Spanish Win Leg 1 Of The Offshore Worlds

Team ESP, co-skippered by Aina Bauzà & Guillermo Altadill, has won Leg 1 of the 2021 Hempel Mixed Two Person Offshore World Championship in Italy.

The Spanish were first across the finish line in Bari this afternoon, after a predominantly light wind 278 nautical mile race around the Adriatic Sea. Behind them were the Belgians (Sophia Faguet & Jonas Gerckens) and USA Orcas (Christina and Justin Wolfe) in third place.

In a frustrating fourth place were the Italians,  Pietro D’Alì and Claudia Rossi on board Team ENIT, who had been leading the fleet for much of the leg until everything changed on Friday night. Italy and Belgium had been locked in a duel for hours and at the turning mark near Bari before the leg south towards Torre Canne, the leading two boats sailed into a windless hole and were becalmed. The Spanish chose a route closer to the shore and picked up some light land breeze to ghost around their floundering rivals and into a lead that the Spanish would maintain until their return to Bari for the finish.

Altadill is a veteran of many great offshore races, including the Whitbread Race and Volvo Ocean Race, but the Spaniard says this is some of the toughest offshore racing he has done. It’s not so much because it’s doublehanded but because of the short leg length, just 48 hours or so. Not long enough to get into a proper watch pattern, Leg 1 demanded almost constant attention and very little opportunity for sleep. At least the sailors will have some well earned rest on Sunday before the start of another short leg, this time from Bari to Marina di Ravenna further north along the Adriatic coastline of Italy.

The sailors are learning a lot about getting the best out of their Figaro 3 foiling keelboats as they go. The South Africans (Michaela Robinson & Siyanda Vato) have learned that upwind sailing in less than 5 knots of breeze is best done with the Code 0 hoisted. You may point 10 degrees lower but the additional horse power more than makes up for the extra distance sailed.

Earlier in the leg the fleet experienced Figaro 3s at their foiling best. Charging towards the Croatian island of Pelagosa, 30 knot wind powered the fleet along at close to 25 knots of boatspeed. But that wild ride on the foils proved the exception in a predominantly light airs drifter which tested patience and cunning, as demonstrated by the Spanish in the dead of last night.

There are ten teams from eight nations competing in this inaugural World Championships. Part of the 2021 Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour which has already seen the Figaro 3 fleet navigate the western seaboard of Italy, the 2021 Hempel Mixed Two Person Offshore World Championship is an 816nm race that is being played out across three stunning stages along the Adriatic coast:

Leg 1: Brindisi to Bari

Leg 2: Bari to Marina di Ravenna

Leg 3: Marina di Ravenna to Venice

There are teams representing Italy, Belgium, USA, South Africa, Great Britain, Spain, Sweden and Poland.

The event concludes at the end of Leg 3 in Venice on 24 September, when the first ever winners of the 2021 Hempel Mixed Two Person Offshore World Championship will stand on the podium in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities.

You can follow the racing here:

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