18th June 2011- Jubilee Cup & Brinton Cup
CHARLIE STAGNETTO AND HAMISH RISSO SHARE HONOURS
The fourth races of the Jubilee series (sponsored by Beck’s Beer) and the Brinton series (sponsored by Marks & Spencer) were raced by eleven Victories last Saturday in the Bay of Gibraltar in variable conditions. The first race of the day was the Jubilee 4 race and since there was a Southerly breeze blowing a course was set between a buoy off the airfield and another inside the harbour near the southern end of the detached mole.
About a minute before the start there was a substantial shift in the wind from South to South East catching a number of the competitors by surprise, including Hamish Risso in Fencer who was not able to make the starting line.
Charlie Stagnetto in Niña, Nick Cruz in Fairdawn and Micko Capurro in Andromeda got the best starts at the buoy end of the line whilst Hamish, who had ended up in last place after missing the starting line, and Charlie Lavarello who also got a bad start both tacked off towards the west in an attempt to make some ground on the leaders. This move by Charlie and Hamish paid off and when they met up with the rest of the fleet they found that they were amongst the three leading boats and ahead of the remainder of the fleet.
As the boats tacked down the length of the North Mole, Charlie Stagnetto opened up a comfortable lead on the rest of the fleet leaving Charlie Lavarello, Micko and Hamish to battle it out for second place. Towards the end of the North Mole, Hamish caught both Charlie Lavarello and Micko on starboard to establish himself in second position and also inflict a penalty on Micko.
As the boats entered the harbour, Charlie Stagnetto’s lead grew with Hamish maintaining his second place and Charlie Lavarello in third ahead of Micko who then lost a couple of places whilst doing his penalty turns.
Charlie Stagnetto arrived at the windward mark with a substantial advantage over Hamish in second place and he was able to increase this lead during the subsequent run whilst Charlie Lavarello in third place managed to reduce Hamish’s lead to a single boat length. As they arrived at the leeward mark Charlie Lavarello managed to round the buoy better than Hamish and get to windward of him, but unfortunately for Charlie this advantage was short lived and Hamish was able to reopen a lead of a few boat lengths during the subsequent beat.
Charlie Stagnetto kept increasing his lead as the race went on and managed to win the race comfortably from Hamish who came second and Charlie Lavarello in third. Further back Andrew Alcantara in Zoe, who had raced a good race and towards the end of the race threatened to overtake Charlie Lavarello, finished in fourth place and Micko finished in fifth place.
These results meant that Charlie Stagnetto and his crew of Michele Stagnetto and Andrew Tucker in Niña won the Jubilee series with Hamish Risso with his crew of Zoe Risso and Joey Imossi in Fencer were the series runners up.
The second race of the day was the fourth race of the Brinton series and although it was originally planned to be raced on the same course as the previous race, a massive change in wind direction to Westerly just before the start caused a postponement of the start and a change of course more suitable to the new wind direction.
When the race restarted Hamish Risso and Nick Cruz managed to get the best starts and they both tacked off early towards the Refinery with the rest of the fleet in close pursuit. These two boats managed to open up a comfortable lead on the rest of the fleet although an error by Hamish and some good decision making by Nick and Micko, put Nick in first place ahead of Micko in second and Hamish in third. As the boats travelled west towards the RAF marker buoy, the wind started to die out and the fleet started to spread out as a result of the variable conditions.
As the wind became less predictable and with the tide causing considerable problems for all the boats, Nick and Hamish swapped positions several times at the head of the race whilst Charlie Stagnetto managed to close the gap on both of them to place himself firmly in third place ahead of Micko, Charlie Lavarello and Louis Triay Snr.
Just when it looked like it was going to be impossible to get round the mark due to the light winds and strong tide, the westerly wind stiffened and Hamish found himself in the right place at the right time to take advantage and round the mark in first place and with a considerable lead over Charlie Stagnetto, Nick Cruz, Charlie Lavarello and Louis Triay.
In the following run, Hamish maintained his lead on the fleet whilst Charlie Stagnetto managed to head off the challenge from Nick to remain in second place. As the boats approached the end of the run the wind changed back to a southerly breeze making the race a “follow the leader” and making overtaking almost impossible.
Due to the light winds and the length of time that it had taken to complete the first leg of the course, the Race Officer, Alex Lugnani made a good call in deciding to shorten the length of the race by finishing a round earlier than had originally been planned which meant that Hamish was able to finish the race in first position, with Charlie Stagnetto in second place, Nick Cruz in third Charlie Lavarello fourth and Louis Triay Snr. fifth.
This means that Hamish is leading the Brinton Series with one race to go and that only he or Charlie Stagnetto can win this series. Charlie needs a win in the final race and for Hamish not to come second to win his second series of the season and deny Hamish his first series win in a couple of years.
The final race of this series (which was postponed from the first weekend of racing due to a lack of wind) will be next Saturday and this will also count as the qualifier for the Louis Triay Challenge.
The top 6 boats will qualify for the finals of the Louis Triay Challenge and then go head to head against each other in a series of “mano a mano” races to decide the winner of this prestigious trophy.
