TP52 fleet downwind. Image copyright Stefano Gattini_Studio Borlenghi/Audi MedCup.
by Stephanie Nadin
For the second competition day in Cagliari, the Region of Sardinia Trophy's competitors started the first race in 10 to 12 knots of wind. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE finished 6th despite a bad start. The team remained focused and fought hard, coming back in that race nicely.
Then the wind went up to 15 knots for the second start, and the French-German team did a good performance taking the 3rd place thanks to good tactics all along that second race.
Then an incident unfortunately occurred on the third race. On the first upwind leg, Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE was close to the leeward layline and tacked. The team was close to Bribon, and decided to cross behind them, but lost control of the boat, which continued straight on. The collision could unfortunately not be avoided. Both teams had to retire from the race.
Jochen Schümann, Skipper: "There's not much to say, obviously we misjudged the situation, we were fighting for second and third place with Bribon and it seemed not to be very decided if they wanted to tack leeward of us or crossing, then with the motion, we were close and got too much helm and heel, and couldn't avoid, so stupid in the end...and obviously both boats lost two very good places and I think there's quite serious damage on Bribon. We lost the bowsprit, we have some work to do to fix that, and obviously lost a good place, either 2nd or 3rd would have been perfect for us to hang in total second, now we are DNF and cashing eleven points, that's not good. We will sail again tomorrow, yes."
Sébastien Col, Tactician: "we are very disappointed after this collision with Bribon, as they won't be able to sail any more on this event here, damages on their boat are too important. On our side we will be able to replace our bowsprit, which was damaged on our boat. We will be on the start line tomorrow. We are also disappointed as we were in the leading group of this 3rd race today with Bribon and Matador. That is unfortunately part of the game, as the boats are pushed to their limits. In today's case we were aiming at crossing behind Bribon. But we lost control of the boat, and the boat went straight on. Tomorrow will be another day. We sailed well till now and we will carry on working hard together."
Collision between Audi A1 Team powered by ALL4ONE and Bribon in race 6 off Cagliari. Image copyright Ian Roman/Audi MedCup.
Provisional overall standings after 6 races TP52 Series
1. Matador - 19 points
2. Synergy - 24 points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand - 26 points
4. TeamOrigin 1851 - 29 points
5. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE - 31 points
6. Quantum Racing - 31 points
7. Bribon - 40 points
8. Artemis - 41 points
9. Cristabella - 42 points
10. Luna Rossa - 50 points
11. Bigamist - 72 points / DNC
Audi A1 Team powered by ALL4ONE
Audi MedCup
