Croatia sailing winners

[billy holiday]

Four days of sun and wind made for a successful RC 44 Slam Cup.

The event, held in Santa Margherita Ligure from 6-9 September, was the first Slam Cup event for these new yachts designed by the three time winner of the America's Cup, Russell Coutts. A total of six teams took part from United Arab Emirates - Dubai, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Japan.

The event was won by Team Aqua (Dubai), top of the overall position table (which sums up the final result of the fleet and match races) ahead of, in order, Team Omega (Switzerland) and Team Ceeref (Slovenia).

A total of 12 fleet regattas and a match race saw a close struggle for victory right up to the last trial. The debut of Team Ceeref (Slovenia) with James Spithill and Michele Ivaldi on board (formerly of Luna Rossa), as well as Furlani - the youngster from Trieste - (helmsman for last two days - with, behind him, 3rd place in the Optimist Worlds in 2000) was the event's biggest surprise. Team Ceeref imposed itself, in fact, in the fleet race rankings chalking up four wins and succeeding in putting a three-point gap between themselves and Dubai's Team Aqua (with Scott Kennedy at the helm).

Coutts commenting on the successful first event said: "The sailing location provided, over these past few days, variable wind conditions which permitted teams to recuperate and continually jockey for position during the same trial. This is an extremely important factor for this type of regatta which, being a one design craft - and therefore with all the boats identical - often does not offer any possibility to recover lost ground if one has a bad start."

Overall Results
1. Team Aqua (UAE - Helmsman Scott Kennedy, tactics Cameron Appleton, 2-1)
2. Team Omega (SWITZ - Helmsman Corrado Isemburg, tactics Russell Coutts, 3-2)
3. Team Ceeref (SLO - Helmsman Jaro Furlani, tactics James Spithill 1-5)
4. Team Beecom (JPN - Helmsman Isao Mita, tactics Kelvin Harrap, 4-4)
5. Team Cro-a-sail (CRO - Helmsman Reljanovic Miroslav, tactics Jasper Radich, 6-3)
6. Team Magia Lightbay (ITA - Helmsman Armando Giulietti, tactics Lorenzo Bodini,5-6