| MINOR PLACES (UN)SETTLED |
TROIA, Portugal (28 July 2007) — The early racing at Troia today was to find who had the minor shares of the prize fund – the fifth to eighth places in the Troia Portugal Match Cup – and the races were not free from dispute. The International Jury overturned one Race Committee decision after a red flag protest from a competitor, and the racing was otherwise close.
The first flight saw Alvaro Marinho (POR) against Mathieu Richard (FRA), and the greater experience of the Frenchman told towards the end of the pre-start when he shut out Marinho at the committee boat and then smothered him on the first beat. Marinho had no answer and Richard took the race to enter the battle for fifth place.
The other match was extremely close, between Philippe Presti (FRA) and Paolo Cian (ITA). Both were over the start line early and as Cian came back in on port tack, he was very close. The tacking duel was fierce and Cian led around the white mark, but that was incorrect and Presti rounded the correct, green, mark and Cian had lost some ground.
At the end of the run, Cian went to the left hand mark after Presti had rounded the right hand one. Soon, Cian hooked into more pressure and began to overhaul Presti, but the Frenchman just held off his opponent to round the windward mark with a five second lead.
Cian attacked downwind and the two headed out towards the left with Presti seemingly in control. There were several gybes but with Presti holding the ace of starboard tack, the outcome appeared inevitable. With a small puff out of nowhere, Cian drew level as they approached the two boat’s length zone and Presti had to revert to “proper course”. They crossed the line together but Cian led by a metre to head for the fifth place match.
Richard led all the way in the fifth place match, but was never more than 12 seconds in front. Once again, Cian charged downwind and although he caught up to overlap the Frenchman, it was not quite enough.
It was the final match of this round, to decide seventh and eighth places that raised the most contentious issue and was caused by the passage of a tanker across the course on the final leg. Presti had a 250-metre lead over Marinho at the last mark before the run home in around eight knots of northerly breeze, when the tanker appeared.
Presti was able to cross its bows without danger and Marinho would have gone astern. The race committee decided to abandon the race but did not make the appropriate signals and Presti crossed the line to silence, but immediately raised a red flag.
The International Jury met aboard the committee boat to hear Presti’s protest and ruled that the result of the race should stand.
Results:
Mathieu Richard (FRA) beat Alvaro Marinho (POR)
Paolo Cian (ITA) beat Philippe Presti (FRA)
For seventh and eighth places:
Presti beat Marinho
For fifth and sixth places:
Richard beat Cian
5th. Richard US$11,000
6th. Cian US$9,000
7th. Presti US$8,000
8th. Marinho US$7,000
Links
Results in Detail
Photos from Troia Portugal Match Cup
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