Photo Gilles Martin
Larry Ellison’s BMW ORACLE Racing wins the match race event of the RC44 MALCESINE SLAM CUP ahead of James Spithill
The scenario of the match race event couldn’t have been any better, with four teams sharing the lead before the last race, illustrating the closeness and the intensity of the event! Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts and their crew made the best of it; they are the 2008 RC 44 Continental champions.
Malcesine, July 10 2008 – The second and last day of the match racing event of the RC 44 Malcesine SLAM Cup has been rich in surprises and upsets. Indeed, many teams who struggled yesterday managed to get convincing victories today against top teams, proving once again that everybody can win races in this Class.Sailing against the provisional leader Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano, Philippe Presti and his team on board Organika got the first bullet of the day.
After dominating the start in great style, Presti struggled to counter Col’s come back – until Hiroshi’s spinnaker blew during the last run.At the same time, the Japanese team Beecom sailed perfectly against James Spithill’s Ceeref, obtaining its first victory in the event. Team Aqua, who had a bye on the first race, couldn’t have dreamed of a better outcome before its race against Ceeref, scheduled just afterwards.
However, the team from the UAE didn’t make the best of it. After a good start and a very close beat, both Ceeref and Aqua reached the windward mark at the same time; Aqua tried to dunk Ceeref but its bow crashed into Ceeref’s transom. Consequence: a penalty, a loss and a broken bow, luckily replaceable in 10 minutes thanks to the wise crash box system established on all boats. Read More...
