russell Coutts and his Team Omega, he wins the Dubai Gold Cup after having won the fleet race and finished second of the match race.
The Dubai Gold Cup was the last regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2007. After dominating the entire reason, with five event victories, Chris Bake, Cameron Appleton and all the boys from Team Aqua are crowned 2007 RC 44 Champions. Sailing superbly since the beginning of the season, Bake and Appleton (respectively owner and pro skipper) have managed to put together a strong crew and keep the same team throughout the year, which is with no doubt one of the recipes to their success. Team Aqua’s crewmembers are : Jeff Brock, Matt Cassidy, Andrew Estcourt, Ben Graham, Kevin Kelble and Scott Kennedy.
Russell Coutts, owner, Team Omega, winner of the Dubai Gold Cup : “The Dubai Gold Cup is a great way to conclude a fantastic year. This was our first real season ; we have been competing in six different countries and having had a lot of fun. The Class is growing nicely. A new Team from Dubai has just acquired a boat, so there are now three owners based in Dubai. Of course, I am happy to have won this event. It’s good to finally win a race ! The level of the Class is increasing ; you just need to see that Team Aqua was dominating earlier on this season and that there are now many teams capable of beating them.”
Chris Bake, owner, Team Aqua, RC 44 Champion 2007 (interviewed a few seconds before being thrown in the water) : “This last victory is a nice ending to a phenomenal season and we certainly finish this event better than we started it ! The coastal race was great ; it allowed us to test all our points of sailing. We never do reaching otherwise, for example. On top of this, the scenery was very interesting. I think that Dubai proved that it is worth the effort of traveling. In Europe, the temperature is currently minus five ; there is a cold wave in the US. Here it’s nice and warm and there is a great breeze.”
Igor Lah, owner, Team Ceeref : “I was expecting better results in the fleet race, but I am thrilled that we won the match race event. James Spithill has been fantastic and I am learning a lot from him. I obviously need more practice, so I will organize some training time in the UAE this winter. We will be stronger next year.”
Info presse Bernard Schopfer / MaxComm Communication Communication #Communication / www.rc44.com
Dubai Gold Cup final results :
(Name of team, fleet race, match race, points)
1) Team Omega (1/2) 3 points
2) Team Aqua (2/3) 5 points
3) Team Ceeref (6/1) 7 points
4) Team ES Bankers Dubai (3/5) 8 points
5) Team Beecom (4/7) 11 points
6) Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano (5/6) 11 points
7) Cro-A-Sail, (7/4) 11 points
8) Team Organika (8/8) 16 points
RC 44 Championship Tour 2007 :
1) Team Aqua, 46 points
2) Team Omega, 38 points
3) Cro-A-Sail, 26 points
4) Beecom, 21 points
5) Team Ceeref, 19 points
6) Ekipa 44, 12 points
7) Magia Alike, 12 points
8) Team ES Bankers Dubai, 11 points
9) Mascalzone Latino, 9 points
10) Team Hiroshi, 3 points
11) Team Organika, 2 points
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