Two final races will determine World Champions in three classes
Too close to call as rivals jostle for position
Valencia delivers a third day of champagne sailing
A third day of intensive on the water action at the Swan One Design Worlds, hosted by the Real Club Náutico de Valencia, saw several teams staking their claim to be World Championship contenders.
With today the final and deciding day for the three one-design classes competing – the ClubSwan 36, ClubSwan 42 and ClubSwan 50 – for some it was a case of trying to consolidate their position near the top of their table, for others a further opportunity to get into the mix.
And while the names at the top of the class leaderboards did not change, there was no disguising the jockeying for position which has left all three outcomes too close to call.
A south-easterly sea breeze building to 15 knots off the historic port city of Valencia, with early flat water and a later small chop, set the scene for an intriguing day.
ClubSwan 36: Mamao stays in front but only just
In the ClubSwan 36 fleet Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio's G Spot shot out of the blocks in the first race to take the win and move top of the table ahead of Haakon Lorentzen's Brazil-flagged Mamao, only to deliver an uncharacteristic eighth place result in the second and drop four points behind.
Edoardo Ferragamo's Cuordileone and Giangiacomo and Lorenzo Mondo's Farstar are tied on points just a single point further back.
However, the boat of the day in class was Edoardo and Vanni Pavesio's Fra Martina which sits in fifth place. Edoardo said: "The racing was amazing today; we were boat of the day with a third and a first.
"Tomorrow we will play our game and we will see. I think we are out of the podiums for sure as we had an incredibly bad first day, so we will just do our best."
ClubSwan 42: Spain's Nadir is looking over her shoulder
Pedro Vaquer's Nadir found herself coming under new pressure today in the ClubSwan 42 class, with her closest rivals, Selene-Alifax and Dralion sharing the day's two race wins. Dralion in particular showed great form, posting the best results across the entire fleet.
Her tactician Hugo Victor Rocha said: "The journey has gone quite well; we won the first race and in the second we finished second. Everything came out perfect, our start was perfect, and the speed has also been great".
And he added: "For tomorrow we want to try to start well and have good tactics. Tomorrow there will be two races. The conditions in Valencia are incredible, amazing!"
Nadir goes into the final day five points ahead of Selene-Alifax with Dralion a further three behind.
ClubSwan 50: Top two just a point apart
In what has been a highly competitive week the ClubSwan 50 class has seen some outstanding racing, with the outcome remaining in the balance.
Despite a win in today's first race Cuordileone, helmed by Leonardo Ferragamo, was unable to shake-off the persistent attention of Hendrik Brandis' ever-consistent Earlybird and the two head into the final races tomorrow just a point apart.
Earlybird's tactician, the renowned Australian sailor Tom Slingsby, said: "It was great sailing today with a great sea breeze, just picture-perfect racing, it was really nice out there.
"We're in the hunt heading into tomorrow, but the points are tight. We would love to have a good day tomorrow and if we do we know we can win, but we have made some mistakes out there – so if we can sail error free, we are in with a good chance. We know we are fast enough; we will just have to see what happens."
With the best class results of the day, 3-1, Louis Balcaen's Balthasar has kept her hopes alive in third place, though nine points off the lead.
For the defending World Champion and season leader Hatari, however, Marcus Brennecke's team may have left themselves with too much ground to make up.
"It was very difficult for us today we are not sailing very well, and we are not up to our old standards," said Brennecke."We are not consistent, and we made too many mistakes.
"Obviously we would like to get back to our old ways. We hope to sail better with fewer errors and at least get on the podium.
"Cuordileone has a great helm in Leonardo and a good team, and they are very consistent. Earlybird is sailing very well tactically with very good boat speed, as does Balthasar."
After racing, the Real Club Náutico de Valencia was again the host for the daily prize-giving, supported by North Sails, one of the select group on the ClubSwan Racing roster of Official Marine Suppliers.
Meanwhile the evening's lavish Owners’ Dinner will include an exclusive private tour of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias – The City of Arts and Sciences – an extraordinary cultural and architectural complex designed by the acclaimed Valencia-born architect Santiago Calatrava.
The dinner itself will be in the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía – The Queen Sofia Palace of Arts – with the guests entertained with a special surprise street art performance by Spiros Zouboulakis and the NOS Graffiti Team.
The owners attending the dinner will also again be able to take advantage of the BMW Courtesy Car service, which has been a feature of the regatta, with BMW – a ClubSwan Racing Official Partner – highlighting their fully electric models for the occasion.
Partners of the ClubSwan Racing 2022 One Design circuit are: Rolex, BMW, Randstad, Salvatore Ferragamo, Sease, Ferrari Trento, Banor, M&C Saatchi, North Sails, Quantum Sails, Gottifredi Maffioli, Garmin, B&G, Lavazza, Marevivo. The regatta management will be supported by the electric marks by Mark Set Bot.