Zero to hero RC44 claims Cascais and Championship

Giant waves kicked up by an Atlantic gale oddly combined with no wind in the vicinity of Cascais resulted in racing being cancelled on the final day of the RC44 Cascais Cup.

This made for a surprise, come-from-behind winner of both this last event of the 2018 season for the high performance, one design race boats and in the 2018 RC44 Championship ranking overall.

“The decision to race or not was made by the fact that we have no wind at all,” explained PRO Peter Reggio at noon. “On a day like this, with the water the way it is, we need more wind than normal to be able to race fairly.”

After day one in Cascais, Nico Poons’ Charisma was dead last having posted a 7-8. Even newcomer to the fleet, Paulo Mirpuri and his Mirpuri Foundation, enjoying his first ever day racing in the RC44 fleet, were ahead. A 2-2-6-1 on day two saw the Monaco-based Dutchman’s team fight back to fourth place, still nine points from the lead.

The day prior, a welcome continuation of their winning streak saw them win both races in big winds and giant seas, coinciding with a most unfortunate day for day two’s leader, Team Nika. This propelled Charisma into the lead.

No racing on the final day left Charisma hitting the jackpot, winning the RC44 Cascais Cup, with a three point advantage over Chris Bake’s Team Aqua, second on countback to Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF. Charisma also overhauled both Team Nika and Team CEEREF to claim the annual RC44 Championship for the first time.

For full results visit: www.rc44.com/results