Chris Bake seemed to have lit the touch paper on board his Team Aqua boat during the second day of fleet racing at the RC44 Valletta Cup, yesterday.
The longest-serving RC44 crew seemed to be in a different league as they achieved a perfect scoreline, winning three out of three races despite challenging conditions.
While the forecast suggested there were going to be some headaches with the wind starting in the 20s, dropping and shifting right dramatically, in fact conditions were more benign but with a long swell making life difficult for the helms and crews on port tack in towards the Valletta shore.
In the first race, Team Aqua tactician Cameron Appleton found a good lane off the start and tacked off quickly to the favoured right. He then kept it simple, sailing out to the starboard layline which he called perfectly to take Team Aqua directly to the top mark in first place ahead of Katusha.
From there they defended well with Artemis Racing pulling up to second behind them on the first run.
Race Two and the right was less favoured. With teams instead playing the middle of the first beat, it was Frenchman Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing which fought her way to the top mark in first.
But Team Aqua were close behind in second, rounding alongside Nico Poons’s Charisma.
While Aleph Racing gybed immediately, Team Aqua left it a little longer and by the time they gybed back Bake’s team was out in front, rounding the leeward gate ahead of Charisma and with Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis Racing, positions which were maintained to the finish.
Bake’s team performed a similar feat in the third and final race of the day by which the time the wind had dropped significantly.
This time, it was Vladimir Liubomirov’s Bronenosec which was first to the weather mark, but once again Aqua was on the leader’s transom while behind there was a virtual gridlock as the rest of the RC44s attempted to round the mark simultaneously.
On this occasion, Bronenosec continued on starboard and Aqua were the first to gybe and managed to find a lower mode causing the boat to roll the Russian team and lead into the gate with Bronenosec and Team CEEREF astern overlapped. The final run turned into a three-horse race with Aqua successfully fending off the advancing CEEREF and Nika.
Aqua soared into the lead at the RC44 Valletta Cup fleet racing.
They now hold a nine-point lead over Artemis and Katusha with two days of racing left to sail.