Turkish Delight in Cascais..

The beautiful “Josephine” TUR 1212 wins the 4th Winter Series in Cascais.

28 International teams representing 12 different countries were treated to a  superb weekend of sailing in a variety of conditions at the 4th Winter Series in Cascais. Unfortunately, the huge Atlantic sea’s that roll in towards the impressive shoreline prevented any racing on Friday, but improved conditions on Saturday allowed for 2 “full on” races providing the ultimate test for both sailors and equipment.

Race 1 was started in 22 kts of easterly wind on a square line with ample room for all boats to get away cleanly on starboard tack heading in towards Estoril. One of the first boats to break from the pack was GBR 801 “Monday” helmed by Lawrie Smith, who is racing this year with a 4 man team. It was a question of not going in too far left, which meant you could “over stand” the top mark, but playing the left side of the 1.3 mile course. Lawrie and his successful team who won the 3rd winter series, got it just right and cruised to a deserved victory.

Winners of Race 1 GBR 801. Lawrie Smith, Hugo Rocha, Goncalo Ribeiro & Ruben Sole.

Race 2 got underway shortly after the 1 hr 10 mins first race with the breeze starting to build showing occasional gusts of 27 kts. This was not a race for the feint hearted and 7 teams opted for an early shower then a warm whisky..  But for the 21 boats who remained out it was a most exciting a rewarding race, as the surfing conditions saw all the thrills and spills of a circus :-).  This time Lawrie and his team had pressure from the beautifully restored “Josephine” representing Turkey led by Ali Tezdiker, helmed by Andy Beadsworth and crewed by the most enthusiastic English Rugby supporter, Simon Fry. Although GBR 801 led at the top mark 2nd time around, they allowed TUR 1212 to gybe inside them giving away their advantage on the final downwind leg to the finish.. This was the first International race win for Ali and his team in the most exhilarating conditions.

Winners of Race 2 TUR 1212 “Josephine” Andy Beadsworth, Ali Tezdiker and Simon Fry.

With the wind not showing any sign of reducing, our experienced Race Officer Jose’ Cansella, sent the fleet back in for a well deserved “Happy Hour”, superbly provided by the staff at the Club Naval.

On Sunday the wind was much lighter and turned around to the Southwest. With smaller waves and a 6kt breeze it needed full concentration by both helm and crew to keep the boats momentum, especially as an easterly tide kicked in halfway through the day. At the beginning of race 3 it was POR 40 who took the initiative of tacking to the right after a committee boat start.

Race 3. POR 40 “Dragul” helmed by Jose’ Bello, starts at the boat & tacks to the right.

With the fleet split 50/50 it was not until the top mark that an advantage could be seen, although for those boats on the far right of the course, they began to smile.  Smiling even more was young Bernardo Torres Pego, sailing his first Dragon race on board POR 40 with Jose’ Bello and Andre’ Caiado, as they rounded the top mark in a clear 1st position..

POR 40 “Dragul” leads Race 3 with Jose’ Bello, Bernardo Torres Pego and Andre’ Ciaado.

For the next hour Bernardo had the excitement of helping Jose’ and Andre’ to maintain their lead ahead of TUR 1212 who kept to the task of finishing with another excellent result. In the end POR 40 took the very popular local victory, with TUR 1212 in a close 2nd place. This put Ali Tezdiker and his “Josephine” team into the overall lead on just 7 points from the 3 races.

Going into the final race of the series (Race 4) it was between TUR 1212 & GBR 801 for the series win, whilst RUS 76 (Dmitry Samokhin) and GER 1177 (Pedro Andrade) were battling for the final podium finish.  This time the left hand side of the beat seem to pay as a strong 2 to 3 kt current continued to push the fleet across the course from left to right. Making good use of their countless years of local knowledge was POR 66 “Drago” helmed by Jose’ Matoso, crewed by 5 times Olympian & Social Media celebrity Gustavo Lima, with Frederico Melo who commanded the race.

POR 66 “Drago” Jose’ Matoso wins race 4, the final race of the series as the wind died away.

2nd in the final race was DEN 138 “Eva” helmed by Lars Hendriksen, who had also recorded a 4th early in the day. Unfortunately, Lars had gear failure on Saturday so was not able to participate in the strong winds, but I am sure he will be a main force in the remaining series building up to the Worlds in June. Meanwhile RUS 76 just managed to stay ahead (3rd) of GER 1177 (4th) giving Dmitry and his experienced team 3rd place overall. 

3rd Overall RUS 76 “Strange Little Girl” Dmitry Samokhin, Aleksey Bushuev & Andrey Kirilyuk.

In the fight for overall winners it was TUR 1212 who kept a close eye on GBR 801 to finish 5th & 6th respectively, so the series deservedly went to Ali Tezdiker, Andy Beadsworth and Simon Fry.

Winners TUR 1212  Ali Tezdiker (Centre) with Andy Beadsworth & Simon Fry.

Of the 8 Corinthian Teams it was once again SWE 385 “Still Crazy” helmed by Stefan Winberg who finished top. Sailing with Fredrik Brotell and Markus Lagerquist, Stefan and his team finished an excellent 6th overall after discarding an OCS in race 2. Very well done to all the “Podium” Teams.

In his winners speech, Andy Beadsworth thanked the Club Naval de Cascais and all their helpers for hosting an excellent weekend of racing in testing conditions. Andy added that he considered Cascais a fantastic venue and he could not think of a better place in Europe to hold a winter series and they very much look forward to competing at the World Championships in June.

Higher, Faster, Longer…………..     Stavros.

My thanks as always go to Ricardo Pinto our brilliant Photographer…  without his wonderful action pictures, my Blog’s would not be possible…