In Thursday’s five races Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi team never finished a race deeper than third and ended the day four points ahead of second-placed Red Bull Sailing Team.
Alinghi claimed the first race after a head-to-head with Red Bull Sailing Team and then won race four effectively from the first upwind leg. “We got some good starts and Nico [Nicolas Charbonnier – tactician] picked up some good lanes upwind and from there it was almost over, but we kept focussed on the other boats and we tried to control the fleet,” continued Psarofaghis.
Jason Carroll’s US team Argo missed the last GC32 Racing Tour event but is back with a vengeance. The Argonauts won today’s third race and were runner-up in the last.
Coming off the water equally delighted was Zoulou’s Erik Maris, whose team was lying second overall going into the final race but finished the day third and leader of the Owner-Driver championship here.
Zoulou won the second race, helped by gaining a beneficial shift on the final run.
GC32 Riva Cup Results after day 1
1st Alinghi 1 3 2 1 3 – – 10 pts
2nd Red Bull Sailing Team 2 2 6 3 1 – – 14 pts
3rd Zoulou 4 1 4 2 5 – – 16 pts
4th Oman Air 3 4 3 4 4 – -18 pts
5th Argo 6 5 1 7 2 – – 21 pts
6th Black Star Sailing Team 5 6 5 6 6 – – 28 pts
7th Código Rojo Racing 7 7 7 5 7 – -33 pts