José Matoso Wins in Cascais..

José Matoso, Frederico Melo & Gustavo Lima, winners of 5th Winter Series..

Whilst the rest of Europe shelter from the rain & endless storms, the Club Naval de Cascais managed to complete a shortened winter series yesterday after a total of 5 good quality races. With 47 knots forecast for today (Sunday), the decision was made to crane the boats out & award the prizes yesterday. I can tell you fellow sailors that as I sit inside the Club Naval the weather is terrible. So it was a great call by the PRO and gives all the competitors a well deserved break after some hard fought and very close racing.

Local Hero Alvaro Marinho helming POR 64 really applied the pressure yesterday after winning the first two races with his crew of Nuno Barreto & Rodrigo Vantacich. His boatspeed and tactical awareness gave Alvaro a good lead over the two up-wind and two down-wind legs. However, POR 55 helmed solidly by the current European Champion José Matoso was battling hard to find his form & stay within touching distance of Alvaro overall.

Also sailing consistantly well was POR 50 helmed by Pedro Mendes Leal, crewed by Pedro Andrade & Jorge Ferlov Ribeiro. But they had to settle for a creditable 3rd place overall as José pulled out all the stops to win the final race and secure his victory by just 1pt from Alvaro.

Final Standings : POR 55 8pts,  POR 64 9pts,  POR 50  9pts..

The top Corinthian Team were POR 41 helmed by José Carlos Pina, crewed by Filipe Loueriro & Miguel Tavares, despite a late challenge from newcomers Matt Alexander, John Raymond & Alexander Shaw.

Corinthian Winners, POR 41 with the PRO and Jorge Arnoso (middle).

The next event will be the 4th Stavros Match Race just prior to the Grade 1 Juan Carlos Trophy (6th-9th March). Lots more sailing, lots more fun…..

Higher, Faster, Longer…………..    Stavros.  (GBR 771).