With a 3-2-1 score Aleph Racing was boat of the day, ahead of GeMera Racing and Team Nika on the opening day of 44Cup Puntaldia.
With the chilly breeze starting at around 17 knots, the first race saw Team Charisma lead GeMera Racing and Aleph Racing around the top mark, with Nico Poons back behind the wheel. For the next lap it was close between Charisma and GeMera with GeMera just getting the inside berth at the top mark to lead on to the run and on to the finish.
In race two GeMera Racing was also looking in good shape heading right out of the start. However on the final run some shift-playing cunning by Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika, and the Pietro Loro Piana-skippered Aleph Racing caused them to pull ahead down the middle of the course, Team Nika taking the win, the charging Aleph Racing following just three seconds behind.
In the third and final race the fleet remained lined up on starboard for a while out of the line but were headed, and Aleph Racing, which had started close to the pin, was able to tack back from the left and cross the fleet on port. This set them up to be first into the top mark, extending away from there to take the race win.
44CUP Puntaldia results after Day 1:
1st Aleph Racing (17) Hugues Lepic & Pietro Loro Piana 3 2 1 – 6 pts
2nd GeMera Racing (30) Markus Törnqvist 1 3 5 – 9 pts
3rd Team Nika (10) Vladimir Prosikhin 7 1 2 – 10 pts
4th Team Charisma (15) Nico Poons 2 7 4 – 13 pts
5th Artemis Racing (26) Torbjörn Törnqvist 5 5 6 – 16 pts
6th Team Aqua (28) Chris Bake 6 8 3 1 – 7 pts
7th Peninsula Racing (31) John Bassadone 8 4 7 – 19 pts
8th Black Star (27) Christian Zuerrer 4 10 10 – 24 pts
9th Wow! Sailing Team (25) Mehmet Taki & Murat Edin 9 6 8 2 – 25 pts
