- The regatta that has started today in front of the Olympic Port of Barcelona, has been characterized by the spectacular duels of this mythical fleet
- The southwest wind has accompanied the 12m sailboats during the rounds of the competition
Barcelona, July 15th of July 2014. For the second consecutive day the Olympic Port of Barcelona has been the backdrop of the departure and the arrival of the Puig 12mR World Championship, which since yesterday is hosted by the Real Club Náutico from Barcelona. The Mediterranean capital has continued with its most seafaring week. The boats have sailed close to the coast, so that the public could enjoy one more day, an impressive staging of these seven mythical jewels belonging to one of the most splendid periods of the America’s Cup and which can be seen for the first in a capital like Barcelona.
The Italian Nyala presents her credentials to the World Championship of 12 Meters
Today two new races of the Puig 12mR World Championship have been played. If yesterday the wind blew from the east, the thermic southwest breeze has relieved it in the regatta course marked out in front of the Barcelona beaches.
The flat water today has allowed the fleet to sail faster than yesterday, which with an almost identical wind intensity (6-9 knots) saw its performance depleted due to the short messy southwest waves. Finally, 1 hour 19 minutes in the morning and 2 minutes less in the afternoon were the times achieved by the winner of both races.
In the morning round, the Nyala of Patrizio Bertelli has dominated her opponents with authority, after trailing from third to first position in the downwind of the second section. From there, she has started stretching her advantage, first sailing on the right side of the second upwind, and then thanks to the good work her crew has shown in all the downwind. In its wake, the exchange of positions between the Vanity V, the Vim, the Trivia and the Wings continued during the second upwind, until during the final windward approximation they divided into two pairs, which have still fought hard in the final downwind. Eleven seconds was the advantage of the Danish Vanity V over the American Vim, while in her stern the German Trivia won the fourth position to the British Wings, just for two seconds.
At 14:20 pm the second race of the day got started, ahead of the starting signal of the Wings, who has been forced to return to the start point and has lost her options to get into the top group. However, their good work of the crew has allowed her to get back in the regatta and achieve the fifth position. In the first windward mark, the Vim was leading the fleet, closely followed by the Nyala, the Trivia and the Vanity V. A tactical struggle in the first downwind meant a change of positions and the need to choose different doors so as to start the second upwind. The Trivia led by the most-favored right buoy, while the Nyala was forced to to the turn left marker. The Vim sailed third on the right, while the Vanity V veered the left buoy. In the next marker, at the end of the second race the Trivia defended her leadership, while the Vanity stole the second position to the Nyala, who knowing he had the opportunity to confirm her title aspirations at stake tightened the screws. In the short windward separator section, she hoisted her spinnaker, cutting part of the five lengths of delay he had compared to the Vanity V, who passed on the downwind after a technical and long heads-up play from leeward before overcoming the Vanity V, hoping to finally arrive to the finish line, where she confirmed the second position with 13 seconds less than the Vanity V.
Now that four races are completed, after the first two navigation days, the minimum number of rounds is already completed so that the 12 Meters World Championships can be now officially valid. Adding the four results, the Nyala is now the leader, accumulating 6 points, compared to the 9 from the Trivia, the 13 from the Vanity V and the 15 from the Wings, who goes down to the fourth place.