NED 411 Charlotte ten Wolde leads at the top mark in Race 1 of the XXIII Juan Carlos Trophy.
After no racing on Thursday with too much wind, the 23rd Juan Carlos Trophy began today (Friday) with an 8 to 12 knot north-westerly wind and a big rolling Atlantic swell. Three races were completed for this small but competitive 12 boat fleet, with Lady Helm Charlotte ten Wolde winning race 1. Sailing with her sister Juliette, Janka Holan and local professional Pedro Andrade, Charlotte made a great start to the championship and will take the Vincent Hoesch Trophy (Awarded to the winner of Race 1) back home with her to Holland :-). 2nd place was SUI 296 Justus Kniffka & 3rd NED 412 Pieter Heerema.
Winner of Race 2 was SUI 296 helmed by Justus Kniffka, with Jorge Lima & Joao Vidinha.
In race 2 it was Justus Kniffka helming SUI 296 who put in a fantastic performance to take the victory, crewed by Jorge Lima & Joao Vidinha. Joao explained “It was a very tricky day with a big swell and our tactician Jorge did a good job. For a change it mainly paid to go left, we are very happy”. 2nd was GBR 810 Tom Vernon and 3rd POR 47 Vasco Serpa.
Although the majority of the fleet headed right, it was the left side that paid most times.
In Race 3 it was again GBR 810 helmed by Tom Vernon, crewed by Adam Bowers & Ollie Spensley-Corfield, who were at the front end of the fleet. In the end Tom took the victory from POR 67 John Herald Orneberg in 2nd & POR 47 Vasco Serpa with another 3rd place. As both Tom and Vasco had a UFD from race 1 they were both happy to record back to back top three places. Unfortunately, Tom was protested in Race 2, which was upheld, so it will now be tough to finish on the podium overall, but I’m sure they will fight hard to redeem the situation…
The CNC Committee Boat shepherd’s the fleet back to the swing moorings in Cascais.
So after three races it is SUI 296 Justus Kniffka who sits at the top of the leader board with scores of 2, 1, 4. In 2nd overall is NED 411 Charlotte ten Wolde with 1,7,5 and 3rd is POR 67 with 9, 4 & 2. However, there are still two more days to go, so lets see what tomorrow brings…..
Higher, Faster, Longer………. Stavros.
Many thanks to Anna Zykova for these super photo’s…..