The Kings Cup is currently being led by Hamish Risso from Charlie Stagnetto with Charlie Lavarello and Micko Capurro close behind.
Jubilee 4
1. Charlie Stagnetto in Niña – Crew Michele Stagnetto and Andrew Tucker
2. Hamish Risso in Fencer - Crew Zoe Risso & Joey Imossi
3. Charlie Lavarello in Flash - Crew Patrick Capurro
Brinton 4
1. Hamish Risso in Fencer - Crew Zoe Risso & Joey Imossi
2. Charlie Stagnetto in Niña – Crew Michele Stagnetto and Andrew Tucker
3. Nick Cruz in Fairdawn - Crew Tim Grisby and John Smith
4th June 2011- Jubilee Cup & Brinton Cup
The third race of the Jubilee Cup series (sponsored by Beck’s Beer) was the first of two races sailed last Saturday 4th June 2011 in a fresh Easterly breeze.
Eleven Victories took to the start and Charlie Stagnetto in Niña was quickest off the mark with Hamish Risso in Fencer and Charlie Lavarello in Flash rounding the windward mark in 2nd and 3rd position respectively and not far behind of Charlie Stagnetto.
Hamish sailed a good downwind leg and narrowed the lead that Charlie Stagnetto had established during the first upwind leg and then proceeded to mount a challenge for the lead on the next upwind leg. Positions changed amongst these three leading boats during the course of the second upwind leg. Meanwhile a battle ensued behind between Louis Triay Snr in Viking, Nick Cruz in Fairdawn and Micko Capurro in Andromeda although none of these were ever able to threaten an attack on the first three leading boats who by now had distanced themselves significantly from the chasing fleet.
Charlie Stagnetto who had lost his lead momentarily was able to re-establish it just before the rounding of the windward mark but Charlie Lavarello and Hamish Risso who rounded the mark in that order and only a couple of boat lengths behind Charlie Stagnetto were still very much in the race and with still another downwind leg and the short upwind leg to the finish, any of these 3 boats could still take line honours.
Hamish Risso was able to overtake Charlie Lavarello just before the last rounding of the leeward mark by establishing an inside overlap at the mark and rounding just behind Charlie Stagnetto. In the last beat to the finish Hamish mounted yet a further attack and with some clever tacking with the shifts soon found himself not only overtaking Charlie Stagnetto but creating an advantage of some 3 to 4 boat lengths this being sufficient for him to retain the lead and take line honours for the first time this season. Charlie Lavarello in the meantime took advantage of the tacking duel ahead and was able to overtake Charlie Stagnetto just before the finish to take 2nd position with Charlie Stagnetto immediately behind in 3rd. Micko Capurro crossed the line in 4th position and Louis Triay Snr in 5th.
These result means that 4 boats are still very much in contention to win the Jubilee Cup where the best three results of the four races sailed are taken account of to establish the winner. Of the 3 races in this series so far sailed Micko Capurro has a 1st, a 3rd and a 4th, Charlie Stagnetto has two 2nds and a 3rd, Hamish Risso has a 1st, a 3rd and a 7th and Charlie Lavarello has a 1st, a 2nd and a 4th. After discarding the worst result any of these boats could with a win on the fourth and final race of the series win the cup.
The second race of the afternoon was sailed immediately after the first race had finished. This was the second of the Brinton Cup series (sponsored by Marks & Spencer). A tight start and some close quarter sailing resulted in an upwind leg full of incidents with Micko Capurro, Louis Triay Snr and Hamish Risso all having to take penalty turns as a result of rule infringements in relation to three separate incidents during the first upwind leg. Meanwhile Charlie Lavarello in Flash, Charlie Stagnetto in Niña, Edgar Lavarello in Waterwitch and Andrew Alcantara in Zoe capitalised and rounded the first windward mark in that order ahead of the chasing fleet. Unfortunately for Andrew Alcantara gear failure forced him to retire from the race early.
Charlie Lavarello was able to establish a sizeable lead but one that was quickly extinguished on the next upwind leg when Charlie Stagnetto made better use of the South Easterly shifts and soon overtook Charlie Lavarello who was also overtaken at the end of the penultimate windward leg by Hamish Risso who after having completed some penalty turns in the previous upwind leg sailed quite an incredible 2nd beat to place him within striking distance from Charlie Stagnetto who had only just been able to establish the lead.
Meanwhile behind an extremely exciting race was developing. Edgar Lavarello in Waterwitch was sailing a good race but Louis Triay Snr and Micko Capurro (both of whom had also completed some penalty turns on the previous upwind leg) had made significant inroads on the leading pack and were now close enough to mount a challenge. The last upwind leg to the finish was an exciting one. Hamish Risso for the second time that afternoon getting the better of Charlie Stagnetto and Charlie Lavarello to take line honours yet again and this time doing it in style after having overtaken most of the fleet following the penalty turns on the first leg of the race.
Charlie Stagnetto was however able to defend his 2nd position and finished ahead of Charlie Lavarello in 3rd with Louis Triay Snr and Micko Capurro finishing just behind in 4th and 5th places respectively.
