With the fleet looking forward to the Scandinavian Gold Cup and World Championship at the Yacht Club Costa Smerelda, in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, in just over a month’s time, this week in Grandson was last opportunity for most of the fleet to race together. The fleet of 15 moderns from six nations all came to get in some practice and test gear ahead of the world titles. They were treated to four days of sublime weather and hot competition with the temperature past 30 degrees every day and winds from 5-10 knots. The organising club, Cercle de la voile de Grandson, were the perfect hosts and talks are already underway for a return.
Caracole rarely made a mistake in either event. In the Joran Cup, sailed over Saturday and Sunday they followed three second places on Saturday with two race wins on Sunday and wrapped it up with a race to spare. New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark HOLOWESKO, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) finally took second overall with an impressive 2,3,1 on Sunday, while Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ, Przemysław GACEK/Christof WILKE, Edward WRIGHT) dropped from second to third.
The forecast for the four days was not encouraging but, in the end, all 12 races were completed, and the fleet had a lot of light wind practice. The crew of Caracole were heard requesting light winds at the worlds as well. They are clearly still the team to beat on Swiss lakes in light wind.
Results Joran Cup
1 Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard HAISSLY, Daniel STAMPFLI, Nicolas BERTHOUD) 8
2 New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark HOLOWESKO, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) 10
3 Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ, Przemysław GACEK/Christof WILKE, Edward WRIGHT) 16
4 Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66, John BACON, Terry WETTON, James MAYJOR) 19
5 Ali-Baba SUI 224 (Flavio MARAZZI, Julie MARAZZI, Eline MARAZZI)
Results International Open
1 Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard HAISSLY, Daniel STAMPFLI, Nicolas BERTHOUD) 10
2 Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ, Przemysław GACEK, Edward WRIGHT) 12
3 Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian NERGAARD, Trond SOLLI-SÆTHER, Anders PEDERSEN) 16
4 New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark HOLOWESKO, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) 18
5 Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66, John BACON, Terry WETTON, James MAYJOR)