The final day of the RC 44 2010 season sees BMW ORACLE Racing going for the overall championship. The crew led by Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts came into the event with a 2-point lead over 2009 season champion No Way Back, a 4-point lead over both Artemis Racing and 17, and a 5-point lead over Team Aqua.
The standings tightened up after the match racing portion of the event because BMW ORACLE Racing placed sixth while Aqua won and Artemis finished second. On the other hand, 17 finished seventh and No Way Back eighth.
The current fleet racing standings have 17 leading, BMW ORACLE Racing second, No Way Back fourth, Artemis Racing sixth and Team Aqua eighth.
Scoring at RC 44 events combines both the match racing and fleet racing. A team’s placing in both events is combined in a low-point format. In the event of ties in the regatta they will be broken by the fleet racing positions. Ties in the season championship will be broken based on the RC 44 World Championship results from Lanzarote, Canary Islands, in October. 17 won the Worlds and BMW ORACLE Racing placed second, but based on the current fleet racing standings, BMW ORACLE Racing is in the driver’s seat for the season championship.
The race committee hopes to run three races toady and the weather should accommodate those attempts. The winds are forecast to blow from the SW/WSW today as a cold front approaches the region tonight. The winds all week have blown from a northerly quadrant, so the change in direction will keep tacticians off balance as they learn the new direction. The wind is also forecast to blow strongly this afternoon, building to 15 to 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots possible.
The first warning signal is scheduled for 1200 hours and no starting signal will be made after 1500 hours.
ORACLE RC 44 Cup Fleet Racing Provisional Standings
(After 6 races)
1. 17 (USA) William Douglass/Jimmy Spithill – 3-5-3-1-1-1 – 14 points
2. BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) Larry Ellison/Russell Coutts – 5-10-4-2-8-5 – 34 points
3. Mascalzone Latino (ITA) Vincenzo Onorato/Francesco Bruni – 7-3-9-8-6-2 – 35 points
4. No Way Back (NED) Pieter Heerema/Ray Davies – 10-2-1-5-4-14 – 36 points
5. Ceeref (SLO) Igor Lah/Rod Davis – 2-8-5-10-7-4 – 36 points
6. Artemis Racing (SWE) Torbjorn Tornqvist/Terry Hutchinson – 4-1-2-6-13-12 – 38 points
7. Katusha (RUS) Guennadi Timtchenko/Paul Cayard – 9-13-7-7-2-6 – 44 points
8. Team Aqua (UAE) Chris Bake/Cameron Appleton – 1-12-11-9-3-9 – 45 points
9. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) Daniel Calero/Jose Maria Ponce – 8-7-8-14-5-3 – 45 points
10. Peninsula Petroleum (ESP) John Bassadone/Inaki Castaner – 11-4-6-11-10-13 – 55 points
11. Team Sea Dubai (UAE) Harm Müller-Spreer/Markus Wieser – 6-6-13-12-9-8 – 56 points (includes 2 point penalty)
12. Ironbound (USA) David Murphy/Ian Williams – 12-11-10-4-11-11 – 59 points
13. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) Maxim Logutenko/Evgeniy Neugodnikov – 14-14-14-3-12-10 – 67 points
14. AEZ RC 44 Sailing Team (AUT) René Mangold/Christian Binder – 13-9-12-13-14-7 – 68 points
