The Mina Effect

The regatta will reassemble eight teams representing eight nations. Both, fleet and match races are scheduled. The winner of the Dubai Gold Cup will be the team with the smallest number of points in the combination of fleet and match races.
 
The three leaders of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2007 (Chris Bake’s Team Aqua with pro sailor Cameron Appleton, Russell Coutts’ Team Omega and Miroslav Reljanovic’s Cro-A-Sail) are comfortably established at the top of the RC 44 Championship Tour. However, the regatta promises to be intense with newcomers ES Bankers Dubai (Patrick De Barros / Dean Barker), Team Ceeref (Igor Lah / James Spithill) and Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano (Armando Giulietti / Sébastien Col).
 
The Dubai Gold Cup started on Thursday, with fleet races. A match racing round-robin was held on Friday and Saturday whilst the teams will complete the fleet race on Sunday. A short coastal race has been incorporated in the fleet race ranking. With such an exceptional group of some of the best sailors in the world, united in a great location, the event promises to be fantastic.
 
As Julien Di Biase, the RC 44 Class manager, explains: “The goal of the class is to get the owners and RC 44 sailors to race in good sailing conditions, but also to find venues where people can have fun once the boats are moored.” Speaking at a press conference held earlier in the week, DIMC Managing Director, Saeed Hareb welcomed the teams and extended his wishes to the participants.
 
The first RC 44 Champion will be crowned on Sunday, December 16. The Class Association is looking forward to concluding a first very successful season and is proud to announce that the 2008 program is already finalised.

The conditions were quite difficult during Wednesday’s practice race, with a fairly big leftover seaway, consequence of the strong “Shamaal” that blew during the previous days. However, the conditions didn’t stop the favourite teams to dominate the training session, with Team Aqua, Team Omega, Cro-A-Sail and Team Ceeref in the front of the fleet.
 
The Dubai Gold Cup is the first overseas regatta for the RC 44 fleet. An exceptional group of some of the best sailors in the world is reassembled here, with amongst others Dean Barker, James Spithill, Russell Coutts, Sébastien Col, Cameron Appleton, Morten Henrikson and many more.
 
Many teams are new, even though some of them have already competed in Trieste or Portofino. Amongst them, Maciej Nawrocki’s Team Organika, Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref, Patrick De Barros’ ES Bankers Dubai and Armando Giulietti’s Team Hiroshi – Citta di Milano.
 
The first day of the Dubai Gold Cup exceeded the sailors’ expectations, with three races sailed despite the light wind forecast. Indeed, a fairly regular sea breeze started blowing after lunch time, allowing the eight strong RC 44 fleet to set sail and compete in light but good conditions.
 
Clearly on great form, Vittorio Codecasa, the 65 years old helmsman onboard Russell Coutts’ Team Omega – and President of the Swan 45 Class – took the best start in the first race. He was also first to reach the windward mark and set the trend: he was not going to let any competitor sail a single mark ahead of him throughout the afternoon!
 
The first race was very intense, with Isao Mita’s Beecom – always very good by light wind - chasing Team Omega and being pressurised by Team Aqua. Less lucky, James Spithill and Igor Lah’s Team Ceeref struggled to come back after arriving too late on the starting line, finishing the race in sixth.
 
The young Australian sailing talent took his revenge on race two, coaching his owner Igor Lah perfectly over the starting line and throughout the race, finishing second. Also looking for a revenge, Miroslav Reljanovic and the team of Cro-A-Sail, disappointing eighth of the first race, started well and sailed a consistent race concluded in fourth. But the good surprise of the day came from Armando Giulietti’s Team Hiroshi – Citta di Milano, who managed to improve from his previous fourth place and finish third. A great achievement for this new team.
 
Team Omega took once again a great start in race three, benefiting from an early lead ahead of Cro-A-Sail and Team Hiroshi. The racing was fierce, and the umpires – who were judging directly on the water – had a lot of work. First victim, Team Ceeref was penalised for a classic port-starboard situation against Team Aqua. Soon after, it was Chris Bake’s turn to maker a 360° after a close encounter with Team Hiroshi. This was the conclusion to a very bad day for Chris Bake’s team, who didn’t manage to confirm their leadership over the RC 44 Class on day one. 
 
They said:
 
Armando Giulietti, Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano: “It’s a new boat for us, so we needed to find the right adjustments. We are obviously happy with our result. I am grateful to our pro sailor Sébastien Col, who has been doing a great job. Before every race, we talk and analyze what we need to achieve. We set clear goals. Then we don’t talk too much during the race. Lorenzo Bodini is very helpful with the main sail and Sébastien gives me some advice. There is a great mentality on board. No “Italian shouting”.
 
Yoichi Yabe, world Class sailing photographer and guest on board Beecom: “It’s always great to be on board during a race; it’s a real privilege. From a photographer’s point of view, it is interesting too. The boats look good and the sailing is aggressive and very exciting.”
 
James Spithill, pro-sailor, Team Ceeref: “This boat is good for the crewmembers, because there is work for everyone. On other classes, half the crewmembers are just sitting on the rail. Here it’s full on.”
 
Patrick De Barros, Team ES Bankers Dubai: “Alongside the racing, we organized a corporate day with ES Bank. It’s a Portuguese group who has just been granted a license here in Dubai, so the Gold Cup is a great platform to organize such an event. We had the CEO and some personalities from the local finance on board; everybody was happy, it was great. I’m the only one unhappy: our results were not too good but we’ll come back!”
 
Vittorio Codecasa, guest helmsman, Team Omega: “The boat is great, very sensitive to steer. Compared with the Swan 45, it’s a completely different concept. It’s purely racing oriented. With the Swan I can cross the Atlantic. Here it’s like a dinghy. I like it.”
 
Dean Barker, Team ES Bankers Dubai: “The conditions were tough on day one, with big waves and fairly light wind. All you need is a bad wave to stop your boat. Patrick De Barros did a good job at the helm although I think we have some space for improvement.”
 
Igor Lah, owner, Team Ceeref: “This Class fully meets my expectations. I was looking for something new. I think it is a good mixture between mathematics and feeling. It’s very interesting. I really have the feeling that the boat listens to me, and reacts directly and precisely to what I do.”
 
 
The teams involved:
 
(Name of team, owner, pro sailor)
 
Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Team ES Bankers Dubai, Patrick De Barros / Dean Barker
Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / James Spithill
Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Mateusz Kusznierewicz
Team Omega, Russell Coutts
Cro-A-Sail, Miroslav Reljanovic / Morten Henrikson
Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, Armando Giulietti / Sébastien Col
Team Beecom, Isao Mita / Kevin Harrap

The RC 44 is a light displacement, high performance One Design sailing boat. It was designed by three-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, together with Slovenian naval architect Andrej Justin. The RC 44 was created for top level racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules. The concept and the design features of the RC 44 are dedicated to the amateur helmsmen racing in fleet and match racing sailing events. www.rc44.com